NINETEENTH ANNUAL, YEAR BOOK— PART X 573 



Violent temperature fluctuations, from freezing to 95°, May 1st to 4th, 

 with high southwest winds and low humidities, did further damage to 

 winter wheat and grasses. Tornadoes May 9th and 21st covered con- 

 siderable areas but did little damage to crops. Soil and weather condi- 

 tions in May were very favorable for germination and growth of corn. 



Heavy rains the first week in June caused considerable damage to corn 

 by erosion and overflow, from Webster and Hamilton Counties southeast 

 to Poweshiek and Johnson Counties. Replanting from this cause was prob- 

 ably not greater than usual for the State as a whole, but because of the 

 large acreage of spring plowed sod, the cut worm damage and consequent 

 replanting from this cause was unusual. This replanted corn was about 

 all that was caught by the early frosts, September 18-21. The soft corn 

 which is 4 per cent of the crop, is a fairly good indication of the extent 

 of this replanting. Seventeen counties, mostly in the southwest, reported 

 no appreciable amount of soft corn, while the northeast counties reported 

 considerable. 



Reports from many hundred crop correspondents on July 1, showed the 

 average condition of corn to be 105 per cent, which has been exceeded 

 but once in 29 years. A hot period about the middle of June with record 

 high temperatures on the 16th was believed to have prematurely ripened 

 oats in the southwestern one-fourth of the State. Such a period is not 

 considered good for any small grain, yet all small grains flnally shows 

 yields above normal. Smut affected spring wheat seriously. 



Harvest came on about a week earlier than normal and continued 

 through July under conditions unusually favorable for labor and curing 

 shocked grain, except in the northeast and north-central counties where 

 heavy rains caused delay and damaged the shocked grain. 



During July a marked deflciency in rainfall began to be felt over the 

 south-central and southwest counties, causing the pastures to fail and up- 

 land corn to begin firing. The average condition of corn on August 1 was 

 101 per cent. In the next eight days, record breaking high temperatures 

 with drouth, damaged corn throughout the southwest one-third of the 

 State, amounting to a disaster in some of the southwest counties. In 

 Adams County where the heat and drouth were greatest, the average yield 

 of corn is only 7 bushels per acre, approaching the record low yield of 

 5 bushels per acre in Page county in the historic drouth of 1894. 

 Roughly it may be said that Iowa's corn crop was damaged $5,000,000 

 per day during this eight-day period. Though it is diflacult to assign 

 a damage value to particular days, it seems probable that the dam- 

 age on three days August 4-6, at the climax, was approximately $10,000,000 

 per day. To save the crop, much of it was cut for fodder and silage. 

 Live stock was put on winter feed in the damaged area as early as the 

 latter days of July and many hogs and cattle were shipped to regions 

 where feed was more plentiful. In the northern and eastern portions, the 

 corn crop was bountiful, the largest average yield being 51 bushels per 

 acre In Cedar County. 



Profiting from the anxiety and tremendous effort in obtaining good 

 seed corn last spring, farmers have this fall saved a large supply, in most 

 instances enough for two years, and it is believed that the quality is 



