192 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



attention paid to increasing the population and developing the resources 

 of other states. In other words, we believe the time has arrived when 

 we must plant the seed and cultivate our own fields more intensively, in- 

 stead of planting the seed and leaving the field to care for itself while 

 we rush off to some corner of the earth to do our cultivating. 



Iowa farmers have, upon the whole, been blessed with bountiful crops 

 in the year 1910. Her factories have had an increased demand for their 

 output. More public improvements have been made in the cities and 

 towns of the state than in any previous year. In fact, the prosperity of 

 the state for all classes continues to be a marvel to our good old Yankee 

 relatives down east, who cannot understand why a state which has been 

 losing in population can continue to increase in wealth. The products of 

 our farms are not bringing as high prices as they were a year ago. 

 The market for cattle and hogs is considerably lower, which should, by 

 all methods of reasoning, reduce the price of food products to the con- 

 sumer, as it already has to some extent. Whether this cost will be lower 

 in the same proportion as farm products remains to be seen. The farm- 

 ers of Iowa will not complain of the lower prices, as they have been re- 

 ceiving the maximum prices for their products for several years past and 

 feel that the present drop is only temporary. 



The western states have been making rapid strides in the production 

 of fruits, but Iowa farmers need have no fear for competition from that 

 source in the growing of corn. The corn crop of America will always be, 

 as it always has been, the staple crop of those states tributary to the Miss- 

 issippi basin. Seven states, viz.: Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, In- 

 diana, Kansas, and Ohio, produce yearly about sixty per cent of the corn 

 crop of America. These seven states, with Texas, are also the great beef 

 producing states. There is no reason to be alarmed that, in our enthus- 

 iasm for better and more intensive system of farming, there will be an 

 overproduction of food products. The increase per acre of farm crops in 

 the past ten years has not been nearly so marked as has been the increase 

 in population. Indeed, in the matter of our corn crop but very little, if 

 any, increase has been noted. Iowa reports for 1909 show an average 

 yield in this state of 34.6 bushels per acre. The report for the year 1900 

 gave us an average yield of 40.3 bushels per acre. Going back over the 

 reports still farther we find that exactly thirty years ago, or in 1880, the 

 average yield of corn per acre was reported as 41 bushels. This clearly 

 indicates that no advancement has been made in the yield per acre in the 

 years gone by. The acreage of corn today in Iowa is nearly double what 

 it was thirty years ago, indicates conclusively that with increased acre- 

 age comes smaller yields per acre, largely by reason of carelessness in the 

 selection of seed, preparation of the ground, and cultivation of the crop. 

 There are a great many farms and fields of corn that return yearly from 

 fifty to eighty, and even one hundred, bushels per acre. Almost any good 

 farmer is disappointed if he does not receive over fifty bushels. This 

 would indicate that there is considerable bad farming going on within 

 the state to keep the average yield to such a low figure. 



