INDIAN COEN, HAY, AND OTHER CROPS. 



621 



the Scuue counties of Minnesota 2,026 acres were planted with maize in 

 1890, the yield being 44,125 bushels, averaging 21.78 bushels per acre; 

 and in the North Dakota counties there were 5,685 acres of maize in 1891, 

 yielding 148,217 bushels, or 26.07 bushels per acre. 



HAY, rOTATOE.S, FLAX, AND OTHER CHOPS. 



The principal gi-asses cultivated for hay in the prairie region of Lake 

 Agassiz are the Italian millet, or Hungarian grass (Setaria italica Kunth), 

 and timothy (^I'lilniiii, pratense L.). In Minnescjta these are not kept sepa- 

 I'ate by the report of the commissioner of statistics, but in North Dakota 

 the retixrns to the State department of agriculture show that the millet 

 crop far exceeds that of all other cultivated grasses (here known as "tame 

 grasses"). The Minnesota reports state the quantity of wild hay made on 

 the unbroken prairie, which in the Red River Valley often yields a ton of 

 very good hay per acre on the somewhat dry general surface and 2 to 

 3 tons of an inferior quality on marshy ground. The wild hay gathered 

 in the North Dakota counties is not reported, but doubtless surpasses 

 the figures of Minnesota, which has only about one-thii'd, while North 

 Dakota has about two-thirds of the width of the Red River Valley. With 

 the prospective increase of attention to stock raising and dairying, the 

 cultivation of hay will become more prominent. Timothy, redtop, and 

 other choice perennial species will probably then come more into favor, 

 displacing in part the present coarse fodder supplied by the annually sown 

 fields of millet. 



Production of hay in the year 1890 in counties of Minnesota lying mainly 

 within the lied Biver Valley. 



■Wilkin ... 



Clay 



Normau . . 



Polk 



Marshall. 

 Kittson* . 



Cultivated hay. 



Tods. Per acre. 



5,113 

 0, 082 

 1,6 



4,642 

 11,286 

 6,840 

 2,798 



1.63 

 1.64 

 2.21 

 1.35 

 1.49 



Willi hay. 

 Tors. 



11, 757 

 40, 114 

 32, 395 

 72, 733 

 26, 104 



