In the northern section of Illinois, the dairy district of the state, the leading hay crop is timothy and clover mixed. Throughout the rest of the state timothy is the chief hay crop. In 1909 timothy constituted one-half and timothy and clover mixed one-fourth of the hay and forage crop.
The relative importance of the various kinds of hay and forage plants in Illinois is well shown in Table II.
The hay and forage crop of 1917 compared with that of 1909 shows a decrease in acreage of 15 per cent, a decrease in pro duction of 21 per cent, and an increase in value of 41 per cent.
Among the four leading crops of Illinois there were substantial increases in acreage of corn and oats and important decreases in acreage in wheat and hay and forage in 1917 as compared with 1909. The farm lands of Illinois are so fully occupied that the total acreage of crops can be changed but slightly, but changes in acreage in various crops may be important during a series of years, depending in part on crop yields, crop prices, or special demands such as are created by war conditions.
Sugar crops.—In the early days a large part of the sugar used on the farm was produced in the form of molasses made from the sorghum plant. The conditions of soil and climate required for sorghum production are identical with those of corn, and sorghum is still produced to some extent all over the state. A small amount of sugar is produced from the sugar maple in the wooded parts of the state.
Potatoes and other vegetables.—Potatoes rank next to wheat in acreage, production, and value. The crop of 1909 occupied 6 per cent as much land, produced 32 per cent as many bushels, and had 17 per cent of the value of the wheat crop of the same year. The potato crop of 1917 occupied 150,000 acres, yielded 13,000,000 bushels, and had a value of $20,000,000. This exceeded the crop of 1909 by 9 per cent in acreage, 11 per cent in yield, and 220 per cent in value.
The chief potato re gions of the United States are in Maine, New York, Michigan, and Wisconsin, on sandier soils and in a cooler climate than in Illinois. The Illinois product is grown almost wholly for local use. The areas of largest acreage lie near Chicago and St. Louis. The bulky nature of potatoes per unit of value, the difficulty in handling them for shipment, and their universal use as food necessitate as wide production as possible. Potatoes arc more widely grown
than any other crop in the United States. The census returns show that potatoes were reported from every county east of the Mississippi River except one at the southern extremity of Florida. West of the Mississippi they were reported from all counties except two in Colorado, where the altitude is too great for profitable agriculture of any kind, and several counties in the semiarid section of Texas.
Illinois, with 6 per cent of the population of the United States, produces but 3 per cent of the potato crop. Chicago and other cities are readily supplied from the commercial potato regions of Michigan and Wisconsin. Since Illinois soils and climate are better adapted to other crops, the potato is not likely to become of great commercial im portance. Potatoes were grown on 190,000 farms in Illinois. Corn is the only crop reported from a larger number of farms.
Sweet potatoes and yarns were grown on 20,000 farms mostly in the southern counties. The crop amounted to 1,000,000 bushels with a value of $500,000.
Vegetables other than potatoes, sweet potatoes, and yams play an important part in the food production of Illinois, but each kind is not reported separately. This group of food plants includes lettuce, radishes, onions, tomatoes, sweet corn, asparagus, rhubarb, and numerous other plants common in the gardens and on the truck farms of Illinois. The wide distribu tion of vegetable gardens in the state is shown by the fact that 120,000 acres of these gardens were found on 186,000 farms, and that 33,000 additional farms reported small vegetable gardens without estimating acreage or value. The product of 120,000 acres was valued at $9,400,000, or about $S0 per acre. About 30 per cent of this acreage belonged to 2,227 farms, each of which produced vegetables valued at $500 or more. The average acreage of vegetables on these farms was 16.5. These farms included the market gardens and truck farms which are carefully cultivated for profit. Their yield aver aged about $90 per acre.