294 GRASSES OF IOWA. 



where. As late as 1890 the making of wild hay formed an 

 extensive and leading industry in northwestern Iowa. The 

 chief centers of export hay trade were Bancroft, Algona, Rolfe 

 and other poinds in northern and northwestern Iowa. Sinca 

 1890 many of the large tracts of northern Iowa have been 

 brought under cultivation, and now small grains and corn 

 are largely grown. At one time in northeastern Iowa much 

 of \he land w^as devoted to small grain culture, but the 

 successive failures of this crop caused a radical change in 

 me hods of agriculture. Wheat is now" the exception. Larger 

 areas are now^ devoted to the growing of bluegrass ard other 

 meadow grasses. 



In a paper on the forage conditions of central Iowa, the 

 writer* has said, "West of Ames there are several important 

 valleys — the Des Moines, Coon, and Boyer; northwest of Car- 

 roll there are the Little and Big Sioux, the Maple and the 

 Floyd. Along the Coon and Des Moines rivers the country is 

 rough, and but little hay is cut, though much of the timber 

 land is used for pasture. Along the Maple, Boyer and Floyd 

 rivers the immediate banks contain some timber, but the flood 

 plains are open and covered with a luxuriant growth of grassfs. 



The forage quesl ion in central Iowa is very different now 

 from what it was fifteen years ago. At that time considerable 

 areas of unbroken sod still remained. Now the wild prairies 

 have almost ceased to be a factor in the production of hay. The 

 extensive prairies have given way to cultivated fields and p.^s- 

 tures. Small unbtoken areas occur here and there, but these 

 are confined to the small drainage basins between The hills, 

 and exist largely because in times of considerable precipita- 

 tion these depressions are too moist for proper cultivation. 

 The Boyer and Maple valleys are noted for the large crops of 

 wild hay annually prod teed. The same may be said of the 

 rich aliuvial flood plain cf the Missouri. This plain varies 

 from a few to fifteen miles in width, the average being from 

 eight to twelve. The hay crop constitutes one cf the chief 

 tLOurces of revenue for the farmers of this region, and could 

 be made much more important if they would follow^ a more 

 rational system of cropping. 



The chief hay plants cultivated in central Iowa are timothy, 

 re 3top, bluegrass and red clover. The principal plants used 



*L. H. Pammel: Notes on the grasses and forage plants of Iowa, Nebraska and 

 Colorado. Bull. U. S. Dept. Agrl. Dlv. of Agros. 9:7- 



