800 IOWA DEPART.AIEXT OF AGRICULTlRE 
Wheat — Fall wheat exceptionally good, yielding as much as forty 
bushels per acre; spring wheat better than usual as to quality and yield. 
Rye — Not much sown; average crop. 
Barley — Average. 
Flax — None sown. 
Buckwheat — Above average. 
Millet — Average. 
Sorghum — Increased output; good crop and of good quality. 
Timothy — Heavy. 
Clover — Both first and second cutting extra good; not a big yield of 
seed but of fair quality. 
Prairie Hay — None. 
Other Grains and Grasses — Fair. 
Potatoes — Some varieties very good, others only fair. 
Vegetables — Extra good. 
Apples — Quality fair and an average crop. 
Other Fruits — Peaches abundant; no plums to speak of; small fruits 
and average crop. 
Cattle — Increasing in numbers; dairy cows high in price; beef breed 
types are increasing in good quality. 
Horses — Good quality; draft horses are very high, while brood mares 
of draft breeds are not sold for shipment but selling price locally has 
been at a high figure. 
Swine — Very little sickness reported for the past eight months; being 
marketed in large numbers; fair crop of pigs and of good quality. 
Sheep — Average. 
Poultry — Great interest taken in poultry raising and there is a good 
demand for same. The American variety is taking the lead. 
Bees — Did exceedingly well in June but did not do so well later. 
Drainage — Great increase in tile drainage and some open ditches are 
being cut in river bottoms. 
Other Industries — Prosperous. 
Lands — Selling very high when sales are made but not much land 
changing hands. 
Report of Fair — Held October 5 to 6. Rained entry day but good 
weather the balance of week; had a very successful fair as the exhibits 
were good in all departments. Our improvements are more than our 
present debt. 
MARSHALL. 
H. M. Weeks, Rhodes, October, 1908. 
General Condition of Crops and Season — Crops are generally fair; 
season som.ewhat backward in the spring. Crops damaged somewhat by 
drought in fore part of September; hardly enough rain for fall plowing. 
Pasture was somewhat short in September. 
Corn — About eighty per cent of an average crop. 
Oats — Very good quality but not very large yield, about twenty to 
thirty-five bushels per acre. 
