Agricultural statistics of the State of Colorado, 1924

Agricultural

Statistics

of

the

State

of

Colorado

1924

STATE

BOARD

OF

IMMIGRATION

THE

GOVERNOR.

PRESIDENT

ALLISON

STOCKER,

DENVER

L. WlRT MARKHAM,

LAMAR

ARTHUR H.

KING

STERLING

EDWARD D.

FOSTER,

COMMISSIONER OF IMMIGRATION

TOLBERT R. INGRAM,

DEPUTY

AND

STATISTICIAN

BRADFORD-ROBINSON PTG. CO..

DENVER, COLORADO

Colorado Agricultural Statistics

for

1924

The publication of this booklet, revievving farming operations

in

(~olorado

in 1924, has been materially delayed by reason of

un-certainty as to the future of the work, due to political and other

disturbances over ,vhich the department had no control.

The size

of the publication also has been reduced materially to meet the

requirements of econolny, but it is not believed that any appreciable

injury has been done the year's report by the elinlination of some

tables which possibly go too much into involved detail to be of

practical value to the public.

The crop reporting service in Colorado, under a contract

existing between the State Board of Immigration, by legislative

authority, and the Division of Crop and Livestock Estimates

of the United States Bureall of Agricultural Economics,

Depart-ment of Agriculture, is conducted jointly

by

the state and the

fed-eral government, this arrangelllent ha"ving proved most effective

in all of the important agricultural states and being in line with

the purpose of eliminating duplication of work and expense. Under

the existing arrangement the county assessors of Colorado are

re-quired by la\v to take, ,vhile taking the annual assessment of

prop-erty, a statement from each farluer as to the acreages to be planted

to the various erops during that year.

The data so collected is

for\varded to the State Board of Inlmigration and is there compiled

by counties, no use beingnlade of information concerning

individ-ual operations except as they go to nlake

IIp

county totals.

The federal branch of the service, through its field men and

frolll all other available sources, gathers infornlation eoneerning

crop prospects and average yields, and this information, applied

to the acreages secured by the assessors for the state branch of the

service, gives the nlost authentic illforlnation possible concerning

agricultural operations froll1 year to year.

The purpose of the erop reporting service is t\Yo-fold.

It is

intended to perpetuate the history of agriculture in Colorado and

to reeord the developluent of the indl1stry from year to year, and

it serves also as

a. guide to those interested in farming and in the

handling of farlll prodllets.

r~rhe

aereage distributions of the

vari-ous crops over the counties of the state sho'iY to neWCOluers the

pos-sibilities of those districts, the crops 11108t generally grown

by

those

experiellc.ed in those localities and the production \vhich may

be

expected under average conditions.

In vie,v of the "ride

llse

\vhich

is lllade of the inforulation thus Inade available, no further

expla-nation of the uses and purposes of the service is neeessary.

COlliluencillg \vith this report. the co-operative erop reporting

service has Iuade an effort to 11lOdifv the fig;ures returned bv coun tv

assessors, lllaking sueh additions

ti~ereto ~r

111inor

ehallge~ therei~l

as appear to be ,justified

by

kllO'iVn conditions.

It is gratifying to

knovv that in a nUlnber of the Illore inlportant agricultural counties

the assessors, as they have cOllte to appreciate the inlportance of the

"rork, are giving to it eaeh year lllore eareful attention

anc1 are

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS

making their reports lllore nearly conlplete.

In those instances,

hovvever, in which it is apparent that the assessors' reports do not

justly present the truth of the situation, such arbitrary changes

as sound judgment dictates have been made.

Because of these

changes, it is not possible this year to present comparisons with a

series of former years, as has been done in the past, as such

com-parisons ,vould not reflect the actual situation accurately.

As

this

plan of modification of the assessors' reports ,viII be continued in

the future, comparisons ,viII become possible again in the 1926

report and vviII be published annually thereafter.

A study of the table appearing on the opposite page affords a

brief but comprehensive vie\v of the farming situation in 1924.

Except for the early spring rains, the season ,vas unusually

dry,

,vith the result that S0111e of the crops did not lllature and others

,vere so reduced in yield that vvith larger acreages planted the total

production was only

a

fraction of the preceding year's total. This

was particularly true of S011le of the crops grown on non-irrigated

land, chiefly corn and beans.

Although the revised assessors'

figures show an apparent increase in the acreage harvested in 1924,

compared vvith 1923, it is probable that such apparent increase

is

due more to the fact that the 1923 figures ,vere not changed by the

crop reporting service but ",vere accepted as transluitted, than to

any actual increase in farIning operations.

It is probable that the

acreage actually faruled last year ",vas no greater than the total in

1923, if it was as great.

All of the data appearing in this book ,viII be included later

in the Colorado Year Book, but it is published in this condensed

form for the convenience of those ,vho are chiefly interested in

agriculture, and to Inake it possible to distribute this inforulation

nlore "\videly than is possible ",vith the lllore expensive and

preten-tious Year Book.

COLORADO'S RELATION TO AGRICULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. 1924

CROP Acres U. S. 105,012,000 36,438,000 17,771,000 54,209,000 42,452,000 7.086,000 4,173,000 3,289,000 3.662,000 61.454,000 14,931,000 76.385,000 842,000 1,376,000 5,085.000 442,000 59,900 109.960 Acres Colorado 1.565,000 1,141,000 316,000 1,457,000 260,000 340,000 74,000 12,000 97,000 1,248.000 340.000 1,588,000 229,000 9,000 302.000 34,000 3,140 3,910 1.49 :~.13 1.78 2.69 0.61 4.80 1.77 0.36 2.65 2.03 2.28 2.08 27.20 0.65 5.94 7.69 5.24 3.G6 Production U. S. 2,436.513,000Bu. 590.037,000Bu. 282.636.000Bu. 872,673.000Bu. 1,541,900,000 Bu. 187,875.000Bu. 63.446,000Bu. 30,173,000Bu. 454.784.000Bu. 97.970,000T. 14,480,000T. 112,450,000T. 7,478,000

rr.

13.327,000Bu. 114,2:31,000Bu. 76.272T. 17,627.000 Bu. 973,000T. Production Colorado 15.650,000Bu. 15,974.000Bu. 5,056,000Bu. 21,030,000Bu. 6,500.000Bu. 8.160.000Bu. 740,000Bu. 36,000Bu. 11,640,000Bu. 2,584.000T. 340,000T. 2,92l1,OOO

rr.

2,548,000T.

no,ooo

Bu. 3,020,000Bu. 2,SHO T. 847,800Bu. 43,000T. 0.64 2.71 1.79 2.41 0.42 4.3!1 1.17 0.12 2.56 2.64 2.35 2.60 34.07 0.68 2.64 3.79 4.81 4.42 ---~.

__

. _

-(Note;~ This table includes crops grown on both irrigated and non-irrigated lands. and no accurate averages of production per acre can be reached from these figures. For such averages for both classes of land, other tables are published in this volume.)

ST A TE OF COLORADO

CROP ACREAGE, PRODUCTION AND VALUE, 1924 AND 1923

KINDS OF CROPS

Acreage

1924

Production Value

Ii

Acreage

1923

Production Value

Winter Wheat ________ 1,141,000 15,974,000Bu. $ 18,849,320 1,060,000 12,720,000Bu. S10,557,600 Spring Wheat ________ 316,000 5,056,000Bu. 5,966,608 347,000 5,552.000Bu. 4,608,160 Corn*

---

1.565,000 15,650.000Bu. 13,772,000 1,505,000 37,625,000Bu. 24,456,250 Oats for Grain _______ 260,000 6,500,OOuBu. 3,770,000 226,000 7,232,000Bu. 3,326,720 Barley for Grain_____ 340,000 8,160.000Bu. 5,875,000 300,000 8,700,000Bu. 4,698,000 Rye for Grain ________ 74,000 740,000Bu. 629,000 77,000 924,000Bu. 517,440 Emmer

---

10,000 260,000Bu. 195,000 5,000 150,000Bu. 90,000 Grain Sorghums for

5,760,000 Grain

---

302,000 3,020,000Bu. 2,718,000 360,000 7,200,000Bu.

Sweet Sorghums for

57,600 Seed

---

6,000 30,000Bu. 30,000 6,000 72,000Bu.

Sweet Sorghums for

1,620,000 Forage

---

81,000 162,000 T. 1,215,000 108,000 216,000 T.

Broom Co't'n __________ 34,000 2,890 T. 173,400Ii 48,000 8,760 T. 1,270,200 Field Peas for Grain_ 22,000 286,000Bu. 400,400 17,000 221,000Bu. 270,000 Dry Bean.::; ___________ 290,000 986,000Bu. 3.057,000 170,000 1.360,000Bu. 5,032,000 Potatoes

---

97,000 11,640,000Bu. 6,984,000 110,000 13.530,000Bu. 7,170.900 Sugar Beets __________ 229,000 2,548,000T. 20,868,120 164,000 1,890,000 T. 15,479,100 Root Crops for Stock

Feed

---

2,300 32.200T. 225,400 1.200 16,800T. 84,000 Cabbage (Com'l) _____ 3,910 43,000T. 408,000 5~270 75,400T. 558.000 Onions, Dry __________ 3,140 847,800Bu. 517,000 2,620 655,000Bu. 707,400 Cauliflower (Com'l)t-- 400 112.000Cr. 202,000 260 72,000Cr. 131,000 Tomatoes (for Mfg.)_ 1,880 14,700 T. 161,700 2,860 14,300 T. 143,000 Cantaloupes and

Honey Dew Melons_ 7,170 1,219,000Cr. 1,463.000 8,620 1.078,000Cr. 1,822,000 Cucumbers for Pickles 4,260 319,500Bu. 511,200 4,250 332,000Bu. 515,000 Cucumbers for Seed___ 2,156

_---.---

181,664 2,350

_---

164,500 Peas for Canning and

Market:j:

---

4.880 3,940T. 207.085 3,680 1,800 T. 124,000 Beans for Seed _______ 9,000 90.000Bu. 270,000 9,300 55,800Bu. 150,000 Lettuce (Com'I) -- ____ 5,600 554,000Cr. 909,000 6,710 1,134,000Cr. 1,508,909 Celery

---

800 240,000Cr. 487.000 670 179,000Cr. 252,000 Flax Seed ____________ 12,000 36,000Bu. 76,000 500 3,500Bu. 6,650 Millet Seed~--- 36,000 288,000Bu. 345,600 33.000 462,000Bu. 231.000 Alfalfa Seed§ _________ 2,200 11.000Bu. 112,000 4,170 16,670Bu. 142,054 Other Garden and Seed

Crops

---

7,41~

_---

741,900 8,000

_---

800,000 Tame Hay. All

VarietiesU 1.248,000 2,584,000 T. 29,199.200 1,203,000 2,463,000 T. 27.831,900 Wild Hay ____________ 340,000 340,000T. 3,298,000! 373.000 392,000T. 4,116,000 Farm Gardens0 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 7,300

_---

365,000 9,00(1

_---

360,000 Apples

---

3.024,000Bu. 3.931,000 3,010.000Bu. 2,860,000 Peaches

---

920,000Bu. 1.472,000 750,000Bu. 1,282,000 Pears

---

550,000Bu. 770,000 400,000Bu. 624,000

Cherries

---

650T. 78.000 5,500T. 660.000

Miscellaneous Fruits __

---550.000

I

=======

---

550,000 Sugar Beet Topsll-- ___ 229.000

_---

1,030,500 164.000

_---

738,000 6,427,215 $132,015,0971 6.144,290 $131,275,383

*This includes the entire acreage of corn harvested in every way and the value estimated as if it were all harvested for grain. For purposes of information the acreage of corn for silage is estimated

to

be about 5 per cent of the total area. It is estimated there are about 4,000 silos in the state with an average capac.ity of about 110 tons each. There is :llso much corn used for pasture and corn harvestd by some class of stoc.k. particularly in some sections. by lambs.

tThe total acreage of cauliflower reported by assessors in 192"1 was 750 acres, but only 400 acres is counted as commercial production.

-tTbetotal aCTeage of peas for commercial canning and nlarket was 4.480 acres.

carr~1Cl~~{~e;hfen~i:~s.seed and alfalfa seed are included in hay totals, so these acreages are not

~The varieties of tame hay with the estimated acreage of each variety for 1924. including the portIOns ~utfor seed, are as foHows: Alfalfa, 803,000: timothy, 44.000: red clover, 5.000; timothy and clover, mIxed, 122,000; sweet clover. 18,785: sudan grass. 39,442; all millet, 93,229; other tame grasses, 34.095; field peas, 72,ll_{15; grains cut green, 16,304: total, 1,248,000. (Note: Not all the millet and} field peas acTeage is cut for hay. These are partly harvested for seed and grain.)

oOnly the estimat€d value of fm"nl g-ardens is given. .

IIThis acreage is all accounted for in the acreage of sugar beets harvested and is not in-cluded in the total acreage figure.