12 FIELD OPERATIONS OF THE BUREAU OF SOILS, 1918. 



increased from $983,374 to $2,132,345, and that of poultry i)roducts 

 from $68,025 to $215,262. 



At the present time the agriculture consists of live-stock farming 

 supplemented by grain and truck farming. For the year 1909 the 

 value of all crops approximately equaled that of all live stock and 

 live-stock products. Corn is the principal crop, followed by oats, 

 hay, winter wheat, rye, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, sweet corn, 

 and barley. Alfalfa and spring wheat are grown to a small extent. 

 Potatoes are practically the only subsistence crop, although some 

 corn is ground locally. The money crops are wheat, part of the 

 corn crop, part of the oat crop, and a small part of the hay crop 

 (timothy and clover). All the stock is shipped except for a small 

 number of hogs and cattle butchered for home consumption. Local 

 butchers get about one-half their suppl}^ from the county. 



Live-stock farming is carried on in practically all parts of the 

 coimty except the more sandy areas of the terrace, the Mississippi 

 bottoms in the vicinity of Hopewell School, and the section around 

 Oakville. On the basis of value of products the cattle industry is the 

 most important, followed by the raising of hogs, horses, and sheep. The 

 census reports 1,330 calves, 19,111 head of other cattle, 51,268 hogs, 

 and 3,086 sheep sold or slaughtered in 1909, and 1,297 horses and 

 mules sold. The Iowa Yearbook for 1916 reports 27,878 head of 

 cattle, 61,519 hogs, 9,978 horses, and 1,510 sheep on farms. 



About 85 per cent of the farmers raise cattle, but not over 20 per 

 cent of them finish the stock for market. Cattle are generally sold 

 in the fall as feeders. About half the animals that are fed are pur- 

 chased from the markets of Kansas City, Omaha, St. Paul, and 

 Chicago. The feeding period ranges from 60 to 120 days. The 

 usual feed is corn and ensilage with the addition of a concentrate 

 which is generally cottonseed meal, and less frequently molasses 

 feed. The principal breeds of cattle raised are, in the order of their 

 importance, Shorthorn, Aberdeen Angus, and Hereford. Most of 

 the cattl'e are grades, but the purebred beef-cattle industry is of 

 considerable importance. There are at the present 25 purebred 

 Shorthorn and Polled Durham herds and 4 each of Aberdeen Angus 

 and Hereford. 



Dairjdng has scarcely been undertaken on a commercial scale. 

 One farm, which ships cream, has a herd of about 30 cows, but on 

 most farms only a small number of cows are milked. These are 

 kept mainly to supply milk for home use, the surplus being sold in 

 the towns in the form of milk, cream, or butter. The leading breeds 

 of dairy cows are grade Shorthorn, grade Jersey, and grade Holstein. 

 There are probably no purebred dairy cows in the county. 



Hogs are raised on about 90 per cent of the farms, and about 80 

 per cent of the farmers who raise hogs fatten their own stock. Of 



