Texas Almanac, 1947-1948 Page: 206
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206 TEXAS ALMANAC -1947-1948.
In Middle Western and Northern Texas Half
the crop is fed to livestock, the remainder
used for seed and for sale commercially.
Texas ranked twenty-third in production
among states in 1945. Rye was threshed or
combined on 452 farms in 1944, compared
with 372 in 1939.
Data below on rye are from the United
States Department of Agriculture (1945 and
1946 acreage not available)-
Harv'd Prod'n Farm
Year- Acres. Bushels. Value.
1900 ............. . 4,000 54,000 $36,000
1910 ................... 1,000 13,000 13,000
1920 .................. 11,000 143,000 214,000
1930 ................... 2,000 20,000 13,000
1935 ................... 3,000 34,000 21,000
1940 .................. 18,000 153,000 72,000
1941 .................. 17,000 221,000 133,000
1942 .................. 20,000 240,000 146,000
1943 .................. 25,000 175,000 168,000
1944 .................. 30,000 450,000 459,000
1945 ................... ... 189,000 215,000
1946 ................... ... 80,000 124,000
Forage Crops
In recent years, because of the expanding
livestock numbers, more forage crops have
been produced. Latest development in this
field is production of winter and summer
legume seed for market. These crops fit,
too, in soil conservation programs. Texas
Extension Service said a total of 8,000,000
pounds of winter legume seed were distrib-
uted in 1945 through the Federal Govern-
ment's materials and service program. An
estimated 10,500,000 pounds of winter seeds
were planted in 1945, against 8,000,000 In
1944. Acreage in winter legumes in the fall
of 1946 was estimated at 1,000,000. By crops,
production of legume seeds in 1945 was:
Sweet clover (summer) 3,702,767 pounds,
hairy vetch (winter) 468,422, bur clover (sum-
mer) 27500, Austrian winter peas (winter)
23,920, alfalfa (summer) 2,019,300, cowpeas
(summer) 2,419,963. soybeans (summer) 55,-
730, crotolaria (winter and summer) 15,730.
Biggest expansion is predicted for hairy vetch
In North and East Texas and as far west as
Wilbarger County. A few years ago it was
discovered the West Cross Timbers region
was an ideal producer of hairy vetch seed
which heretofore had been imported from
the Pacific Northwest Brown, Callahan,
Comanche, Eastland, Erath, Mills, Montague,
Palo Pinto and Wise Counties produced an
estimated 2,500,000 pounds in 1946. The
alfalfa seed industry has expanded greatly,
with Southwestern Common the popular va-
riety This industry is located in the Trans-
Pecos Irrigated area and around Vernon,
Barstow, Wolfforth. Lubbock and Wellington
In 1946 alfalfa seed production totaled 38.000206 TEXAS ALMANAC--1947-1948.
Harvested
Year- Acres.
1900 ............. 305,000
1910 ............. 400,000
1920 ............. 610,000
1930 ............. 491,000
1935 ............ 567,000
1940 .............1,262,000
1941 ............1,145,000
1942 ............1,492,000
1943 ............1,757,000
1944 ............1,536,000
1945 ....... .....1,431,000
1946 .............1,489,000Production
Tons.
473,000
460,000
659,000
479,000
637,000
1,480,000
1,330,000
1,408,000
1,510,000
1,482,000
1,344,000
1,454,000Farm
Value.
$3,216,000
5,520,000
8,831,000
5,988,000
5,096,000
11,248,000
10,640,000
14,221,000
27,180,000
26,380,000
23,923,000
26,460,000Wild Hays.
Figures below on Texas acreage, produc-
tion and value of wild hays are from the
United States Department of Agriculture:
Harv'd Production Farm
Year- Acres. Tons. Value.
1920 ...............194,000 213,000 $3,195,000
1930 ...............195,000 166,000 1,843,000
1935 ...............277,000 305,000 2,043,000
1940 ...............178,000 187,000 1,365,000
1941 ...............192,000 221,000 1,591,000
1942 ...............200,000 220,000 1,980,000
1943 ................194,000 204,000 3,162,000
1944 ...............231,000 243,000 3,985,000
1945 ...............212,000 223,000 3,479,000Texas Vegetable Crops
Commercial vegetable growing was the first
substantial diversification in Texas agricul-
ture, and its development has been compara-
tively recent. Texas annually ships 45.000 to
65.000 carlots a year. whereas in 1915 there
was little movement As late as 1923 only
17,000 were shipped. Acreage of truck crops in
1946 (except sweet and Irish potatoes) for
market and processing was 442,000 compared
with only 289,558 annual average from 1934-
1943. The census of 1945 showed that in 1944
vegetables and melons for sale were grown
on 63.091 farms Vegetables for farm home
use were grow n on 307.512 farms and were
valued at $27,939,886. more than double the
Nalue in 1939. Wartime demand for home-
grown food stimulated culture There were
an estimated 1,000.000 home gardens in each
of the war years Truck acreage for market
an 1946 was 396,600
Development of canning plants has stimu-
ated culture Truck crops for processing werevalued at $3,741,000 in 1946. Acreage of truck
for manufacture averaged only 24,248 from
1934-43, but in 1946 totaled 45,800 The Direc-
tory of Texas Manufacturers compiled by the
Bureau of Business Research, University of
Texas, in 1946 revealed the state has more
than 100 factories processing fruits and vege-
tables. In 1900 only seventeen plants oper-
ated with products valued at $226,000. In 1940
the census included ninety plants with prod-
ucts valued at $15,192,000.
Canning and preserving industry in Texas
increased more than 200 per cent in value
added by manufacture from 1930 to 1940,
compared with an increase of 0 5 per cent for
the nation as a whole. Factories in operation
in 1946 included: Vegetables 49 plants; fruit
(other than figs) 19, figs 5, fruit and vegeta-
ble juices 36, tomato products 37, citrus fruit
(not including juice) 6 and infants' foods
three There is some duplication in figures.
The directory shows greatest concentrationbushels, against only 17,100 for the 1934-43
average. Acreage comparably was 14,000.
against 6,300. Yield is from two to four
bushels an acre.
Sorghums for forage totaled 2,390,000 acres
in 1946, with production 2,920,000 tons. Yield
was 1.22 tons an acre. Sorghums for silage
that year totaled 373,000 tons.
Sudan grass, of the grain sorghum family.
furnishes summer grazing. A new sweet
sorghum is sweet Sudan, developed at the
Lubbock and Chillicothe experiment stations
by crossing Sudan grass with Leoti sweet
sorghum. It is palatable and yields 500 to
1,000 pounds of seed an acre. Stock eat the
dry forage after a seed crop has been har-
vested. Number of certified sweet Sudan
seed growers increased from only a few in
1944 to fifty with 3,922 acres in 1945.
Largest natural forage crop is Johnson
grass, particularly profuse in the Blacklands
and North Texas. Considerable native grass
hay is produced in the Red River Valley.
Rhodes grass is grown widely in South Texas.
Experiments are being made on more varie-
ties of clovers and field peas. There were ap-
proximately 30,000 trench silos in Texas dur-
ing 1945-pits in which feed is stored.
Tame Hays.
Data below on tame hays are from the
United States Department of Agriculture
(1946 figures are for "All Hays" as no break-
down of wild and tame hay was given for
that year):
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Texas Almanac, 1947-1948, book, 1947; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117136/m1/208/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.