APPENDIX. 



IOWA CLIMATE AND CROPS, 



Climatic Data Compiled from all Available Records, and 

 Statistics of the Soil Products of the State. 



PREFATORY NOTES. 



In response to a constantly increasing public demand for climatic data 

 and statistics of farm products, the following pages have been appended to 

 this report. In this age of intensive scientific investigation and far-reaching 

 statistical inquiry the matter herein presented is of vital interest to students 

 of climatology, producers and consumers of foodstuffs, and men of affairs 

 who direct the operations of our complex industrial and commercial system. 



Meteorological records have been made at stations of observation well 

 distributed throughout the state, and cover sufficient periods of time to 

 illustrate fairly the general characteristics and permanent conditions of the 

 climate of Iowa, and the statistics of farm crops afford ample proof of the 

 marvelous productivity of its soil. To answer questions being the special 

 purpose of this compilation of data, the tables of climatic means and crop 

 averages and totals have been placed in convenient form for reference and 

 comparison. 



In the systematic collection of climatic data the medical department of 

 the United States army took the initiative in the early part of the last cen- 

 tury. The surgeons or hospital stewards at all military posts were directed 

 to keep a diary of the weather, and to note everything of importance 

 relating to the climate. And the records made in pursuance of this gen- 

 eral order afford all the accurate knowledge we have of the climate of the 

 northwest in the years antedating the general settlement of the country . 

 Observations were made and recorded at Council Bluffs military post in 

 1820-25; at Fort Armstrong (Rock Island) , in 1824-35; at Fort Des Moines in 

 1843-46; at Fort Atkinson in 1844-46; and at Fort Dodge in 1851-53. These 

 somewhat fragmentary records have a special value as evidence of the fact 

 that the climate of this region has been practically permanent for more 

 than three-quarters of the past century. 



To the late Prof. Theodore S. Parvin belongs the honor of being the 

 Dioneer voluntary meteorological observer of this state. His service in that 



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