INTRODUCTORY 



The. 1913 Iowa Year Book of Agriculture is presented herewith. 



That agriculture in Iowa is marching steadily forward is evi- 

 dent in the splendid crop yields, the growing of a greater variety 

 of crops, the increase in dairying and the success of the live stock 

 interests, all of which are shown in the statistics and in the reports 

 of officers of agricultural organizations as given in the following- 

 chapters. 



Drouth cut short the crops somewhat in some of the localities in 

 southern Iowa in 1913 but throughout the state as a whole the 

 yields were good and prices were high. 



The most serious loss to the agricultural interests in 1913 was 

 the hog cholera loss. Statistics collected by this department show 

 that low^a farmers lost 2,709,876 head of hogs in 1913 from hog 

 cholera. The losses are shown by counties in Part XIII together 

 with other live stock statistics. The crop statistics are also shown 

 in Part XIII. 



Two additional parts have been included in the Year Book this 

 year, Part III giving the proceedings of the Sixth Annual Meeting 

 of the Iowa County and District Fair Managers' Association, and 

 Part XVI, which presents a digest of the laws relating to the Iowa 

 Department of Agriculture. 



The manner of indexing has been changed from the former 

 method of indexing the book by parts to that of indexing the book 

 as a w^hole. The arrangement of the parts does not follow the same 

 order as formerly. The statistics as to crops which have usually 

 been in Parts II and III are to be found in Parts XII and XIII. 



Part I contains a synopsis of the proceedings of the State Board 

 of Agriculture and committee meetings during the year 1913. All 

 meetings of the Board and executive committee and special com- 

 mittee meetings are presented. 



Part II contains the proceedings of the State Agricultural Con- 

 Tj ^ vention held at the State House, Des Moines, "Wednesday, Decem- 

 2^ ber 10. 1913. This includes the president's address and the re- 

 .^ ports of the secretary and treasurer; the financial statement of 

 -X) farmers ' institutes ; the financial statement and statistics of county 

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