IOWA WEATHER AND CROP REPORT 619 



below the average. The quality is better than last year. Much hay has 

 been damaged in the making. 



Corn has made good growth. Tasseling is becoming general and ears 

 are appearing in the earliest fields. In general the crop is about a week 

 or ten days later than last year. 



The Secretary of the State Horticultureal Society reports the condition 

 of fruits and vegetables on July 15 as follows: "Summer apples, 80; fall 

 apples, 79; winter apples, 70; pears, 63; plums, 73; grapes, 95; red rasp- 

 berries, 76; black raspberries, 80; blackberries, 70; gooseberries, 86; cur- 

 rants, 86; peaches, 83; early potatoes, 71; late potatoes, 80; early cabbage, 

 86; late cabbage, 87; onions, 84; sweet corn, 90; tomatoes, 89; watermelons. 

 80; cucumbers, 80; sweet potatoes, 86 per cent." 



Bulletin IVo. 16, July 25, 1922 — 



Light to moderate showers with temperature and sunshine slightly below 

 normal were generally favorable for crops and not seriously detrimental to 

 harvesting and thrashing. Hail storms of the 16th, mentioned last week, 

 though wreaking total destruction of crops in areas as large as 25 farms, 

 were not of great importance as compared with the total crops of the State. 

 The accompanying wind and rain over large areas and also windstorms of 

 the 22d in the western part of the State damaged the overloaded fruit trees, 

 blew off much fruit, flattened the uncut grain and damaged the shock 

 grain. Corn, though blown over badly, will mostly recover. 



Corn made satisfactory progress, It varies greatly in stage of develop- 

 ment, some fields showing large ears and abundant silk and others not yet 

 showing tassels. In general the crop it at least a week later in develop- 

 ment than last year and is silking and tasseling on shorter stalks but this 

 is probably not a disadvantage. 



Harvesting is practically completed excepting in the northern third of 

 the State. The cool, moist weather of July has greatly improved late oats. 

 Thrashing has been considerably delayed by wet shocks and slightly de- 

 layed in localities by coal shortage resulting from the miners' strike. 

 Early thrashing returns show unusual variability in yields. In general 

 winter wheat yield has been very satisfactory and oats has turned out 

 better than expected from the exceedingly short straw. The usual large 

 movement of grain from the machine to market has been delayed by car 

 shortage resulting from the railroad strike. 



Most of the timothy seed crop was headed or otherwise harvested during 

 the last week. The indications are that the total crop will be somewhat 

 less than last year. Second cutting of alfalfa is in progress. 



Though many apples, plums, pears and peaches have been blown from the 

 trees by recent windstorms, there is still an abundance of fruit. Early 

 apples and windfalls are being fed to hogs. The berry crop is good and 

 there is an excellent prospect for grapes. Watermelons and muskmelons 

 are promising. 



Bulletin No. 17, August 1, 1922 — 



Generous rains occurred throughout the State, particularly in the western 

 portion where moisture has been seriously deficient. The temperature 

 which has been deficient most of July, rose toward the close of the week 

 and several stations reported their only 90 temperatures of the month on 

 the last day. Destructive winds are reported over relatively small areas 

 and a tornado in Floyd county near Colwell. 



Shocked grain was saturated by the heavy rains. The quality of oats 

 was considerably reduced by molding, sprouting and rotting. Thrashing 

 has been greatly delayed by the wet weather and slightly by coal shortage. 

 Considerable of the thrashed oats are not dry enough to keep in bins, 

 partly because of the wet weather and partly because they were cut too 

 green. A beginning has been made in thrashing in all but some of the ex- 



