572 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



CLIMATE AND CROP REVIEW. 



The winter of 1917-18 was one of the coldest, averaging 5.4° below 

 normal and only 0.5° warmer than 1892-93, the coldest of record. Snowfall 

 averaged 3.4 inches more than the normal and because of the continuous 

 cold weather and the absence of sleet and rain the snow covering was 

 generally porous and continuous, except in some west and southwest 

 counties. Winter wheat, except where seeded in corn fields, was gen- 

 erally blown bare of snow. 



March was abnormally warm with deficient precipitation, except in the 

 northern tier of counties. Frost left the ground early in the month; the 

 soil worked up in fine condition; seeding of spring wheat and oats was 

 completed in the south and made rapid progress in the north portions; 

 and husking of the 1917 corn crop which had been delayed by the soft 

 condition of the corn and by the severity of the winter, was about finished. 

 Winter wheat came through the winter in good condition, especially in 

 the southeast counties. Some that had apparently not germinated in the 

 fall of 1917, germinated in March, and though there was considerable dif- 

 ference of opinion among the farmers and others as to whether this 

 would make a crop, it is known that in many instances it did make a crop 

 of 15 to 25 bushels per acre. The drouth of March continued till the 

 middle of April, except scattered showers or snows during the first week. 

 The drouth, high winds and low humidity killed some of the winter wheat 

 and much of the young clover, timothy and alfalfa. On March 18, a num- 

 ber of stations reported the lowest relative humidity ever recorded. At 

 Des Moines it was 5 per cent at 2 and 3 p. m. A large acreage of winter 

 wheat, hay and pasture land was plowed up. Considerable early spring 

 wheat was drilled in with the winter wheat where the stand was thin 

 and patchy. 



Iowa's hay and pasture land was decreased by about three quarters 

 of a million acres, the acreage of other crops, mainly corn, spring wheat 

 and barley, being correspondingly increased. The acreage of spring wheat 

 would have been much larger if sufficient cars had been available to trans- 

 port the seed. The dry weather of the early spring and the cold weather 

 of April made germination of spring grains very irregular. They de- 

 pended largely upon subsoil moisture till the middle of April. Warmer 

 weather with copious showers toward the close of April improved grains; 

 some that had been seeded six weeks previously had just begun to show 

 green at the end of the month. A heavy snowstorm extended across the 

 State from southwest to northeast on April 19th-21st. In Taylor County 

 this snow accumulated to the unusual depth of 2 feet or more, exceeding 

 the total fall of the winter months preceding. 



Favorable weather offset the unfavorable labor conditions. Spring work 

 progressed rapidly. Eighty-five per cent of the corn ground was ready for 

 the planter and a little planting had been done by the close of April. 

 Seed corn was scarce and of very low vitality due to the lateness of the 

 crop and the damaging frosts in 1917. Unprecedented efforts of county 

 agents and farmers in seed testing, and cautious delay in planting most 

 of the acreage after the ground was warm and the weather fit, resulted 

 In a good stand of com. 



