SEVENTH ANNI^VL YEAR BOOK-PART XII. 769 



Other Fruits — Small varieties yielded an average crop and were of 

 good quality. Peaches and pears are not extensively grown, but were 

 of average yield and quality. 



Cattle — Not many being fed in county, although, perhaps, more than 

 a year ago. 



Horses — Breeders are doing better than for the past few years, a3 

 evidenced by the fine display of horses, stallions, mares and colts at our 

 recent fair, but there is still plenty of room for improvement. As re- 

 ported last year, farmers are rapidly arriving at the conclusion that they 

 make a serious mistake in neglecting to look after this industry while 

 attending to the corn crop, and are now endeavoring to raise the stand- 

 ard to where it was a few years ago, by using sires of better breeding. 



Swine — There is no county in the state that produces better hogs 

 than this, and as every farmer is trying to best his neighbor in qual- 

 ity of hogs produced the result is that shipments compare favorably with 

 the older counties in the state both in their breeding and number. 



Sheep — Very few handled in the county, although there is plenty of 

 good feed going practically to waste on account of farmers not paying 

 more attention to this industry. 



Poultry — While there is a good deal of poultry raised in this county 

 the business is not given sufficient attention to be made as profitable 

 as it might be. Some farmers are profiting by raising standard birds, 

 finding a market for them away from home among poultry fanciers. 

 The common barn-yard fowl predominates. 



Bees — An average crop of honey of good quality. 



Drainage — This question is one that should interest every farmer, for 

 without proper drainage successful crops can not be safely anticipated. 

 Our boards of supervisors of this and neighboring counties have been 

 laboring faithfully for the past two years with a view of constructing, or 

 causing to be constructed, a system of drainage that promises to revo- 

 lutionize the farming industry, especially on the low lands of the west- 

 ern part of this county. Three dredges are now at work day and night 

 endeavoring to drain all small lakes, sloughs and streams, which have 

 proven a menace to farmers owning land adjacent to the Missouri river 

 valley, and the prospects are that in another year a large acreage of here- 

 tofore unprofitable land will be rendered fit to raise from sixty to eighty 

 bushels of corn per acre, such as western Iowa is now noted for. 



Other Industries — There is one small canning factory in this county, 

 the proprietors of which have been very much encouraged this year and 

 intend enlarging next season. 



Lands — Values are about the same as last year, ranging from thirty- 

 five to one hundred dollars per acre, with prospects of a raise in the west- 

 ern part of the county, owing to the drainage work now under way. Some 

 very good sales have been made the past year, but speculators as a rule 

 buying only the cheaper lands. 



Report of Fair — Held at Missouri Valley, October 1-4 The weather 

 was fine for the first three days, but on the last day we experienced a cold 

 raw wind from the northwest that decreased the attendance consider- 

 able. October the 1st and 2d were entry days and the 3d and 4th days 



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