The Ordway new era., 1919-12-19
CROPS WORTH
$191,000,000
THE RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF
STATES RESOURCES SHOW
HEAVY.
HIGH PRICES PREVAIL
WIDE COMPARISON BETWEEN
1899 AND 1919.
Furnished by the Cooperative Crop
Reporting Service.)

600, which is much the largest in the
history of the state. Revised esti
mates show that the value of crops
grown in the state in 1918 was approx
imately $1G5,OOO,OOO, the largest re-
ported to that date.
fair idea of the rapid development
of agriculture in the state may he
gathered from comparison Of the
value of the output for 1919 with that
of previous years rs reported by the
federal census bureau. In 1899, the
first year for which the census bureau
compiled complete data showing the
value of all crops, the farm output OF
Colorado was worth II little short of
S11 100000. Ten, years later the same
bureau found the value of all crops
grown in the state 10 he somewhat
short of SOL 100000.
The census bureau report shows that
approximately 1,6l0OoO acres of land
was in cultivation in the state in 1880
while in 1909 the area in cultivation
was approximately 2,Gli,OOO acres. Re
ports of county assessors, as tubulatcd
and revised by the State Cooperative
Crop Reporting Service, show l,I33,
62S acres devoted TO crops in the state
in 1919 exclusive of orchards. In 9th
er words, the acreage in cultivation in
Colorado has more than doubled in
the past ten years and is now about
three and one-third times as great as
1t was in 1899.
The Bureau of Crop Estimates Of the
United States Department of Agricul-
ture found the value of all livestock on
farms in Colorado on Jan. ]. 1919, to
be about S172, 100000 Assessors re
ports show an increase in practically
all classes of livestock in 1919 over
1918, so that apparently the va!ne of
livestock on farms Jan. !, 1920. should
be considerably gfeater than it was
year ago, perhaps in the neighborhood
of S2OO, ,OOO,0OO.
The value of dairy products market
ed from the farms during the year ac-
cording to the best information avail
able is in the ncghborhood of S25,OOO,-
900, while eggs and poultry marketed
from the farms have brought in ap-
prOximately SS,OOO.0O0 The value of
the wool clip for the year WAS approx
imately S4,50OOoO and the honey out
put, most of whic, is produced on
farms, was worth ut prevailing prices
in the neighborhood OF S1.5OO0OO.
Hay has always been Colorado's larg-
est and most valuable crop and it re
tains that position in 1919. The value
of all hay crops produced was above
52,OOO,0OO, while dry forage. silagc
and crops hogged off account for near
~ S1S.OOO,O0O Adding to these two
items the value of corn for grain we
find i.int feed crops account for ap-
prOximately II per cent of the value of
all crops grown in the state. Since
most of these feed crops are fed to
livestock within the state their ratio Ia
the entire agricultural output of the
state affords good index 10 the i'm
portance of the livestock industry in
Colorado.
Next to hay Colorado's most import
ant crop Is wkcat The total value of
the wheat crop for The year was near
ly 5000, 600 which is much the lnrg-
est value ever reported for this crop
in the state. The area devoted 10
wheat also was much the largest on
record, being nearly one-fOurth the
area devoted to other crops. Winter
wheat is much more popular in this
state than spring wheat, as Is shown
by the fact that nearly three times as
much winter wheat is raised ns spring
wheat. The average yield of spring
wheat per acre is larger, however, not
because spring wheat is II more suita
Bile crop for our soil ana climate, hut
because II much larger percentage of
the spring wheat is grown under irri-
CATION than winter wheat. Reports of
county assessors showed that about T.
per cent of the winter wheat planted in
Colorado for the 1919 harvest was ir-
rigated, while approNmntel: ~ per
cent of the spring wheat was irrigated.
No accurate data are available show
ing the value Of livestock slaughtered
in the state and shipped To other
states during the year, hut II Is estl-
mated at approximately s100,O00,00O.
portant crops in 1919 was greater than
that for 1918, the exception being oats,
barley, rye for grain. potatoes and dry
beans. The only large decrease in
acreage for any crops WAS that for
dry beans. the falling off being due
chiefly to unsatisfactory prices re
ceived by growers for pinto beans in
1918. The increase in acreage cult
waited this year over 1918, according to
the final tabulations prepared by the
State Crop Reporting Service, was
about 100000 acres,