Cyclopedia of American Agriculture

Part I--The Agricultural Regions

Chapter I

Corn-belt States

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Indiana. (By A. T. Wiancko.) With the exception of a few counties in the northeastern corner, and a narrow strip near Lake Michigan, the state of Indiana slopes gently in a southwesterly direction, draining into the Ohio river at the southwestern corner at an elevation of 370 feet above sea-level. The hightest elevation, 1,140 feet, is in Randolph county, about half-way up the east side of the state. The northeastern part of Indiana is rolling and contains numerous small lakes. The soil here is mostly a clay loam, with some level, dark, loamy areas and numerous small mucky depressions. There are considerable areas of sandy, and of flat and marshy land in the northwestern part of the state. Much of this section is still too wet for general cultivation, but drainage operations are proceeding rapidly. Twenty-five to one hundred miles south from Chicago there are large areas of muck soil.
The Wabash valley is generally of a loamy nature and well suited to all branches of agriculture. The middle part of the state to the east and south of the Wabash valley is generally rolling, with a rich loamy soil, inclining to be clayey along the eastern side. The southern part of the state, with the exception of the Wabash valley on the west and

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the White river valley extending southwest from Indianapolis, is hilly, especially the three southern tiers of counties, and the soil is almost all clayey and often lacking in fertility. The prairie regions of the state are practically confined to the northwestern corner.

[Illustration: Fig. 65. Map of Indiana, showing isotherms.--The state is very homogeneous in agricultural possibilities, having few very well-marked special agricultural areas (excepting the muck-lands in the northwest).]

The climate of Indiana is favorable to general agriculture. The mean annual temperature is about fifty-two degrees Fahrenheit, and for the growing months is about seventy degrees. The mean annual rainfall is about thirty-nine inches, and is well distributed throughout the year. Periods of extended drought are rare. As a whole, the state is well watered.
Corn is the principal crop everywhere, the central and western sections being foremost and producing the finest corn in the world. Winter wheat is also universally grown, except in the prairie region of the northwest, the southern counties leading. The value of the wheat crop amounts to about $20,000,000 annually. Oats are also largely grown, especially in the north-central and northwestern regions. Barley and rye are very little grown. Clover is an important crop all over the state, both for hay and for seed. Timothy is also largely grown and well distributed, and orchard-grass is an important crop in the southeast. Alfalfa is being introduced successfully in many sections and promises to be an important crop. The potato crop is relatively unimportant, though the natural conditions are

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generally favorable. The total annual value of horticultural products amounts to about $12,000,000. About one-third of this is fruits, produced in southern and central Indiana. The third important onion-producing center of the United States is in northern Indiana. Peppermint and celery are also largely produced in the north. In the southwest, large quantities of melons are grown. Indiana is in many ways well suited to horticultural production, and fruit-growing, especially apples, and vegetable-growing have bright futures.
    The live-stock interests of Indiana are large, hogs and cattle leading. Hogs yield about one-half the annual income from this source. The natural conditions for dairying are excellent, but the business is crowded out by corn and hogs.
    The market facilities are good. The state has a regular network of railways and electric-car lines leading to important centers of consumption, of which Chicago, Indianapolis, Louisville and Cincinnati are the chief. Along the Ohio river, water-transportation facilities take care of a large amount of produce.
    While corn production promises to remain the principal branch of Indiana agriculture for some time to come, the most promising fields for development are in the lines of live-stock, dairying and horticulture.
    The total land area of Indiana is 22,982,400 acres. Of this, according to the Twelfth Census Report (1900), 21,619,623 acres are in farms, 16,680,358 acres of which, or 77.2 per cent, are improved land. There were then 221,897 farms in the state. The total value of the farm property was $978,616,471. The total value of the farm products was $203,000,000. The approximate annual values of the leading products were: Field crops, including hay and grain, $130,000,000; domestic animals, $45,000,000; dairy products, $16,000,000; horticultural products, including vegetables, $12,000,000.
    The land grant institution of Indiana bears the name of Purdue University and is located at Lafayette. In connection with this is the federal Agricultural Experiment Station. There is a State Board of Agriculture, with headquarters at Indianapolis. This body receives some support from the state. The state fair is located permanently at Indianapolis and is managed by the state board of Agriculture. There is an extensive system of farmers' institutes, under the supervision of the Purdue University School of Agriculture. The leading agricultural societies in the state are as follows: Indiana Horticultural Society, Indiana Corn-Growers' Association, Indiana Live-stock Breeders' Association, consisting of a federation of various animal breeders' societies, Indiana State Dairymen's Association and Indiana Potato-Growers' Association.

    Illinois. (By J. G. Mosier.) Illinois is primarily an agricultural state. Almost all types of agriculture are practiced to a greater or less extent throughout the state. Illinois led the states in total agricultural wealth at the last census.
    The demand for milk in the cities of Chicago and St. Louis has caused dairying to develop around

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those places as centers. It is of secondary importance over a much larger area. Facility for quick transportation is an essential factor in the development of this business. Stock-raising and feeding, while generally practiced, are best developed in the west-central and northern parts, where large numbers of hogs and cattle are fattened every year.
Fruit-growing on a commercial scale is especially well developed in an area extending from the southeast-central to the soutwest-southern part, the northern part of this region being the center of the fruit-growing area of the state. These fruits comprise apples, pears, plums and strawberries. Well-adapted soil, coupled with good transportation facilities, determine the distribution of fruit-growing. Apples are extensively grown in an area stretching to the mouth of the Illinois river north into the deep loess-covered area to the latitude of Keokuk. Truck-growing is conducted in small areas near centers of consumption, as around Chicago and St. Louis,

[Illustration: Fig. 66. Leading agricultural regions in Illinois.--A. dairying (secondary), general farming; B. dairying (principal); C. wheat-growing; D. fruit -growing, general farming; E. fruit-growing; F. trucking; H, occasional fruit-farm, well adapted to fruit-growing. Corn and oats belt north of line XX.]

through the character of the soil and transportation facilities admit of its being undertaken at greater distances.
Corn, oats, wheat and hay form the chief crops over a large part of Illinois. Corn and oats are most largely grown over the northern two-thirds of the state on the darker soils. In 1904, the acreage of these two crops constituted at least one-third of

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