The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1916-03-21

WASHINGTON, D. c., March FL
A report of the soil survey of Lee
county, Iowa, recently concluded by
the u. S. department of agriculture
and the Iowa agricultural experim ent
station, has just been published by
the federal department. This report
covers thirty-six printed pages and
includes a large map showing IN
colors the various types of soil found
in the county. and also location OF
railroads, highways, rivers, water
courses, schools, churches, etc.
The agriculture OF the county, the
report says, is based upon general
farming, although a number of farm
ers specialize in stock raising, dairy
ing and trucking. 1he usual practice
is to grow corn, wheat and oats; to
keep cattle and hogs, and occasionally
a few sheep; and to produce fruit,
poultry and vegetables for home use
with small surplus for sale
Corn is the most important OF the
crops Both it and oats are grown
mostly for stock feed. The acreage
in oats is about equal to that in
wheat Together these two crops oc-
cupy between Is and 16 percent OF
the improved acreage Of the county.
it the fourth wheat county in the
state.
In the live stock industry Lee
county ranks third in the state in
the number Of sheep and goats, and
in the value of wool and mohair pro-
duced Formerly many Of the farm
ers bought "stockers" which were fat
tened during the winter on grain
grown in the county, but except in
isolated places this has been aban-
doned and the raising of "stockers"
has taken its place. The silo is be-
coming popular, but it is, as yet, by
no means universal among dairymen
and stock raisers.
On the sandy terrace soils almost
all of the farmers specialize IN truck
crops, including strawberries, water
melons, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes.
Between Montrose and Fort Madison
the terrace lands are used for spec
iaIized trucking 1t is becoming more
generally recognized that these sandy
terrace soils designated locally as
i'"sand prairie" can better be used Tor
trucking than for general crops.
No definite rotation of crops is fol
lowed, but nearly all the farmers
have adopted the plan OF growing
corn from two to four years, followed
by small grain for time, and then
seeding The land to clover or timothy
for another period. Corn IS gener-
ally planted on the sod land about
the first week in May or later. Some
of it Is cut for ensilage, some IS cut
and shucked in the fall, and some
Is husked in the fall when sufficiently
mature. The average yield is about
| favorable seasons yields of eighty
! bushels are common. Some of the
| bottom soils and the darker upland
soils are best adapted Tor this crop
! Wheat is grown largely as a money
| crop. Although both winter and
| spring wheat are grown. the acrea &c
| in winter wheat is much more exten
sive. 1t is seeded about the first
week in October Early seeding may
result in injury by the Hessian fly
which has caused considerable dam.
age in recent years, and late seeding
| exposes the crop to the danger OF
| being winter killed The average
yield OF winter wheat is about twenty
| bushels and that of spring wheat is
about fifteen.
Oats and rye are both crops Of con.
| siderable Importance, but very little
! barley is grown. Wheat and rye seem
/ better suited to the lighter bluff soils
| than to the darker colored upland
/ soils.
! Glover is grown quite successfully
| in most parts of the county. 1t is
| generally sown in the early spring
! with some small grain as nurse
crop. AS rule, both timothy and
| clover are sown together, and with