194 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



during the year. This is found to be $26.50, which of course includes 

 board, sometimes washing, and usually the use of a horse. 



In the farm reports gathered we find the figures show that Iowa's corn 

 crop for 1909 was 308,000,000 bushels, or 18,000,000 bushels more than 

 the government estimate gave us at the close of the year 1909. The av- 

 erage yield is shown to have been 34.6 bushels, against 31.6 credited to our 

 state by the government experts. As the information for these tables 

 was secured from every farm in the state we will have to consider it 

 authentic. For the first time the acreage and yield of alfalfa has been 

 tabulated. "While the total acreage for the state is not large — (23,000 

 acres) — the reports indicate that in several of the western counties it 

 is growing in favor among the farmers. Hancock county leads with 5,565 

 acres; Pottawattamie second with 3,935 acres; Menona third with 3,255 

 acres; Mills fourth with 2,530; Fremont fifth with 1,819, and Woodbury 

 seventh with 1,639 acres. The average yield per acre for 1909 was shown 

 to have been about three tons per acre. But very few people are aware 

 that popcorn is grown to any extent in Iowa for commercial use. There 

 is quite a large acreage in the counties of Sac, Ida, and Pocahontas, Sac 

 leading with over 3,400 acres. This corn is harvested and stored in the 

 crib usually for one year before being marketed. It has proved to be a 

 very remunerative crop to those who are growing it. The figures for 

 the live stock tables show there was on the farms of Iowa, on January 

 1, 1910, 1,322,464 horses; 51,654 mules; 4,637,537 cattle; that the number 

 of hogs kept on the farm for the year 1909 was 6,312,634, and of sheep 

 888,726. The most remarkable, and in many respects the most valuable 

 data gathered, is with reference to the poultry industry of the state. 

 Figures show there was on the farms of Iowa in the year 1909 over 22,- 

 000,000 fowls, or an average of about 110 to the farm; that the farmers' 

 wives received over 84,000,000 dozens of eggs during the year. The poultry 

 and egg industry in Iowa for the year is of much greater importance than 

 it is generally thought to be. It is equal in value to the entire potato 

 crop of the states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washing- 

 ton. Oregon, Nevada, with the state of California thrown in for good 

 measure; or of the six New England states, including Maine, which is 

 generally recognized as the greatest potato yielding state in the Union. 

 The possibilities of raising poultry for profit on the farms of Iowa are 

 well worth the time and consideration of every farmer. The aggregate 

 net yield returned in Iowa' is greater than that received from tne com- 

 bined value of the following farm .crops, wheat, rye, barley, flax, pota- 

 toes and wild hay. 



GOOD ROADS. 



The question of better roads and highways is still uppermost in the 

 minds of the people. We can all get together upon common ground 

 when the subject of better roads is discussed, but beyond this point, 

 or when we come to discuss the best plan to adopt, there is a great 

 diversity of opinion. If I was not a born optimist I would almost 

 despair of ever seeing laws enacted that would eventually give Iowa 

 as good, or better, roads than any state in the Union. I am of that 



