108 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



plenty of moisture, and the young plants got a fair start but were not 

 sufficiently strong to resist the rigorous winter that followed. Second, the 

 general glaze storm of Christmas night covered almost the entire area 

 with a smothering coat of ice. Third, the snow covering was absent or 

 generally deficient. In the central portion of the state there was con- 

 siderable snow covering, but subsequent weather conditions reduced it to 

 an impervious layer of ice equal in smothering properties to a covering 

 of glaze. "Where the snow covering was absent the plants were subjected 

 to unusual extremes of temperature. Fourth, drought prevailed through- 

 out the winter. The last three causes were responsible for the winter- 

 killing of grasses. 



In the northern portion of the state where the snow covering was 

 deeper, more porous and continuous, grasses and the small acreage of 

 winter wheat that was sown did not suffer so seriously. The warm and 

 normally moist March and the cool and generally wet spring and early 

 summer were especially favorable for oats, spring wheat and barley, all 

 of which made large yields, barley making a record yield. The yield of 

 winter wheat on the acreage that was considered promising enough to 

 let grow was good. 



The corn acreage was greatly increased by plowing up the winte7- 

 killed wheat fields and meadows. This, together with the cold, wet, un- 

 favorable spring, started it out about two weeks late. Large areas in the 

 southern portion of the state were washed out or drowned out and re- 

 planted, some as late at the closing days of June. The abnormally cool 

 weather of May, June and the first half of July did not give the corn a 

 chance to catch up. About the only good corn weather of the season 

 occurred from July 20th to August 4th. Two weeks more of good corn 

 weather would have matured a phenomenal crop, but a cold and cloudy 

 October caught it unprepared. The yield is good but the quality is un- 

 usually poor. 



November, though much warmer and drier than normal, closed with 

 the crop generally unfit for cribbing. Seed corn gathered since October 

 Sth almost without exception shows very low germination tests. Con- 

 siderable care will need to be exercised before another planting season 

 to discover the unreliable seed, locate supplies of good seed and effect the 

 proper distribution. Droughty conditions and grasshoppers during 

 August, in some of the south-central and southeastern counties, made the 

 I)astures brown and bare. The Iowa Weather and Crop Service was con- 

 sulted by several cattle men seeking pasturage in more favorable sections 

 of the state to avoid the use of high-priced dry feed or immature corn 

 fodder. 



Looking forward to the winter wheat crop of 1918, it should be noted 

 that in certain portions of the state, particularly the south-central and 

 western, plowing, seeding, and germination were delayed by dry, hard soil 

 and droughty conditions, and October was too cold, and in some sections 

 grasshoppers kept it eaten down so that plants are not entering the 

 winter in a resistant condition. There has been a great increase in the 

 acreage sown as compared with the area harvested in 1917, but the acre- 

 age is considerably below the normal, and in order that we may have a 

 normal wheat crop next year it will be necessary to greatly increase the 

 acreage of spring wheat. 



