The Oskaloosa herald., 1918-06-27
IOWA FARMS IRE ERIE
LEADING NATION
PRODUCTION THIS YEAR NAV
RUN TO $2,oOo,ooo,Ooo. =,
HEAD AND SHOULDERS AHEAD
While illinois is Second It is mo
Rival of Hawkeye state.-5lest
With Plenty is Expected to
Do Much.

! Ames, Ia, June 24.-Iowa stands
head and shoulders above every state
lin the union in the value Of its farm
Icrops and livestock with an aggregate
worth of these items of $1,469, 1000
for the year 1917. That was the mes
sarge recently sent to Iowa State Col
IIege by President r. A. Pearson from
washington. Dean c. F. Curtiss, VINO
has travelled over the state good
deal in the past few weeks, says that
this year Iowa will do even better than
that marvellous figures; he believes
THAT the total valuation will go to 81
$50 100000 at least and that 1T may
crowd the two billion dollar mark even
closer than that.
Illinois Is No Rival.
Iowa really had no near rival In
I1917, for Illinois, which ranked sec
ond, had a crop and livestock valua'
ton of s1,2S7,O0O,OO0 of $1S2,OOO,OOO
less than. Texas, big enough for about
five such states as Iowa, ranked tnlru
with a valuation of $1,254, 100000, al
though for the five year period from
1911 to 1915 Texas averaged somewhat
higher than Iowa and stood first.
Iowa's enormous production OF corn
and oats helps to maintain its high
standard, although the 1917 corn crop
was generally poor. 1t was the live
stock industry, however, that put
Iowa at the top that year Tor iowa
stood first in it's valuation OF horses
and swine. second only to Texas in
beef cattle and third to New York and
Wisconsin in dairy cattle.
First In Live Stock.
On all kinds of live stock. Iowa
stood first by a margin of hundreds
of millions, its valuation of horses,
swine, cattle, sheep and mules Janu-
airy 1, 1918 being $6S6,O0O,0O0, with
Texas second with 100000 and
Illinois third with $445,000,000. In
cattle, hogs and sheep alone, Iowa had
valuation of $514,0O0,OOO, with Ne
braska second, with $30O,O0O.OOO.
about 40 percent less.
These statistics mean this: That in
Iowa the work of one man in food pro-
duction is more valuable than in any
other agricultural region on the face
of the earth Iowa has about } per
cent of the farming population of the
United States and is producing one
tenth of its food. The Iowa farmer.
with his soil, his climate, his horse
power, his motor power, his tools ana
his methods is producing three times
as much per man as the average form
err of the United States.
Much Expected Of Iowa.
! Because Iowa can do more, the food
administration is expecting more from
1.-THE Hawkeyc state even than 1t pro
duced year ago. Director r. K.
Bliss of the agricultural extension dc,
lpartment at Iowa State College be-
lieves that Iowa farmers will patriot
lically fulfill this expectation. They are
better organized to meet every call.
For example, through the county farm
bureaus, an extension coOperator has
been named for every four sections OF
farm land in the state; that means
lnearly $4,000 such cooperators who on
a days notice will take up with their
six or eight neighboring farmers any
Iquestion of production that may be
urged by Washington through the ex-
tension Offices In the recent seed corn
finding and testing campaign these co.
Operators did a wonderful piece Of
work and lifted Iowa from dismal
prospect of corn crop failure, for want
of seed, to a prospect of great stand
land great yield
California Tenth On List.
The following table gives the rank
Iof the leading states in agricultural
values in 9117: ..,,.....,.,....