Special attention is being paid to the cropping systems used on successful stock farms in all sections of the country and also to the maintenance of pastures and their place in the economy of the farm.

(IV) In the administration of the work of the Section of Farm-Management Field Studies and Demonstrations the country is grouped into three divisions as follows: The North Atlantic and North-Central States, the South Atlantic and South-Central States, and the Western States. In the cotton-producing States the demonstration work is conducted by the Farmer's Co-operative Demonstration Work. A division leader has charge of the work in each of the foregoing groups of States. Each of the geographic divisions mentioned is subdivided into groups of a few States each, and the division leader has an assistant or district leader in each of these groups. They devote their time mainly to the investigation of farm practice, but assist in the supervision of demonstration work. In the cotton States their whole time is devoted to investigations.

The objects to be accomplished by the work of the Section of Farm Management Field Studies and Demonstrations of the Office of Farm Management may be briefy stated as follows: 1) To carry to the farmer the results of scientific research on his behalf, as well as the results of the experience of other farmers, and to aid the farmer in applying these results to his work.

2) To reorganize and redirect the agriculture of the various sections of the country in such a way as to secure, on each farm, not only enterprises that are profitable in themselves, each being so conducted as to bring maximum net returns, but also to secure a system of enterprises that will permit the largest economical use of power, capital and labor possible under the conditions, and which will give, as nearly as possible, an even distribution of labor and a full utilization of equipment throughout the year.

(V) When the Office of Farm Management was organized and the work with grasses and forage plants transferred elsewhere, the work with the cacti and dry-land plants was retained, because of the personal interest of representatives of this office in certain important problems relating to these, and it has since been maintained in the Office of Farm Management. The first investigations of the cactus, as an economic plant, represented a study of farm and range practice in the use of these plants as forage for cattle. Much time has been spent in working out the cultural details of the cactus, when grown as a farm crop, and several feeding experiments have been conducted to determine its forage value.

The range investigations being carried on by this office are designed to secure accurate data upon the following subjects:

The possible recovery of run-down ranges of different types, under partial and complete rest, and the rates at which recovery occurs.

The possibility of improving the native ranges artificially.

The carrying capacity of the ranges, present, normal and possible.

An estimate of the area and geographic distribution of the open range, with a summary of published topographic and climatic data relating thereto.

The chemical composition of and the botanical and economic data concerning the different species of range forage plants.

Range management with different kinds of stock with and without fence.

Several years ago an area of over 50 square miles of badly overstocked and depleted open range land, in southern Arizona, was set aside as an experimental range, and placed under the control of this office. The land was fenced and the greater part of it has been allowed to recover naturally. The remainder was divided into several pastures and has been carrying stock, mostly cattle, all the time.

Thus far this experimental range has demonstrated that a range, in southern Arizona, will recover approximately its normal carrying capacity, in three to five years, if allowed complete rest.

The hay-cutting operations and the collecting and weighing of the spring feed are beginning to furnish accurate data on the actual amount of feed per acre produced annually on the protected range. These data and those obtained from the records of stock actually carried on adjoining measured areas will give something definite as to the normal carrying capacity of this region.

The work in range management relates to the various methods of management of stock, particularly cattle and sheep, upon the native ranges of the arid region. Data as to the cost of various operations, the construction and care of machinery and equipment, methods of handling stock, causes of loss of stock, and methods of disposing of the output are collected and summarized.

The data are obtained from experienced stockmen in different parts of the country working under different range, climatic, and commercial conditions.

58 - Changes in the Manner of Farming in the Rhine Country, and their Causes.

BRINKMANN, TH. Veränderungen in der Betriebsweise der rheinischen Landwirtschaft und ihre Ursachen.— Fühlings Landwirtschaftliche Zeltung, Year 61, Part 19, pp. 625-643. Stuttgart, October 1, 1912.

The changes which the present time has wrought in agriculture bear chiefly upon the methods of farming; nevertheless they are far-reaching in their effects.

As for the changes in the farming of the Rhine country, the writer states that, according to a recent publication of the German Council of Agriculture, the wages of farm labourers during the last thirty years have increased on average by 100 per cent., and in the western provinces the increase has been still higher. On the other hand statistics show that the prices of machines and implements have sunk, not only in an absolute sense but also in relation to the improvement of their performance and durability.

Artificial manures, namely those containing phosphoric acid or nitrogen, have become much cheaper since 1880, as can be seen from the following table:

1906-10

The oscillations in the prices of concentrated foods are less uniform, some being cheaper and others dearer.

The prices of the means of production form one factor in the conditions of production, and the prices of agricultural produce the other. In this connection the writer gives the decade averages of the prices of the most important agricultural staples in Prussia proper, reaching back for nearly a century. The earliest part of this period, which is characterised by a continuous rise in prices, is here omitted, and in the following table only the prices of the last decade are shown, considering the prices of the period 1871 to 1880 equal to 100.

In the next table the prices for the Rhine province are given; those from 1901 to 1905 = 100.

The writer then considers the consumption of artificials, which is yearly increasing, in connection with the intensity of farming.

The following table in which the yearly consumption of pure potash (K2O) in lb. per acre of cultivated atea is given, affords an idea of the increased consumption.

Mutton

Butter

A further change in farming is brought about by the extraordinary increase in the price of labour and the consequent necessity of using laboursaving machines. In an extensive table the writer shows what changes have taken place during the last thirty years in farming in the Rhineland. It appears thus that machines are not only used in the large farms but also in the smallest, for in 1907 an average of 35 per cent. of the farms measuring from 5 to 122 acres in extent, and nearly 6 per cent. of the smallest farms used large machines.

Changes on a large scale in the utilisation of the soil can only be perceived by examining a considerable period of time. The writer therefore collects data, for the period between 1878 and 1900, on the crops raised, arranged according to their destination. They are divided into five groups, and the percentage of the whole cultivated area that each occupies is given. The most striking changes in the areas devoted to the various crops are the following: The groups of purely forage plants and of those with a twofold destination have both gained ground, while since 1893 the area devoted to wheat has considerably diminished in all the districts. Similarly spring wheat and barley have lost ground, barley losing almost a quarter of its original area. Oats have sustained their price best of all. Oat straw has gained in importance as fodder, which is explained by the greater use of concentrateds together with straw, and especially oat straw, in the feeding of stock.

Very interesting also are the results of a table, drawn up by the writer, which shows how the extent of live stock rearing has changed during the last thirty years in the various classes of farms, grouped according to acreage. They prove, in accordance with what may be daily observed, that the amount of cattle kept by the smallest farms has everywhere diminished. On the other hand, they show that the small peasant farmers present already the greatest increase in their stock of cattle and that with the increased acreage of the farm both the amount of cattle and its increase from 1883 to 1907 grow less and less. Similarly in pig keeping, only that here the difference consists in the fact that the smallest farms take the lead considerably ahead of all the others, especially in the thickly populated Düsseldorf district.

The last thirty years have witnessed an extraordinary increase in the quantity of live stock kept, but it must be recognized that this increase has gradually declined; in fact, in its most important branch, namely cattle, the maximum has been passed, for since 1907 a backward movement has set in, nearly the same in all districts.

Though it is a fact that the profit on live stock has somewhat diminished during the last few years, the writer believes that the future prices of animal produce will be favourable to the farmer.

The difference in the consumption of meat and milk, which according to statistics still exists between the several parts of the country, between town and country, between large and small towns, and between the several classes of the population according to their degree of prosperity, lead to the conviction that if there is a branch of farming which holds out prospects of greater profits, it is the keeping of live stock for the production of meat and of milk.

59 The Remedies for Rural Depopulation in Great Britain.

STRUTT, HON. EDWARD GERALD, President of the Surveyors' Institute. Opening Address read at the ordinary General Meeting of the Surveyors' Institute, on November 11th, 1912. — Transactions of the Surveyors Institute, Session 1912-1913, Vol. XLV, Part I, pp. 1-42. London, November 11th, 1912.

One of the great questions now agitating the people of Great Britain is the decline of the agricultural population.

The following figures showing the people engaged in agriculture in England and Wales between 1881 and 1901 will illustrate the importance of this subject.

One of the most unsatisfactory features of the agricultural statistics is the continually increasing area of pasture land and the decrease in arable. The loss of 2 000 000 acres of arable land in Great Britain in the twenty years 1881-1901 probably threw out of work from 60 000 to 80 000 labourers at least during that period. The number of acres withdrawn from the plough since 1901 is about 942 000, making a decrease in arable land in thirty years of nearly 3 000 000 acres. It would therefore appear that one of the most effective ways of increasing the agricultural population would be to reconvert a considerable portion of these inferior pasture lands to their original use, which is that for which they are best fitted.

During the last eighteen years, on an estate in which the writer is interested in the east of England, careful field accounts have been kept of the expenses and receipts both on pasture and arable land, and certainly some striking results are shown which contradict the fashionable theory of writers on agriculture that corn growing is unprofitable, and that the farmer must now look entirely to his stock if he wishes to succeed in his venture.

These accounts represent two farms of roughly 2 000 acres, of which about three-fifths are arable land and two-fifths pasture.

Table I summarizes the net financial results per acre over 1) the whole eighteen years; 2) the first twelve years and 3) the last six years. The average profit per acre shown has been arrived at after charging all expenses, including rent, rates and taxes, but excluding interest on capital.