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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS BULLETIN
ISSUED WEEKLY

Vol. XIX Marcu 27, 1922 No. 31

[Entered as second-class matter December 11, 1912, at the post office at Urbana, Illinois, under the

Act of August 24, 1912. Acceptance for mailing at the special rate of postage provided for in
section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized July 31, 1918,]

ILLINOIS AGRICULTURAL POLICY

A CONFERENCE

at the

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

January 26 and 27
1922

PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
URBANA

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Eugene Davenport

PAPERS
PRESENTED AT A CONFERENCE ON

ILLINOIS AGRICULTURAL POLICY

January 26 and 27
1922

PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
URBANA

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

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CONTENTS

Coes mC TORY STATEMEN DY opie wa sleds es 7

& I. A QUARTER-CENTURY OF AGRICULTURAL

il.

PROGRESS IN ILLINOIS: A REVIEW OF
ACCOMPLISHMENTS

A System of Permanent Agriculture

RAT BE ATTEN «n'a 'a(eicyss oleretayetanass; ciel suelarsietsioeieis eretena eltiers ers cieisie-e's 11
Developments in the Dairy Industry

NSA evel EBRUIRN GO vars) tava aiticleialaiate sfafe since isn lofeiialaieininvete/ vinysiste-s ais 16
Developments in Horticulture

Aap @ PES TEARS rivcyetatle a miele ocerapstoiatas diesels Oleraceccletcreletero sats alenslererastela are Pf
The Work of the Agricultural Experiment Station

Mem ble MUD ED avetc ce (a care tcis cei cratereretersieicis/en eres sia rataie’ sla acre! slereie,s 'a'scausis 37
The Work of the College of Agriculture

AIRED eed ep Be AUNUKGUING 2 cfettey icra e/elsitaera) al neriolet tern siete) sipisye isle, e/aTshers) silos veie's' a 46

NEWER PHASES OF AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS

Newer Problems in Soil Treatment
DION Rae Deas VACANT es cieriaraseret st cteralcvale erm star ay sic /aialianatte et cha /ehelo/ cyaibre’eliels 56

Business Aspects of Farming
ARES Aa EWING. oc ihc we cc celntnseticsmeeis ss ree. miaaee 61

The Farm Bureau
eA P PER OUISTRENTS Get ipteie jee rcs as cles oly aie aariayailellel-eh sia. biti ails a Javeye/sjaueis' ew esa 71

The Illinois Agricultural Association
DOF OS, TOME RON e's ata suis 00 sin ee ee crereliiel ately a ayoinyd jemi atielels oleae 79

An International Crop Reporting Service
TI Tes SOOMCES ails a's) iab's sleiela von isis he aamisy beste sien seeas 82

Financing Farming
ee LINE es ght urachaid wise taciasts has Fad seis Mia ea Lie ed hea e 87

Ill. AGRICULTURE IN ITS RELATION TO OTHER

INTERESTS
; PAGE
The Business of Farming in Some of Its Larger Aspects
"RHOMAS’ NIXON CARVERG Socios 2c curl jets elestetcn eee etna aa ete 91
The University and the Farm
Davin KINLEY: (ict/s (55 wget .os/sle eislsie iste tieto's Feral! eel asin etalon ecetere 101

IV. NEXT STEPS IN AGRICULTURAL DEVELOP-
MENT IN ILLINOIS: A PROGRAM FOR A
BETTER BALANCED AGRICULTURE

The Introduction of New Crops
Cy Ti MEE TTARR Ys 5 cio ie note tee ec alate em as. ove ere tone orien cle ener eh 111

Farm Forestry in Illinois

Can Illinois Come Back as a Stock Breeding Ground ?
W'S. CORSA... « i's &. jsyete cian erties tare tote tero ehale tok Velev ese ee eter Salen enor 122

The Outlook for Live Stock in Illinois Agriculture
H.W. MUMEPORD 24:2. sues ore let eee oie ete aerate 128

Roadside Improvement

The Country Home
J. V. STEVENSON

V. THE PLACE OF THE AGRICULTURAL COL-
LEGE AND EXPERIMENT STATION IN AN
ILLINOIS PROGRAM FOR AGRICULTURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Physiological Bases of Crop Production
AV tilin f BS UIRLTSONs oc cicre a satere/olajele ctetesatevcsolints/Cinpaynse trim: Sane! oye) 0"eih/e's)

Economic Phases of Farming
WOE ELANDSGHIN 215 e)ciie'ctc Cova eta/eie isis 0) Sielatelore/ ale etuiolele sielsieisie vin im ¢

The Agricultural Extension Service
Dy Meee h IVIOSHVER. ore + cyeisiareici naa ctoln's hulelale sieve w/e’ sreie|m\erslenatietelee'ola.e

Some Next Steps in the Work of the Agricultural College
and Experiment Station
ISUGENED DAVENPORT) voiercicveicie ae siceie civictels <\cleteiavelelete.oyels @)s)e.austeheys

SOM Peete TC pA Dh irras's Sisk Reve ls patel te eben ie ow sb gn a apace

INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT

HE retirement of Dr. Eugene Davenport from the deanship of

the College of Agriculture at the close of the present University
year will close an era in the agricultural educational history in Illinois.
His withdrawal comes at a time of depression in the farming interests
of the state. For both these reasons it seemed to me well to call a
conference of people interested in agriculture, to review the agricul-
tural development of the state from the educational, scientific, and
practical viewpoints for the twenty-five years through which Dean
Davenport has served, and to try to frame, if possible, the main out-
lines of a general policy of agricultural development for the state in
the next quarter of a century.

Accordingly, a call for such a conference was issued on January

4, 1922, as follows:

A CALL FOR A CONFERENCE ON ILLINOIS
AGRICULTURAL POLICY

The present wide depression in agriculture has again called the
attention of the country sharply to the fundamental position of agri-
culture in the economic life of the people. The condition of the
farmer through the past twelve months has impressed upon people’s
minds more firmly than ever the idea that the prosperity of all of us
rests primarily upon the prosperity of those of us who are engaged in
agriculture.

The present condition of depression in agriculture, whatever
the immediate causes of that depression, enforces upon our attention
two important problems. One is the early relief from the prevalent
economic pressure under which the farmers are living. ‘The other
is the factors at work to influence and give direction and character to
American agriculture in the next quarter of a century. While the
present depression is, speaking in a general way, a result of the war,
there are reasons for thinking that it is part of a readjustment, not only
of temporary conditions, but of conditions which in character are more
permanent. In other words, American agriculture probably reached
a point within the past decade at which it was to assume a different
character from what it had in the past generation. ‘There is ground
for the belief that much of our cultivated land under prevalent prac-

7

tises and existing knowledge, has reached the point of diminishing re-
turns. It has become a serious question whether large-scale agronomic
farming, as hitherto practised, is likely to be as successful in the future
on certain acres of our land as it has been in the past fifty years. Re-
duction of fertility, increase of population, changes in economic rela-
tions of agricultural groups and classes, as well as other influences, are
factors in deciding on this point. Our beef-raising industry has
changed geographically and economically as well as in many of its
practises. Areas that a few years ago were largely devoted to suc-
cessful cattle breeding are no longer suitable for that purpose. Old
farming practises whether in large-scale or small-scale agriculture, are
changing and will undoubtedly change more. We must find answers
to such questions as these:

How can farming be made to pay, especially in those parts of the
country where the value of farm land has largely risen?

What attitude shall the community take towards the increase in
tenant farming?

Can anything be done to restore cattle production on a large
scale in states like Illinois, which have lost their preéminence in that
industry ?

What effect is the growth of cities having on the size and char-
acter of nearby farms?

How can we insure the permanent retention of the fertility of
the soil ?

Is there any system which might be adopted whereby the adapta-
tion of different crops to different soils may be more accurately de-
termined, and the use of proper crops on soils be insured ?

What can be done to preserve the country home?

Aside from these questions affecting permanent policy, we should
find a method soon of relieving the present pressure on the farmer.
Agricultural finance is one of the pressing problems of the day.

While the topics referred to in the preceding paragraph, and
many others of like character that will suggest themselves to the
reader may be asked with reference to the country as a whole, it is
peculiarly our duty in Illinois to ask them with reference to Illinois
agriculture. It is fitting, too, that the question should be discussed
at the seat of the College of Agriculture and the State Experiment
Station which the people have established to aid them in the solution
of these and similar live problems. For that reason, after conference

with my colleagues at the University and others interested, I am call-
ing a conference of farmers, scientists, and educators in agriculture to
be held at the University of Illinois College of Agriculture on Thurs-
day and Friday, January 26 and 27, 1922, to consider, as far as time
will permit, the general subject of the future of agriculture in Illinois
in the next twenty-five years. What should be the agricultural policy
of Illinois? Can we decide in advance on suitable methods of tillage
for the different soils of the state? Can we restore our preéminence
in beef cattle production? What can we do, to make conditions of
living in the country sufficiently attractive to maintain the balance of
desire for country and city life so far as that desire is determined by
general living conditions? What are the relations of farming to in-
dustry and trade?

These and other questions will be discussed.

In the name of the University, and particularly of the College of
Agriculture and the Agricultural Experiment Station, I take pleasure
in inviting all citizens of the state who are interested in the matter, to
be present at this conference and to take part in its discussions.

At the conclusion of the Conference a committee was appointed
to consider the propositions advanced and discussed and to report at
as early a date as compatible with thoro consideration, whatever rec-
ommendations or proposals appear to the committee to be helpful in
determining the general direction of our agricultural development.
The committee appointed consists of :

Cuarwes A. Ewin, Decatur (Chairman) A. N. Assort, Morrison

FRANK I. MANN, Gilman Jos. R. FuLKERSON, Jerseyville
EucENE D. Funk, Shirley H. T. Ratney, Carrollton

W. S. Corsa, Wiite Hall J. V. STEVENSON, Streator
GeorcE A. Fox, Sycamore Harvey J. Sconce, Sidell

W. S. PERRINE, Centralia HERBERT W. Mumrorp, Urbana
W.N. Rupp, Blue Island WatrTer F. HAnpscHIN, Urbana

The papers presented at the Conference are printed in this pam-
phlet. The committee’s report will be printed separately when it is

received.
Davip KINLEY
President

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A SYSTEM OF PERMANENT AGRICULTURE

RatpH ALLEN, Delavan

r@|N ORDER to understand better the system of soil fertility,

| as advocated in Illinois, one should be somewhat familiar
with the motives which inspired Dr. Cyril G. Hopkins, its
originator and promulgator. ‘The ultimate goal toward
which Dr. Hopkins labored was the solution of the problem
of an unlimited food supply for man, even when his num-
bers were constantly increasing. He realized that the decadence of
empires and of civilization was primarily due to underfed, underde-
veloped peoples, caused by the/depletion of the soil’s power to produce
sufficient food; and that the powerful people of the earth were those
only who lived upon the new and unexhausted lands.

The progressive movement of civilized man has been westward—
new lands have been occupied and exhausted until the circle of ex-
ploitation of the earth is about completed. Dr. Hopkins realized that
the decadence of man as a civilized race must therefore follow, unless
a system of soil renewal could be discovered whereby the effect of
man’s occupancy of the land could be reversed from soil destroying to
soil building. In this process he knew that the farmer must be the
active agent; therefore the farmer must receive the first consideration.
The farmer must prosper. He must realize a compensation for his
labor comparable with that of other industries. His business should
pay sufficiently to bring back quickly the money paid out in the pro-
cess of renewing the soil. In other words, agriculture to exist must
be profitable. Dr. Hopkins’ object, therefore, was to bring about a
permanent human food supply, at the same time looking out for the
well-being and profit of the farmer.

A System TuHatT Is PROFITABLE

Before the time of Dr. Hopkins, soil investigators had learned
many things relating to the use of chemical elements in producing the
growth of plants. But to secure the benefits of this knowledge in
such a wholesale way that all farmers could practise the system and
keep the cost of production below the money value of the increase in
the crop, it was necessary to discard every expenditure possible. Dr.
Hopkins realized that the success of a system of agriculture which
would produce an abundance of food for all would depend upon free-
dom from competition between farmers for their supply of the

11

12 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

elements of fertility. He therefore incorporated into the Illinois Sys-
tem of Permanent Agriculture the use of such natural forces and re-
sources as are available, free and equally to all farmers alike, and
which cost nothing ; instead of resorting to the costly processes of fer-
tilizer manufacture in order to accomplish this purpose. This principle
is one of the distinctive features of the Illinois system of permanent
agriculture. For example, in pursuance of this theory, he used bac-
teria to get the soil nitrogen, discarding the commercially prepared,
highly expensive forms of nitrogen. He used soil acids of decompo-
sition to render soluble the insoluble phosphates in place of those com-
mercially and more expensively prepared. The mineral elements
needed for the soil he secured as nearly as possible in their most natural
forms; as, for example, raw rock phosphate, prepared only by being
finely ground ; and lime, used in the form of coarsely ground limestone.

Fertititry Is MAINTAINED AND INCREASED

He recognized the fact that every crop grown takes something
out of the soil, and no matter how great the resources of fertility may
be, unless that which is taken out is returned, the soil will eventually
be exhausted. On the other hand, he saw that with a system of soil
treatment which would provide for the return to the soil of those
elements which are removed, the fertility of soil so treated could be
maintained indefinitely; and in case more was returned to the soil
than was taken from it, such soil would steadily increase in
productiveness.

Still further, he realized that lands naturally barren, or lands
long since exhausted by farming and abandoned by man, could be made
once more productive by the same process. A very distinctive feature
of the Illinois system of permanent soil fertility is that it builds up
the soil to a permanently higher state of fertility. We may take, by
way of example, the practise of applying to the brown silt loam type
of soil, which contains twelve hundred pounds of phosphorus per acre
in the stratum turned by the plow, one ton per acre of fourteen per
cent raw rock phosphate during each five-year rotation. After de-
ducting the loss of phosphorus occasioned by taking off two sixty-
bushel crops of corn, a sixty-bushel crop of oats, a thirty-bushel crop
of wheat, and a crop of two tons of clover, there would be accumulated
in the soil at the end of four rotations, or twenty years, a quantity of
unused phosphorus sufficient to build up the phosphorus content of the
soil to well above the standard for fertile soils, which is two thousand
pounds per acre. ‘This is in contradistinction to other systems of fer-

PERMANENT AGRICULTURE 13

tilizing the soil which have in view only the effect upon the immediate
crop and which commonly apply less phosphorus per acre than the
crops remove during each rotation; with the result that at the end of
the twenty-year period, there is a depletion instead of an increase in
the total phosphorus content of the soil.

DIFFERENCES IN SOILS RECOGNIZED

Another characteristic feature of the Illinois system of permanent
soil fertility is that it recognizes the differences in soils. It takes into
consideration the fact that they differ in physical character and in
chemical composition, and that their treatment must vary according
to these differences. In the beginning of Dr. Hopkins’ work, there-
fore, the necessity for a thoro knowledge of all the soils of the state
was apparent, and a survey of the soil types of the state was com-
menced and is still going on. Among other things, this survey aims
to determine what the character of these types is, both chemical and
physical; what constitutes the differences between one type and an-
other ; where the different kinds of soils are to be found, together with
their exact location and boundaries.

Realizing still further the necesssity of recognizing the differences
in soils, experimental fields were established and are still maintained
by the Experiment Station on varying types of soils, in order to test
out, by means of growing crops, the different systems of soil treatment,
and to learn how the soils respond in crop production to applications
of different elements of plant food. ‘These fields are, by long-time
leases or by deed, devoted permanently to these soil experiments; so
that with the lapse of time, the effect of the system on the permanency
of the improvement in the soil will become known.

Two systems of farming have been in operation on many of the
experiment fields. One is called the live-stock system and the other,
the grain system. ‘The object of maintaining these two systems is not
to determine whether one is better than the other, but rather to de-
termine ways to maintain the fertility of the soil under either system.
The grain system is applicable to the great grain-growing areas, where
almost all the grain is sold from the farm, none being fed to live stock
and no manure made. It consists in substituting for manure the use
of leguminous catch crops, all crop residues being plowed under. ‘The
live-stock system includes the use of manure in such amounts as can be
made from the crops grown. Under either system, the crop rotation
and the supply of minerals are the same, the humus and nitrogen of the
soil are maintained in about the same amounts, and the crop yields
obtained are also the same.

14 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

wat BASED ON EXTENSIVE INVESTIGATIONS

The extensive organization for soil investigations put into opera-
‘tion by the Illinois Experiment Station under the direction of Dr.
/ Hopkins is the most extensive of any that has ever been operated
and should be continued. ‘The soil survey should be completed as
rapidly as possible while there is yet time to complete it under the
present direction, not only in order to carry out the present standard
of detail and accuracy but to give it that uniformity of classification
which can best be attained in work of this kind when it is done by the
same individual. I would recommend that the soil experiment fields
be fully continued, for the longer they are operated, the greater is the
worth of the results. New and unforeseen results and problems are
appearing in the long-time operated fields, which did not show earlier.
These fields, which are also used as demonstration fields to show the
effects of soil treatment on crop production to farmers, are visited an-
nually by many farmers and landowners. A community interest in
them has already developed, and I believe the people would resent
anything which endangered their continuance.

A PERMANENT AND STEADY Foop SUPPLY

To sum it all up: The thing which distinguishes the Illinois
System of Permanent Agriculture is its object ; which is to bring about
a permanent and steadily increasing human food supply, limited more
by human labor than by earth’s resources. ‘The one condition is that
the system must be profitable as a business, for if agriculture cannot
prosper it cannot continue. ‘The system is distinctive in that it may
be practised equally by all farmers, with little competition between
one farmer and another. As far as possible, it displaces costly human
effort in the form of commercial fertilizers by using instead the free-
to-all natural forces and resources. It solves the problem of treat-
ment specifically for each and every type of soil. It provides in a
practical way for the return to the soil of each of the elements of plant
food taken from it by cropping or by leaching, and in such a generous
way that more is actually given back than is taken out, so that the
final replenishment of the earth’s soils is assured. In short, the sys-
tem builds up the soil. It brings back again to profitable productive-
ness lands long since barren and abandoned; and it shows the way by
which all lands that can be cultivated may, as time goes on, become
capable of producing more and more food.

°

PERMANENT AGRICULTURE 15

Doctor Hopkins’ LirE Work

The solution of the problem of the human food supply is the cul-
mination of Dr. Hopkins’ life work. It is a thing complete in itself.
I liken it to the discovery by Columbus of a new continent: the dis-
covery was complete in the first voyage, others could develop his find-
ings. So Dr. Hopkins’ great life work was complete when he devised
the system of agriculture which showed the way to change the habit
of man from soil ruin to soil building; but the development of this
great work, like that of the discovery by Columbus, will take cen-
turies,

It is almost impossible for me to think of the Illinois system of
permanent agriculture without continually having in mind the per-
sonality of Dr. Cyril G. Hopkins, its author; and I have referred to
him in this paper frequently. ‘There were others who were intimately
associated with him and who gave essential help in the development
of this soil system. ‘Two of these were with him so long and were so
essential to the success of his plans that I feel I should mention them.
In writing this, I speak from personal knowledge of the relationship
existing between Dr. Hopkins and them. ‘The first, Professor J. G.
Mosier, has charge of the soil survey; and it was his skill in soil class-
ification and accuracy of work that achieved the reliability of the
survey, without which the survey would have had little value. ‘The
second, Dr. Eugene Davenport, took an active and essential part in
the development of the Illinois system of permanent agriculture; and
his influence pervaded every feature of Dr. Hopkins’ work. Primarily
a soil student, thoroly informed in the soil literature of the day, having
already commenced the system of soil investigations in Illinois by
laying out a complete system of soil experiments at the University Ex-
periment Station and in the southern part of the state, Dr. Davenport
was eminently prepared to cooperate through the whole course of Dr.
Hopkins’ investigations. ‘This relationship amounted really to in-
terdependence and, it seems to me, was essential to the formation of
the Illinois system of permanent agriculture.

Dr. Hopkins’ discovery stands out as a distinct endeavor. It
was new, unheard of, unthought of. He was the first to call the
world’s attention to the thought of safeguarding and making a plan
for the permanent food supply through the conservation of the soil.

DEVELOPMENTS IN THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

N. W. HeEpsurn, Peoria
OX] N THE field of dairy husbandry we find a natural division
= PB \

occurring between production, on the one hand, and the
manufacture and sale of dairy products, on the other. The
two are so interdependent, however, that any review of the
development of dairying would not be complete without
considering both phases of the industry. It is almost
impossible to point out the progress, either in the production or
the manufacture and traffic in dairy products during the past twenty-
five years, without first going back into the period just preceding the
time in question.

It was only natural that Illinois should, in the early days, de-
velop as a grazing state. Her almost boundless prairies, rich in native
grasses, furnished ideal forage for cattle and sheep. With a scanty
population, there was no particular demand for milk or butter or
cheese, except to satisfy the individual needs of the family. With the
increased production of grains, particularly corn, it was only another
step to feed these grains to live stock to fatten them for market. And
thus was built up the system of feeding and fattening animals, many
of which were raised on the ranches farther west. It was not until
1855-1860, with the opening of a market for whole milk in Chicago,
that there was any great stimulus toward the production of dairy pro-
ducts in Illinois. Since that time, the development has been rapid.
Broadly speaking, we can classify producers under two heads. ‘The
first group includes those farmers who derive their major source of in-
come from the sale of dairy products; the product which they produce
is for the most part whole milk, and they are located generally in close
groups around the larger cities. Over against this group is one which
is much more widely distributed, and which derives its revenue prin-
cipally from the sale of cream; in this group dairying constitutes
merely an important side line. ‘The development in these two groups
has been simultaneous, tho the factors causing the growth have been
somewhat different.

Factors RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRODUCTION

In a general way we may say that four factors have been largely
responsible for the development of production. ‘They are: first, the
introduction and utilization of the silo; second, the centrifugal cream

16

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY 17

separator; third, the discovery of a simple test for fat in milk; and
fourth, better and more rapid methods of transportation, together
with the development of refrigeration.

It is interesting to know that the first silo in Illinois, and indeed
in the United States, so far as we have records to show, was built by
Sidney Hatch, of Spring Grove, in 1873. ‘The real development of
the silo, however, has occurred during the last quarter of a century.
We have now come to regard the silo and the use of silage as so
important in economical milk production that few dairymen indeed
would attempt to produce milk without them. DeLaval, when he
applied the principle of centrifugal force to the separation of fat from
the other constituents of milk, was truly a benefactor to the small
farmer who was then producing butter as a side line. Until the dis-
covery of the “Babcock test”? for fat in milk, there never had been a
satisfactory basis for establishing the selling price of that product.
With the introduction and general use of this simple test it became
possible to differentiate between milk carrying different percentages of
fat. This gave a measure of value which had hitherto been impossible.
It tended to stabilize the market, and gave a confidence to the producer
which he had not felt before. Furthermore, it gave him an oppor-
tunity to measure the production of his cows and to get production
over to more nearly a business basis. ‘The dairyman was keen to see
the advantage of knowing the production of each cow in his herd.
This in turn led to the development of cow-testing associations ; which
have shown a marked growth during the last ten or a dozen years.
In fact, from one cow-testing association in 1910 which tested about
three hundred cows, we have gone to twenty-six associations in 1922,
which have tested nearly eleven thousand cows. Undoubtedly the
fat test for milk has been a big factor in the development of production.

Better and more rapid methods of transportation, together with
the use of refrigerator cars, have materially widened the zone of
whole-milk production. In fact it is now possible to deliver fluid milk
on the central market over a distance of three hundred miles in as
good condition as it would have been delivered in one-tenth that dis-
tance forty years ago. Indeed it is reported that during a recent milk
strike in the St. Louis region, milk was shipped in considerable quan-
tity from the state of Michigan and arrived in good condition. The
same development in transportation has aided the cream producer, and
has made possible the establishment of the large centralizers for the
manufacture of this cream into butter.

18 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

Finally, it would not be possible to discuss the question of pro-
duction during the past twenty-five years without making mention
of the mechanical milker. ‘The last quarter of a century has seen
the development of the milking machine from its merest beginning to
its present extended use. "There may be some question as to how
much machine milking has stimulated production, and there may be
some question now as to its ultimate success, but certain it is that it has
been an important factor in production and should receive a great deal
of attention in the years to come.

Dairy Propucts

In Illinois the manufacture and traffic in dairy products is now
less than seventy-five years old. Prior to 1850 little or no attention
was given to any form of dairying. Butter-making at that time was
considered one of the household duties, carried on principally to supply
the family needs for butter, the excess being taken to the store for
what was termed in those days “store pay.” ‘This resulted in the
accumulation of miscellaneous lots of butter of inferior quality, which
was packed in boxes or barrels and sold in the East as Western butter.
Thus, in the early days the Middle West established a reputation for
inferior dairy products, which it took years to overcome.

Naturally, as soon as more cows were kept than were needed to
supply home demands, one of the first forms of commercializing the
industry was that of selling whole milk. This branch of the industry
may be said to have begun in 1852, when P. H. Smith, of Elgin, took
one eight-gallon can of milk to the Northwestern station and shipped
it to the old City Hotel in Chicago. From that time on until now
the industry has grown until we could not measure the calamity that
would result if the supply of thousands of such cans were shut off
from the city of Chicago for a single day.

In 1877 the Chicago Journal published the following article;
which not only shows the development of the city milk business but
also gives the public view of the business at that time:

The item of milk for daily consumption in a city like Chicago is some-
thing enormous. This supply must come from the rural districts, and within
a limited range, as it it not found desirable to transport the fluid too great a
distance. Coming pure from the farms, it might become butter if indulged
with too long a ride. The great bulk of the supply for Chicago comes from
Cook, DuPage, Kane and McHenry counties, the famous Fox River valley
furnishing three-fourths. ‘Throughout these counties are hundreds of splendid

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY 19

farms entirely devoted to dairying, and the milk is either shipped to Chicago
per rail or sold to the numerous factories where it is manufactured into butter
and cheese.

About the year 1860 the number of dairy cows kept had in-
creased to such an extent that more milk was produced than could be
handled as such, and with this oversupply came the temporary rise of
the cheese industry in Illinois. ‘The cooperative system was soon
inaugurated, and instead of the manufacturer looking for a purchaser,
the purchaser came to the manufacturer. The Elgin Board of Trade
was established in 1872, where purchaser and producer could meet
on middle ground.

The rivalry between the factories as to the price they would pay
for milk led to the practise of taking off a little cream. Another
dealer, in order to meet this kind of competition, would dip off a little
more; and so on. ‘They added the buttermilk, cooked very slightly,
salted but little, and hurried up the curing as fast as possible. The
dealers soon began to complain and there was no longer the great de-
mand for Illinois cheese. ‘The reputation of Illinois cheese was gone.
In 1865 Illinois had seventeen cheese factories; this number had in-
creased to forty-six in 1870. By 1890 many factories were engaged
in the manufacture of filled cheese, which increased rapidly until
about 1896, when a law was passed prohibiting filled cheese. Within
a few months Illinois dropped almost to the bottom as a cheese pro-
ducing state; and today there are only about fifteen factories making
cheese.

Following closely on the fall of the cheese industry we read of
the development of the creamery industry; which, in the main, Is
familiar to most of you. About 1870 the matter of establishing a
creamery in Elgin began to be discussed, and it was Dr. Joseph Tefft,
of Elgin, who was instrumental in establishing the first butter factory
west of the Lakes. It was here, in a factory superintended by J. H.
Wanzer, with the help of some of the stockholders’ wives, that the
first creamery butter west of the Lakes was made. ‘The second season
this factory made 80,000 pounds of butter. For atime many factories
made both butter and cheese; and even now we find, scattered over
the state, creameries which were originally designed for the dual pur-
pose of manufacturing both cheese and butter. ‘The second creamery
was probably that of I. A. Bois, of Marengo. ‘Thus the industry de-
veloped until in 1883 there were about four hundred factories. In
1885 one of the first creameries opened in southern Illinois at Sparta.
From this time on, the industry grew rapidly until 1898, at which

20 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

time there were over five hundred factories in Illinois. | Many of
these so-called cooperative creameries were established through pro-
motive schemes directed largely by creamery supply houses. Ninety
per cent of these plants were financial failures.

DEVELOPMENT IN THE FIELD OF Datry Propucts DuRING
THE Past "TWENTY-FIVE YEARS

With this background in mind, the developments in the field of
dairy products during the past twenty-five years constitute a history of
marvelous growth and achievement, made possible through the com-
bined effort of business acumen and scientific achievement. ‘Today,
under the list of dairy products we include: whole milk for drinking
purposes, condensed milk, dry milk, ice cream, butter and cheese, with
the respective accessory products or by-products, under which may be
included perishable soft cheese, dry and condensed buttermilk, milk
drinks, whey, casein, and casein products. In the period just de-
scribed, these products were considered as isolated units of the industry,
having little or nothing in common so far as their manufacture and
distribution was concerned. ‘Today we think of them and deal with
them in terms of their respective relationship, determined largely by
their relative perishability. For instance, if we take a large consum-
ing center like Chicago and make a study of the dairy activity sur-
rounding it, we find first a zone producing milk for city consumption.
Just outside this zone and somewhat overlapping it, we find a zone in
which the milk produced, together with a portion of the surplus milk
from the inner zone, goes into condensed milk, powdered milk, and
ice cream. Farther out, with poorer transportation facilities, yet
situated in the region of good production, we find the cheese factory ;
and still farther out, in the non-dairy regions, we find the cream pro-
duced for butter-making purposes. During the period under discus-
sion, these zones have been gradually pushed out to fill the require-
ments of a milk supply for our large cities, one effect of which has
been to crowd the cheese industry out of Illinois territory.

Crry MILK

The providing of our consuming centers with milk for direct
consumption has grown, during the past twenty-five years, to be a
tremendous industry. From the small beginning described earlier in
this paper as P. H. Smith’s efforts to furnish milk to the growing city
of Chicago, the industry has grown to a point where the Nation’s milk

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY ot

bills last year totaled about one billion dollars. During the period
under discussion this growth represents an effort to keep pace with the
growing population in our consuming centers, rather than any marked
increase in our per capita consumption.

Accompanying this enormous growth in the volume of business,
there has been a corresponding improvement in the handling of the
product. We have passed from the stage of so-called “dip milk” to
a highly specialized system, extending from the farm to the consumer,
under which a thoroly safe, pasteurized product is delivered to the
consumer’s door in an original sterilized container. ‘Thus the city
milk business has passed out of the hands of the street peddler into
the hands of large organizations who may justly be called “‘specialists”
in this branch of the dairy industry. ‘These advances have been made
possible largely through the joint effort and cooperation of the pro-
ducer, the business man, the scientist, boards of health, and machinery
men. Over twenty years ago the scientist pointed out the relation
between public health problems and a city’s milk supply, and today
our whole program of milk distribution is built around the one idea
that the consumer must have an adequate supply of healthful milk at a
reasonable price. ‘The real milk man has been shaping his business
with this one idea in mind. His efforts are represented: First, by
consistent field work in the country looking toward an improved sup-
ply. Here he has been assisted materially by the scientist, who has
furnished not only the standards but also the means for measuring the
quality, so far as this can be done. Second, nothing that modern
skill or science could suggest has been left undone in the plant toward
the turning out of the very highest quality product. In fact, there
is no food today surrounded by so many precautions as is our modern
milk supply. Probably no greater single development for the handling
of milk has been accomplished than the invention of our modern equip-
ment for perfect pasteurization,—a process almost universally recog-
nized as a necessity for a safe milk supply. Here we might justly
add that the machinery firms have spent millions of dollars in the de-
velopment of machines, all of which have been periodically junked and
replaced by something more efficient; until the operation of putting
the vast quantity of milk through a city plant today, from the re-
ceiving to the delivery door, represents almost none of what might
be called “hand labor.” Another branch of this same industry, grow-
ing largely under the direction of the scientist, is the certified milk
industry, and while I do not wish to dwell on this phase of the subject,
it is worthy of comment that the first certified milk of which we have

22 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

any record was that which H. B. Gurler, one of the pioneers in dairy-
ing, shipped from this state to the Paris Exposition in 1900.

Like all other developments, the supplying of a city with the
proper kind of milk has met with its share of opposition, from unin-
formed doctors, civic organizations, health officials, and politicians;
but out of it all we are able to define quite clearly the principles upon
which a sound milk supply should be based.

The serviceability of these improvements may be summed up
briefly by saying that milk is today one of the cheapest and one of the
most accessible of foods for the city dweller, in spite of its perishable
character; and an epidemic traceable to milk is almost unheard of.

THE IcE CREAM INDUSTRY

The ice cream industry has made its growth in Illinois as well
as in the United States practically within the last fifteen years, during
which time it has passed from the one-horse tub freezer stage to an
industry as highly specialized as the milk industry itself. Earlier
in this paper it was suggested that for the successful operation of
plants making dairy products, there is a necessary interdependence,
brought about by the fact that the milk supply is irregular, yielding a
tremendous flush of milk during the spring months, with a corres-
ponding shortage in the winter months. ‘The development of the ice
cream business, and the condensed and dry-milk industry has done
much toward equalizing this situation; thereby bringing a more uni-
form price to the producers and enabling the manufacturer to handle
the product of the dairy during the surplus season with less loss than
was occasioned during the days when all surplus was skimmed for
butter-making and the skim milk returned to the farm, if possible, or
run into the sewer. Inventions which have done much toward
equalization along this line are the emulser, the homogonizer and the
viscolizer. “These machines are constructed for the purpose of emul-
sifying the fat of butter with fresh skim milk or dissolved dry milk
to again form cream. This process permits the temporary storing of
the valuable constituents of milk in a less bulky form until such time
as they are needed.

Within the last five years the ice cream industry has passed from
the ranks of a confection to the ranks of a food product. This im-
portant transition has come about largely through the combined efforts
of the manufacturer, the scientist, and the law-maker; which have
resulted in a standardized wholesome product, well deserving of the
place which it now holds in the eyes of the consumer.

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY 23

CONDENSED AND POWDERED MILK

The condensed milk industry in this state dates back to 1865.
Long ago the pioneer dairyman recognized the necessity for some
means of converting a portion of our spring surplus of milk into
some product more valuable than either butter or cheese. “The answer
to this demand was found in the condensing process. ‘This branch of
the industry, like the others described, has reached enormous propor-
tions. At the present time there are approximately forty plants op-
erating in Illinois. This industry received a marked stimulus during
the war, during which time there was an unusual demand for con-
densed milk. Not only did the condensing plants increase in numbers
during that time, but those already in existence more than doubled
their output. The close of the war found both this country and
Europe heavily overstocked with evaporated milk,—so much so, in
fact, that during the past two years many plants have been entirely
closed, waiting for the time when their old stocks would be cleared
away.

Another departure which comes well within the period of prog-
ress under discussion is the development of the powdered-milk in-
dustry. ‘This is a process by which either whole milk or skim milk
is reduced to a powdered form containing only the solids of milk.
The resulting product contains all the valuable constituents of milk
in a volume which measures only eight per cent of the original milk.
Dry milk is readily put back into solution and used for drinking pur-
poses, in baking or in ice cream. ‘This industry is still in its infancy
and opens a fruitful field for the investigative mind. It should alsc
be mentioned in this connection that this same process has been ap-
plied to buttermilk, resulting in the conservation of millions of gallons
of this product which were formerly wasted.

ButTTER MANUFACTURE

The manufacture of butter is not usually thought of as one of the
large dairy-product industries. However, if we take the United
States as a whole, the value of the butter approximately equals the
combined value of all other dairy products. When we study the de-
velopments in the butter industry in our own state during the past
quarter of a century, we find more significant changes than in any
other branch of the dairy industry. ‘The two inventions which have
exerted a major influence in bringing about these changes have been
the Babcock test and the farm separator.

24 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

Twenty-five years ago the raw material for butter-making was
delivered by the farmer to the creamery door in the form of whole
milk, which was skimmed, and the cream churned into butter, for
which payment was made monthly or semi-monthly. The by-product,
skim milk, was returned to the farm for pig feed. “The introduction
of the farm separator has revolutionized this branch of the industry.
The producer was quick to see the economy of a less bulky product,
in the form of cream, as well as of less frequent deliveries. ‘This
economy, combined with the fact that the souring of cream does not
necessarily deteriorate its quality for butter-making purposes, enabled
the cream to be shipped long distances to the concern which would
give the best satisfaction. ‘The use of the separator has thus resulted
in a concentration of the creamery business into a fewer number of
large, modern plants, where economy of every kind is resorted to, the
results of which are reflected in the producer’s cream check. While
the amount of butter manufactured in IIlinois creameries is more
than double that of twenty years ago, the number of plants is less
than one-sixth as great, and sixty per cent of the butter is made in less
than thirty plants.

Outside the changes which have taken place in the actual making
of butter, two very important developments in the productive side of
the business are worthy of mention. First, in respect to the relation
between the amount of farm-made butter and creamery butter:
‘Twenty-five years ago, the amount of farm-made butter exceeded that
made in the creamery by three times; in 1910 the Census reported
46,000 pounds produced on farms and 24,000 pounds in factories; and
at the present time this ratio is practically reversed. ‘This is another
way of saying that by the introduction of the hand separator this
branch of dairying has been carried to the remote parts of the state;
and it is almost a uniform practise, even on our corn-belt farms, to
keep a few cows, the product of which is shipped in the form of cream
to some centralizing creamery to be made into butter. Thus the
creamery industry has converted a comparatively low-priced product,
“farm butter,” into a high-priced product, creamery butter, the bene-
fit of which largely goes to the producer. As an interesting incident
in this connection, it may here be noted that the withdrawal of this
large amount of farm butter from the market has virtually closed
the plants which formerly made renovated butter.

On the inside, or in the manufacturing plant, the development
has been commensurate with the development in the field. Great in-
stitutions capable of making and marketing millions of pounds of

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY 25

butter at a minimum expense have grown up. ‘These plants have been
departmentalized, in order to render a maximum service to producer
and to consumer alike. “This means that in the creamery business,
not only methods of procuring the raw material, methods of handling
and manufacturing, and great improvements in machinery have been
developed, but also that the business end of this great enterprise has
grown from a haphazard practise to a highly specialized system equal
to any other industry of today.

As in the milk industry, science has contributed its share to
modern creamery practise. Many of our large plants today have well
equipped laboratories with a scientific staff whose duty it is to
standardize and control plant methods, and conduct research into
problems bearing on the various phases of the industry. Some of the
important developments growing out of such studies are: methods
for determining acidity of cream; control of acidity of cream; methods
of determining moisture and salt and fat content, and means of con-
trolling them in the finished product; and rapid bacteriological tests
indicating the efficiency of sanitary measures and pasteurization. It
may also be of interest to state that one of our large machinery or-
ganizations characterizes itself as an organization of ‘dairy engineers,”
and that much of their effort has been spent in making short cuts of
chemical and bacteriological methods which would reduce these op-
erations to a basis of every-day plant practise.

All of this does not mean that our creamery problems are all
solved ; on the contrary, this new development comes laden with prob-
lems of both a business and a scientific character.

Coxtp SToRAGE FACILITIES

Parallel with the development within the industry has been the
development of cold-storage facilities, a system little understood by the
consuming public. Often the storage house is described as a recep-
tacle for hoarding food and its operator as a parasite living off the
public; but when we realize that one-half of the volume of butter
produced is produced in three to four months, we cannot fail to rec-
ognize that the storing of a perishable product like butter is quite as
desirable as the canning of peaches in the time of plenty for the winter
supply. In the absence of cold storage, a part of our supply in the
spring would be almost valueless, and in winter our prices would be
prohibitive. So the storage house, properly conducted, performs the
double function of storing and financing our butter surplus.

26 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

ORGANIZATIONS

In the field under discussion we cannot fail to recognize certain
agencies outside of the manufacturing plants themselves, which have
played their part in our progress. I refer to such organizations as
the National Dairy Council, which, recognizing the fact that our
dairy products must necessarily be marketed at home, and realizing
that our production is already up to our consumption, has set out, dur-
ing the past ten years, on well-planned educational campaigns, looking
toward the increase in consumption of all dairy products. ‘The
American Association of Creamery Butter Manufacturers, with Pro-
fessor McKay as its secretary, has functioned for the whole creamery
industry for ten years as a clearing house for the many problems which
have confronted the centralized creamery business. ‘The Association
of Illinois Butter Manufacturers, which was formed about a dozen
years ago, has served its purpose in eliminating numerous trade evils
which seem necessarily to exist in a new-formed industry. The Illinois
Ice Cream Makers Association has performed a similar service for the
ice cream industry.

As has already been suggested at many points in this paper, much
of the development indicated as having taken place in the last quarter
of a century has been made possible through the various activities of
the Agricultural College. This assistance has taken the form of new
scientific discoveries, the adaptation of chemical and bacteriological
methods to commercial conditions, the adaptation of scientific business
principles to a highly specialized industry, and the furnishing of
trained men for putting these discoveries into execution; and, finally,
the College has set a mark to shoot at in respect to the quality of dairy
products. In fact, so intimately are these contributions woven into
the whole structure of dairy manufactures that their source is
scarcely recognized except on occasions of this kind when we are tak-
ing inventories. In closing, it should be said that the dairy industry,
as never before, is looking to the Agricultural College for assistance
in the solution of its problems as well as for the training of its men,
and there is no doubt that when the resumé of the activities of the
dairy industry is written for the next twenty-five years, it will contain
in large letters the name of the Agricultural College.

DEVELOPMENTS IN HORTICULTURE

J. C. Buatr, Professor of Horticulture

—| HE HORTICULTURAL developments of our state started
with the organization of the State Horticultural Society
in 1864, and the opening of the Illinois Industrial Univer-
sity in 1867, when instruction in horticulture and botany
was made a regular part of the program of state education.
The progress made during the first quarter-century of
this time was slow, both as regards the commercial development and
educational developments in horticulture. Of course, the commercial
development has been largely the outgrowth of the educational ad-
vancements which have taken place through the state organizations
and the State University.

In 1877, ten years after the University had started, nine students
were registered in the horticultural courses; and eighteen students,
including the special students, in agriculture. The total appropria-
tion for the Horticultural Department was seventy dollars and re-
ceipts for that year netted not quite three hundred dollars. At this
time, be it remembered, and for many years to come the College of
Agriculture was divided into two schools, the School of Agriculture
and the School of Horticulture. The object of the School of Horti-
culture was to afford a scientific and practical education specially
adapted to the wants of those who cultivated garden and orchard
plants, or wished to manage nurseries, parks, and pleasure grounds.
The instruction was both theoretical and practical. The classroom
recitations and lectures were supplemented by practise in the fields and
plant houses. The technical studies pursued were: elements of horti-
culture; pomology and forestry; plant houses and management; land-
scape gardening; floriculture; and horticultural history and rural
law.

It was not until 1896, with the reorganization and reestablish-
ment of the College of Agriculture at the University, that horticulture
was truly given that impetus which would justify its place as a perma-
nent factor in any system of state agricultural development. It is
therefore simply to the last twenty-five years of our history that we
look for any record of real achievement.

ConDITIONS "TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

Twenty-five years ago with a large acreage in the state devoted
to orchard fruits, small fruits, and vegetables, and with almost no

27

28 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

development in floriculture and landscape gardening, the cultivation,
pruning, and spraying of orchard trees was wholly unknown. Indeed,
at that time, it was thought that there never would be need for the
spraying of—even apple trees. “True, apple scab fungus had been
studied, and some suggestions for its control had been made. But,
as late as 1896 not much attention was given it in the department
curriculum, in which were offered the following courses: orcharding
and grape culture; plant propagation and small fruits; vegetable
gardening; forestry; landscape gardening; economic botany; special
investigation and thesis work. “Two graduate courses: studies in
combating fungus, insect and other enemies of plants, including spray
materials and methods; studies in plant breeding, hybridization, and
self- and cross-fertilization. But, according to the report of the
President to the Board of Trustees: “The Horticultural Department
had been busy in removing useless trees and hedges, renovating
orchards and sod, trimming borders, repairing walks and drives, and
in giving things a general air of tidiness. In the spring, plantings of
small fruits will add to the attractiveness of the gardens and be in a
sense something of an experiment. ‘The possibilities of straightening
trees that had commenced to lean to one side is being tested.” It is
interesting to note that by the next year (1897) the plantings of vari-
eties of small fruits had been extended, and more careful investigations
were made into the results of spraying.

During the years 1895 and 1896, not more than three knapsack
sprayers were in use in the state. One of these was used by George W.
Endicott, for spraying his vines at Villa Ridge, one by the Depart-
ment of Horticulture at the University, and the other by Worthen
in his grape growing in the Navoo region. ‘The first spraying with
a barrel-pump was done by the writer in the orchard of Valentine
J. Kiem, near Quincy, November 11, 12, and 13, 1896. ‘The first
knowledge of the presence of San Jose scale in the state of Illinois
was had upon the examination by the State Entomologist of some twigs
sent in by Mr. Kiem. ‘The spray material used in this first work
against the San Jose scale was whale-oil soap, in a hot solution
prepared by dissolving two pounds of soap in one gallon of water.
The following spring (1897) permission was granted the writer to
carry on experiments for the control of apple scab and codling moth
in the orchard of H. M. Dunlap, at Savoy. This work was con-
tinued for a series of years and the results published annually in the
transactions of the Illinois State Horticultural Society and in the
Experiment Station reports.

DEVELOPMENTS IN HORTICULTURE 29

Within the year 1898, a representative of the Department had
visited nearly two hundred fruit plantations in forty-seven counties
of the state for the purpose of studying the horticultural conditions.
A practical demonstration of the methods of spraying was made in
Johnson county, at the time of the meeting of the Southern Illinois
Horticultural Society. The exhibition created great interest and
elicited many questions. Many requests came in for its repetition;
but expenses made this impossible. Another subject that occupied a
great deal of attention at this time was orchard cultivation. During
the school term there was taught the “largest class in horticulture ever
in the University; namely, fourteen students, besides those of the
Winter School.” ‘Two publications, one on “Orchard Cultivation,”
and the other, “Spraying Fruit Trees,’’ were issued at this time.

DEVELOPMENTS IN PoMOLocy

The most pressing problems in fruit production in Illinois have
been those affecting the control of insect and fungous pests, and the
regulation of the supply of plant food. ‘The early problem in orchard-
ing, therefore, was largely that of protection. It is estimated that
the commercial apple crop of Illinois amounts to more than ten
million dollars annually, exclusive of the fruit sold locally from farm
orchards. Without the protection afforded by spraying, insect and
fungous attack would no doubt make apple growing in Illinois an
impossibility. In the year 1898, the loss from apple scab alone
amounted to $3,500,000; while by 1900 bitter rot had gained such
headway that the annual loss due to that disease alone, was estimated
at $1,500,000.

In 1901, Illinois ranked third in horticultural importance, with
a larger apple acreage than any other state in the Union. Owing to
the great loss from bitter rot the preceding year, and the fact that
nothing was known about the. disease, orchardists were altogether
helpless before its ravages. [he Experiment Station, realizing
the great need for help, inaugurated experimental work in twelve
orchards throughout the state to study a means of control for this
fungous disease. At the close of the first year’s experimental work
good progress had been made but the fact remained that much was
yet to be done before the problems connected with the disease could
be considered solved. A brief circular describing the discovery and
giving prompt advice to growers was issued and further tests and
information were published about fourteen days later (July 15 and

Ao LODE:

30 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

About the same time the problem of fruit storage came up for
investigation. Fruit storage is a most important problem, especially
for the apple growers in Illinois, because of its direct bearing on the
profit of their business. Storage facilities in Chicago were perhaps
three hundred thousand barrels, and in the state six hundred thousand
barrels; yet this was entirely inadequate to meet the need. In order
to investigate this problem, a storage house was built at Neoga, and
storage cellars at Olney, Champaign, and Savoy.

Experiments in spraying for the control of apple blotch, con-
ducted in 1913, showed that from twenty-five to fifty per cent of the
crop could be saved from apple blotch in severely infested orchards;
experiments in 1916 showed that ninety per cent of the fruit might
be saved from this disease; and further experiments in 1917 and
1918 have confirmed the above results. Investigations have further
shown that spraying with the proper materials at the proper time will
save from fifteen to twenty-five per cent of fruit from codling moth;
and it has also been shown that from twenty-five to fifty per cent can
be saved from apple scab. The Illinois Station has experimented
and published more extensively on spraying for the control of apple
pests than has any other experiment station.

The most significant problem in orcharding is production: in-
creased planting and increased yield. Experiments inaugurated in a
large commercial orchard at Neoga in 1913, showed as a result of five
years’ work that the addition of nitrogen to the soil in the form of
sodium nitrate, stable manure, and leguminous green manures, had
increased the yield of apples by twenty-seven barrels per annum.
Practically all bearing orchards in Illinois need fertilizing. From
the fertilization of peaches even more significant results have been
obtained on the farm at Olney. Altho the peach orchard was only
four years old (planted in 1916), and bore its first crop in 1920, the
best fertilized plot yielded at the rate of 125 bushels per acre more
than the poorest unfertilized plot.. This same plot yielded 204 |
bushels more per acre than another plot (not the poorest) which had
been cultivated and fertilized according to the methods in vogue in the
cultivation of this fruit. Ten acres of land and twelve hundred trees
were used in this experiment. Increasing the yields of the suitably
located peach orchards of Illinois by such increases as were obtained
in the experiments above described would mean an additional profit
of $700,000 to $1,500,000 to the industry, in all favorable seasons.

In a bulletin of the U. S. Department of Agriculture (No. 767)
by the Fruit Crop Specialist, Bureau of Crop Estimates, we find the

DEVELOPMENTS IN HORTICULTURE 31

following statement: ‘From the standpoint of total production, IIli-
nois leads all the Middle Western States, and its summer apple region
in the southern part of the state is one of the most important in-the
United States. In Illinois, as in all Middle Western States, the
question of sprayed and unsprayed acreage is important in considering
the commercial apple industry, especially since so many one-time com-
mercial orchards all through the Middle West have been left un-
sprayed and uncared for, and are rapidly losing their commercial im-
portance. However, a more recent revival of interest is responsible
for greater care being given to the remaining orchards, and an
important place is being assured for Middle West apples.”

The first great Illinois Apple Show was held November 19 to
23, 1918, at the Morrison Hotel, Chicago, being promoted by the
Illinois State Horticultural Society and held under the auspices of
the State Council of Defense. Since that time many excellent horti-
cultural shows have been held in connection with county and state
fairs and in many of our large commercial centers.

In 1917 and 1918, investigations were made on drying apples in
a convenient and attractive form, and a new and successful process
was developed and described. This study indicates that the apple may
be preserved for long periods of time in a form superior to ordinary
dried apples. This experiment, tho important in itself, also opened up
a very large field for research and investigation on the utilization of
fruit by-products and on the manufacture of various products di-
rectly from fruits themselves. Laboratories for further prosecution
of this and similiar lines of investigation and for teaching are now
nearing completion as a result of an appropriation of $260,000 by the
last General Assembly.

In 1899 there were, in Illinois. 16,794 acres devoted to small
fruits, valued at $13,602,676; in 1919 there were 11,723 acres valued
at $1,109,747 ; and in 1920 we find 11,215 acres valued at $2,064,524.

Through the encouragement given the originator (Reverend
Reasoner) by the Department of Horticulture, the original Dunlap
strawberry plants were saved for further test and propagation. ‘The
Dunlap variety, which originated at Urbana, was introduced in 1900,
but had been under observation by Burrill and Blair since 1896. It
is the leading variety grown in the North-Central states; it is very
hardy and productive, and the most resistant to disease. It is suc-
cessfully grown over a larger range of territory than any horticul-
tural variety yet introduced.

32 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

DEVELOPMENTS IN OLERICULTURE

There is another phase of the agricultural development of the
state, particularly the southern third, that is of even greater im-
portance than the orchard interests. Reference is made to the veg-
etable industry. The value of the annual vegetable crop in Illinois
exceeds sixteen million dollars. Among the states of the Union,
Illinois ranks fourth in value of vegetables produced.

In the spring of 1900 a campaign for the improvement of home
vegetable gardens on Illinois farms was started. A demonstration
garden was planted, and was maintained for five years. ‘This served,
not only as a model for students and for visitors at the University,
but furnished data for two publications showing the large profit that
may be secured from a properly managed garden on the farm. Labor-
saving methods of planting and tillage were employed. ‘The garden
as a factor in food production for the Illinois farmers’ family is now
admitted to be of much more importance than it was considered
twenty-five years ago. The University has had a large part in the
shaping of this sentiment.

In 1907, at a time when the melon industry of the state was
threatened with destruction by the fungous disease commonly called
“rust,” the Department introduced the rust-resistant type of musk-
melon among Illinois growers. This type of melon has now become
the dominant one used by commercial growers, and has made it pos-
sible to continue growing melons where the old types have entirely
failed.

Better methods of grading, packing, and marketing fruits and
vegetables, have been consistently aided by the Department. Bulletin
124, issued in 1908, contained the first descriptions of grades of musk-
melons ever issued in America, and the first definite directions for the
proper packing of basket melons of different sizes. In 1910, after
five years of experimental work, spraying was announced as a definite ~
method of controlling the leaf spot of tomatoes. ‘The working out
of this method of control for this disease is a distinct contribution to
the means of maintaining a healthful food supply for the Nation.
After five years of experimental work with muskmelons, an economical
yet efficient method of fertilizing this crop was reported in 1912. In
1914, the results of six years of experimental work with onions was
reported. Of special importance was the account of the growing of
ripe onions from sets. “This method of producing dry onions had
been given practically no attention previous to these experiments. Its
advantages were clearly shown by the results obtained; and now the

DEVELOPMENTS IN HORTICULTURE Ba

method has been quite generally adopted by market gardeners for the
production of an early crop. As a result of careful selections
through a series of years, in 1917 two wilt-resistant strains of toma-
toes were secured. ‘These strains were developed in the badly infested
regions of southern Illinois, where the wilt had become a serious
menace to tomato culture, and have proved remarkably resistant to
this disease, wherever grown. ‘The use of these strains for avoiding
loss from wilt, and spraying for control of leaf spot make it possible
to grow good crops of tomatoes under adverse conditions.

DEVELOPMENTS IN FLORICULTURE

Floriculture is certainly the most attractive division of the sub-
ject of horticulture, as well as the most important commercially, tak-
ing the country at large, but its difficulties and problems probably
outnumber those of any of the other divisions. When one considers
the fact that its operations are carried on, not only in the open, but
under the most exacting conditions in glass houses, one is confronted
with the fact that here arises a new set of problems demanding con-
sideration and solution. In 1899, Illinois had not quite seven hundred
acres of land devoted to flowering plants, valued at $1,894,960.
Looking at the Census report for 1910, with its 1,339 acres of IIli-
nois land devoted to flowers; and then in 1920, with 19,626,091
square feet under glass and valued at $9,987,606; it will be seen that
the development in floriculture in Illinois has been a very rapid one.
In 1907, the Chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry, placed Illinois
as first in the area under glass devoted to commercial flower growing.
The retail value of flowers and plants sold in Illinois increased from
nearly three million dollars in 1900 to four and one-half million
in 1905.

In the floricultural development at the University of Illinois,
some very important results have been obtained in the investigations
with fertilizers in their relation to the production of cut flowers.
From a three-year project on the effect of acid phosphate, it was
found that production can be increased in a profitable way. An in-
crease of five per cent in the production both of carnations and of
roses, resulted from the application of fertilizers; bulletins have been
issued covering these results. From experimental studies made to
test the effect of using the same soil in the benches continuously for
several years, it was found that the plants grown on the second-year
soil were in every way as productive as on new soil. Since 1917, the
study with carnations and rose plants to determine the effects of se-

34 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

lection upon production have been continued. Such study as has been
made to determine the possibility of eliminating certain physiological
diseases from greenhouse crops by means of plant selection, indicates
success by this method.

DEVELOPMENTS IN PLANT BREEDING

In plant breeding results are slow, for they are contingent upon
the fruiting of hybrid progeny. In crossing hybrids, two difficulties
are encountered; namely, obtaining the desired pollen at the right
time, and sterility of many of the hybrids. The appearance and
performance of first generation seedlings serve in some degree to indi-
cate the vitality of parent plants and the stability of their characters.
For this reason, effort centers upon production of second-generation
seedlings for as many of the more promising groups of hybrids as
possible.

Apple hybridizing was begun in 1909, since which time nearly
fifty thousand flowers have been pollinated. ‘Twenty-three per cent
of these pollinations have been successful, that is, fruits have matured
and been hatvested. There are $14 different groups of hybrids repre-
sented. “The same varieties and species, tho often not the same indi-
viduals, are used year after year. ‘The seedlings range in age from
one to twelve years. Fruits from sixty-eight hybrid seedlings possess
sufficient merit to warrant propagation and further trial. ‘These trees
vary, in season of fruit maturity, from early summer to late winter ;
each is a potential new variety; these are being tested with reference
to productiveness and to the keeping quality of the fruit.

DEVELOPMENTS IN LANDSCAPE GARDENING

As early as 1868 a course in landscape gardening is mentioned
as part of the work in horticulture. In 1869, the Third Annual Cir-
cular of the Illinois Industrial University, announces that the “School
of Horticulture will include the formation, management, and care of
gardens, hotbeds, orchards, tree plantations, and ornamental grounds.”
By 1871 there had been mapped out a much more complete course
of study, and we find for the junior year, second term, a course in
garden architecture; third term, “landscape gardening,” with the
illuminating remark that ‘Ladies and ‘gentlemen alike engage in the
studies and exercises of the course.’ Five years later, the circular an-
nounces that ‘Eleven weeks are devoted to the study of ‘Landscape
Gardening.’ But since only twenty-four men were registered in the

DEVELOPMENTS IN HORTICULTURE 35

entire “School of Agriculture” and two in the “School of Horticul-
ture,” it is doubtful if much of value was worked out.

In 1888, landscape gardening was taught during the spring term
by lectures and practical work. After a study of the materials, in-
cluding grass, trees, flowers, substances used for walks, drives, fences,
and other architectural features, the method of designing and drawing
plans was taken up and put into practise. In 1895, a course
“Gardens” was announced. <A year later the writer was appointed
instructor in horticulture, and again a course in landscape gardening
was offered. ‘This was described as a course on ‘Ornamental and
landscape gardens,” with reference to the treatment of home sur-
roundings. It was not until 1904 that the exigencies of the case
seemed to demand a special instructor to teach landscape gardening.
In 1907 and 1908 five new courses were added, and in 1912 there
was sufficient demand for the work to launch landscape gardening as
a separate division. ‘The significant thing is that the University of
Illinois now has the leading department of landscape gardening in
the country, both as to variety and character of the work offered and
as to number of students enrolled.

Many of the pioneers in Illinois advocated and practised the
planting of other than fruit trees, but only for shelter and timber—
not in an ornamental way. Public parks were unknown. Some
towns or villages had a public square upon which there was built, or
to be built at some future date, a county courthouse or the like, and
here a few maples or elms were usually planted. On school grounds,
if anything was done at all, a few forest trees were planted. The
attempts of the housewife for beautification in this new country were
very simple. Rapid development, however, was destined to take
place. ‘Towns and cities sprang up almost as if over night; and it is
here that we look for the earliest development of ornamental horti-
culture, landscape gardening, and adornment of home grounds. ‘The
real effort in landscape development was ushered in with the coming
to our state of the great Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in
1893. It was the tireless work of Olmsted, and later, of quite a few
distinguished artists, that planned and opened a way for new realiza-
tions in our parks and other made-landscapes. “They gave the world
a vision of supreme beauty, which was to be the inspiration of the
century and its most priceless gift to the coming days, in an artistic
sense. “The Exposition aroused the pride and spirit of cities through-
out the Middle West. A few years later Chicago instituted a com-
mission to consider a plan for the development of the city, and to es-

36 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

tablish playgrounds. ‘This work is now progressing rapidly.

Landscape development was also fostered by the desire of his-
torical associations to preserve for future generations the old land-
marks in Illinois history. ‘The restoration of the “rocks” along the
Rock river, lake bluffs, river banks, ravines, sand dunes, and bits of
natural woods was carried on. ‘The Illinois Chapter of the Daugh-
ters of the American Revolution made possible the restoration of the
old Fort Massac, located on the Ohio River near Metropolis, Illinois.
The planning and the execution of this work was done by the speaker.
It seems safe to say that much of the rapidity of development in land-
scape gardening, in its various phases, is due to the combination of the
theoretical and the practical. In the professional field many of our
graduates have been real influences in the building of a better and
more beautiful Middle West.

All organizations and state agencies, including the University,
should do everything in their power to make our farms, our country
places, beautiful as well as economically and efficiently arranged and
more healthful places in which to live. ‘The coming generations, as
well as the present, have a right to expect this. With further ex-
pansion of our horticultural developments, Illinois will shortly be the
most beautiful country in the world. It is essentially a horticultural
state, where all sorts of horticultural products reach their highest de-
velopment. ‘The agriculture of the future will be more intensive ag-
riculture and less extensive. This means small and better developed
farms, with a richer, more healthful and beautiful home life. I am
glad to have had a part in the developments of the past, some of which
have been briefly touched upon here; and it is my earnest desire to
further in any way possible future progress in horticulture.

THE WORK OF THE AGRICULTURAL
EXPERIMENT STATION

L. H. Smitu, Chief in Charge of Publications of the Soil Survey

@| I IS my privilege to review the work of this Experiment
| Station since its foundation and to present briefly its out-
standing accomplishments. The Illinois Agricultural Ex-
periment Station was organized in 1888. For a record of
its achievement one naturally turns to its published re-
ports. I find that during the thirty-four years of its ex-
istence there have been published 237 Bulletins and 19 Soil Reports,
aggregating altogether 9,806 pages of printed matter. “This may, for
present purposes, be taken as a quantitative measure of its scientific
output. I am sure you will appreciate the compound problem that I
have before me; first, in selecting from this array of material that
which is most significant, and second, in presenting the same in the
allotted time. ;

Following the custom of the experiment station investigator to
do his work, as well as his thinking, within somewhat discreet units
known as “‘departments,”’ I have decided to take up the consideration
before us somewhat on the departmental plan. For our purpose, how-
ever, we need not make our departments quite so “watertight” as
critics of the system have sometimes implied it to be. ‘Therefore, for
convenience in considering all this experimental work that covers such
a wide range of subjects, suppose we take up these investigations under
the following groups: soils, plants, animals, and farm organization.
This system is sufficiently comprehensive, and it would seem to be a
logical one, for first, we must have the soil in order to grow plants;
then we must have the plants in order to raise animals; and finally,
there should be some sort of a correlating agency, such as a department
of farm organization. Moreover, this grouping has an advantage for
the particular purpose in hand, over one based upon the existing plan
of departmental organization, in that much of the past work that we
are to consider was not done by the departments as they now exist;
and it would not be altogether fair for them to assume either the
credit or the responsibility.

Sori, INVESTIGATIONS

Taking up that subject first that lies at the foundation of all pro-
duction, let us make a hasty survey of those investigations pertaining
to the soil.

37

38 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

This Experiment Station was so fortunate as to inherit at its
birth the oldest soil experiment field in America. ‘The series of plots
now known as the Morrow plots had been laid out by Professor
George E. Morrow and had been running about a decade previous to
the founding of the Experiment Station. Who would be bold enough
to attempt to assess the value of these old plots? ‘The records of all
these years show, on the one hand, how this rich prairie soil of Illinois
can be abused through improper management; or on the other hand,
how it can be built up by proper treatment. For example, in 1919
the old untreated continuous-corn plot at one end of the series yielded
twenty-eight bushels of corn, while the plot at the other end that has
been fertilized and kept under a favorable crop rotation gave seventy
bushels,—and forty-one years before this, these two plots lay in the
same field.

Another set of plots on the University campus, forming a more
extensive series, but of more recent origin, are the Davenport plots
laid out by Dean Davenport about twenty-five years ago. Both the
Morrow and the Davenport series, as we now see them, are what is
left of a much larger original layout. In both cases the plots have
been reduced in number with the demands of campus developments.
Thousands of farmers every year witness the lessons in soil manage-
ment as they visit these plots. It would seem that whatever else is
changed on this campus, these old plots should be preserved for the
benefit of the generations to follow.

It was in the year 1900 that Dr. Cyril G. Hopkins was appointed
to the chair of agronomy and took up his great life work in the study
of soils, and at about this time the state made its first generous approp-
riation of a special fund for soils investigations. In pursuing the in-
vestigations of the soils of Illinois three main lines of procedure were
inaugurated ; namely, the soil survey, field experiments, and pot cul-
ture investigations. In the soil survey the various kinds or types of
soil are classified and mapped in such a manner that when the survey
is complete every landowner in the state will have a description of the
soil on his farm, will know approximately its composition, and will
have at hand information relating to its maintenance and improve-
ment. ‘This work has progressed so that now eighty counties of the
state have been mapped and published reports for nineteen counties
have been issued.

Field experiments, serving for investigation as well as for dem-
onstration, were undertaken on the more important types of soil. The
number of these fields has increased until there are at present about

THE EXPERIMENT STATION 39

forty distributed on different soil types over the state. On these fields
such problems as relate to plant-food requirements, proper systems
of crop rotation, drainage, prevention of soil erosion, subsoiling, and
dynamiting are being investigated. As an indication of the growth
in popularity of these fields it may be said that when this work first
started it was difficult to obtain land for the purpose, sometimes even
by offering a fair rental price, but after a few of these fields had been
established and had begun to demonstrate their value, the popularity
of this work grew to such an extent that finally the University came
into the position of being able to demand some form of permanent
tenure, either by deed or by permanent lease, before it would accept a
piece of land for these experimental purposes.

A SysTEM OF PERMANENT FERTILITY

As the results of his investigations accumulated, Dr. Hopkins
gradually evolved a philosophy or doctrine of soil fertility intended to
apply to the normal soils of Illinois and of similar areas. His domi-
nant idea was to provide a system of soil fertility that would result in
a permanent agriculture. He recognized that the continual removal
of crops from the land must finally lead to soil exhaustion unless the
materials taken from the soil be restored. “The common practise of
applying commercial fertilizers returns to the soil some of the neces-
sary elements, but not in amounts proportionate to the quantities re-
moved by crops, thus producing the effect of a stimulation of the soil
rather than that of a sufficient supply of plant food. By restoring
the elements to the soil somewhat in excess of the amounts in which
they are removed by cropping, the soil is not only maintained in its
natural fertility but is actually built up and made more productive.
In order to accomplish this effect the elements must be secured in the
most economic form, which ordinarily calls for raw materials rather
than those that are treated or manufactured. ‘Thus in ordinary crop-
ping systems, raw rock phosphate should be used and the natural bio-
logical process of the soil will make the phosphorus available. _ Nitro-
gen should be secured from the air through the growth of legume
crops. Potassium is abundant in most normal soils and the problem
of supplying this element is usually a matter of liberation from the
minerals naturally present in the soil rather than the addition of pot-
assium salts. In order that these natural biological processes may
function properly, the soil must be kept supplied with an excess of
basic material, and for this purpose natural crushed limestone serves
best.

40 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

This is an attempt at a very brief statement of the fundamental
or guiding principles of Dr. Hopkins’ proposition of a permanent sys-
tem of agriculture. There are hundreds of deviations in details,
most of which are yet to be worked out. Such details will vary with
different types of soil; they will vary with the kind of enterprise fol-
lowed, whether grain farming, live-stock farming, or fruit farming;
they will vary with different economic situations, such, for example,
as affect the accessibility and the cost of different forms of fertilizing
materials. And so, while we may consider that the great idea of a
permanent system of agriculture, and the fundamental principles for
carrying it out, may be counted among the finished problems of this
Station, in reality the work on this problem is only well begun. ‘The
foundation is laid, so to speak, but the great super-structure is yet to
be erected before Illinois agriculture as a whole shall be actually upon
a permanent basis.

One of the chief questions among these unsettled problems is how
to maintain the nitrogen supply and this has been the subject of much
study. As an example along this line, a discovery of greatest practical
importance was made when it was found that the organism acting on
the roots of sweet clover also inoculates the alfalfa plant. This has
been followed by similar discoveries relating to the bacteria of other
legumes. ‘The most recent investigations of the division of soil biology
are revealing very practical knowledge of the most advantageous ways
of handling legume crops looking toward the solution of this great
nitrogen problem. Numerous other investigations under way look-
ing toward the solution of many of these unanswered soil problems
might be mentioned if time permitted.

PLANT PRODUCTION

Turning now to that phase of our discussion that has to do with
plant production, let us consider next some of the work relating to
field crops.

The introduction of properly adapted varieties, especially in corn,
has been a large factor in improved production. ‘The attention paid
in recent years to the vitality of the seed must also have had a tre-
mendous influence in this direction.

In corn breeding this experiment station was a pioneer. ‘The
long-time selection experiments in corn to change the composition of
the grain have attracted world-wide attention. This investigation
has been continued through twenty-five generations of breeding, with
unbroken pedigree records, and the result has been a most remarkable

THE EXPERIMENT STATION 41

response to the selection. Starting with a single variety of ordinary
field-corn, four different kinds have been created, one of which is now
about twice as rich in protein as another, while another strain now
carries about five times as much oil as its corresponding opposite.

As another example of the possibility of improving our field crops
through the methods of plant breeding, may be cited the production of
the new variety of wheat designated as Turkey 10-110. This wheat
is the progeny of a single mother plant found in a field of common
Turkey Red in 1910. Following its favorable performance in the
breeding plots, where, as a six year average, it outyielded the parent
variety by six bushels per acre, the strain has been increased and thous-
ands of bushels of seed are now being distributed about the state in
those sections to which it is found to be adapted.

For the introduction of certain valuable new crops, the Experi-
ment Station has been largely responsible. Among these crops that
have been established in Illinois may be mentioned the soybean
and sweet clover, while the sunflower promises to take an importnat
place as a silage crop. Sweet clover deserves, perhaps, more than a
passing mention; for, in the mind of the writer, the introduction of
this remarkable plant marks an epoch in Illinois agriculture in the
sense that we have adopted a plant that not only possesses great value
as a forage crop but also one that, when properly handled, goes a long
way toward solving the nitrogen problem.

As an outcome of some of the earlier investigations and the sub-
sequent propaganda throughout the state, we have the improved prac-
tise of the shallow cultivation of corn, as against the old ‘‘root-
butchering” method of deep cultivation. It is doubtless true that to
this one thing alone Illinois and other corn-growing states are in-
debted for millions of bushels of corn annually in increased yields.
Many other important experiments having to do with the planting,
cultivation, and harvesting of our common farm crops would be well
worthy of mention here if the opportunity permitted.

HortTICULTURAL Crops

In the production of our horticultural crops, which include the
fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants, many investigations parallel
to those described in field crops have been carried out. ‘To give some
idea of the extent of the activities along this line, it may be said that
nearly fifty bulletins have been issued covering a wide range of topics
related to one phase or another of horticultural production. Fertilizer
experiments have been conducted in the orchard, in the garden, and

42 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

in the greenhouse; varieties have been tested ; the cultivation of orch-
ards has been investigated ; systems of garden planting have been tried
out. In plant breeding, very extensive investigations in the breeding
of fruit trees are under way. As products of this work an instructive
bulletin on ‘“‘Apple Bud Selection” and another on “Seed Production
in Apples” have been published.

As might be expected, a very large volume of the work with these
horticultural crops has had to do with their protection from diseases
and insects. For this work the Illinois Experiment Station has been
peculiarly fortunate in having had the life-long service of two of the
foremost scientists—indeed, world authorities in their respective fields
—who have devoted themselves to a study of plant protection from
bacterial and fungous diseases, on the one hand, and from insect
ravages on the other. Hundreds of appreciative farmers from all
over Illinois as well as from other states honor this grand team of
workers—Thomas Jonathan Burrill and Stephen Alfred Forbes.

To Dr. Burrill is given the credit for that great scientific dis-
covery that certain plant diseases are caused by bacterial organisms.
It is natural that under such leadership a strong development of this
line of work should occur. It is interesting to note in this connection
that thirty-four years ago this Station published a bulletin entitled
“A Bacterial Disease of Corn” written by Dr. Burrill. Within the
past few years there has been a great revival of interest in corn dis-
eases and today “the air is full of talk,” on this subject. Likewise
many years ago Dr. Forbes began his observations on the insect
pests that ravish our crops, and this early work has been followed by
that splendid series of studies covering the insect depredations of the
various classes of our economic crops, the grain and hay crops as well
as the fruit crops.

‘Thus it has come about that the investigation of orchard spraying
for protection from diseases and insect pests has loomed large in the
program of our horticultural staff. This work may be briefly sum-
marized in a quotation taken from a recent report.

“Experiments to determine the best methods of controlling in-
sects and diseases attacking apple orchards have been conducted in a
systematic manner for the last twenty years, and the results of these
experiments have been the chief source of information upon which the
apple growers of the state have. depended for guidance in their spray-
ing operations. A definite spray program has been prepared which
has helped very materially in putting apple growing on a paying basis
in Illinois. ‘The commercial apple crop of the state is valued at ap-

THE EXPERIMENT STATION 43

proximately $10,000,000 annually, and at a very conservative estimate
at least one-third of this value may be attributed directly to the ap-
plication of the protective measures based upon the experimental work
of the Experiment Station.”

ANIMAL PRODUCTION

Investigations pertaining to the production of live stock has had
a large place in the Station’s affairs from the beginning. In fact the
very first bulletin put out reporting the results of an investigation was
on the subject of ensilage. This has been followed by more elaborate
studies, increasing in intricacy according to the demands of developing
knowledge. During the years under our consideration great changes
have taken place in scientific thought relative to food values in re-
lation to composition. We take pride in the progressiveness of our
nutrition investigators in keeping up with the procession of changing
ideas. ‘They have run the whole gamut of these new ideas, from
enzymes and special proteids, to vitamines; and we find their bulletins
always making real, up-to-date contributions to the knowledge of their
day. In the later experiments on feeding, no little consideration has
been given to critical studies of methods used and analysis of results
obtained, the importance of which is coming more and more to be
recognized in all kinds of scientific research. (I cannot refrain from
taking opportunity at this point to observe that if our Experiment Sta-
tion work is to carry the stamp of thoroness and reliability, the
public must exercise some patience at times in awaiting results that
must first be scrutinized for scientific accuracy by the best methods
known to science before they are given out for publication. )

The improvement of live stock through breeding has also re-
ceived attention, and many splendid specimens of their respective
classes have been produced. ‘Through the establishment of a division
of genetics, thorogoing investigations have been undertaken to learn
the fundamental principles underlying the art of breeding. Just so
far as these genetic principles are discovered and applied, just that
much will the breeding art be advanced.

A most practical experiment in the breeding of cattle to learn
the genetic behavior of the milk-producing functions of the dairy cow
is now in progress, and the information to be derived from these ex-
periments must have a far-reaching effect upon the future dairy in-
dustry.

44 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

A division of animal pathology has only very recently been es-
tablished. However, its influence has already been felt, not only
within the state, but throughout the country. ‘The importance of its
investigations of the botulism disease, which has resulted in the saving
of human lives as well as of animals, has attracted widespread pub-
licity.

As among the most appreciated investigations of the Station, be-
cause of its direct practical significance to the live-stock industry of
the country, must be mentioned the work reported in that fine series
of bulletins dealing with the market grades and classes and of the
various kinds of live stock: horses, cattle, swine, and sheep. ‘This
work has been of untold value in bringing order out of what was
formerly chaos in the marketing of live stock.

The dairy cow came in early, and has remained through the years,
for a large share of the Station’s attention. ‘The long series of in-
vestigations on the individuality among cows as to milk production,
with the propaganda against the “boarder cow” has had a profound
effect on the dairy industry. It has led to that modern device for
dairy improvement known as the cow-testing association, and “boarder
cows” by the hundreds are being led to the shambles.

Another activity for the benefit of the dairy industry has been the
incessant war waged against unclean and unsanitary milk. Mention
should also be made here of the studies in the economics of milk pro-
duction, for the data stand as a source of information not alone for
the dairyman but also for the benefit of the general public in the
solution of problems pertaining to its economic welfare.

FARM ORGANIZATION

We come to the last of the divisions of our discussion; namely,
farm organization. ‘The department representing this work in the
Experiment Station is still very young; nevertheless, it was ‘well
born” and got into action promptly, so that it is already making con-
tributions for the solution of those agricultural problems that lie
within its province. Its studies in cost accounting have been of
direct value in leading to better methods of land valuation. ‘They
have also been helpful in developing plans looking toward the stabili-
zation of markets. A special study has been made in comparing
tractors and horses as sources of farm power. As time goes on, the
agricultural public will look more and more to the Department of

THE EXPERIMENT STATION 45

Farm Organization and Management for information along many
lines, to assist in solving its economic problems.

CoNCLUSION

In dealing in this hasty way with such a variety of topics in an
attempt to cover the ground, I realize that this discussion must read
somewhat like a dictionary. I also fully recognize the fact that I
have been unable to do justice to many of the topics mentioned ; and
further, that injustice has been done in the omission of many topics
that might have been mentioned. ‘The particular points mentioned
were selected largely to serve as illustrations. Another person would
doubtless have selected other points for mention. ‘Therefore no one
should infer that this brief review is intended to be a perfect epitome
of the Experiment Station’s most valuable work.

It is unfortunate that we have no very satisfactory device for
measuring, either in terms of bushels or of dollars, the tremendous re-
turns resulting from these investigations. Stories of this kind are
usually made more interesting by translating into terms of millions
of dollars. Having at hand in most cases no sound basis for such a
translation, I have necessarily been contented in setting forth the
economic value of these investigations in rather general terms.

If in this hasty review there has been left a general impression of
the nature and the scope of the Experiment Station work, during its
thirty-four years of existence, the purpose will have been accomplished.

THE WORK OF THE COLLEGE OF
AGRICULTURE

Frep H. RANKIN, Superintendent of Agricultural College Extension

@| I has been the destiny of Illinois to be intimately associ-
ated with that great educational movement which culmin-
ated in “An Act donating public lands to the several
States and territories which may provide Colleges for the
benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts.” There
is an inscription upon the cornice of the Agricultural build-
ing of the University of Illinois which reads “Industrial education
prepares the way for a millennium of labor.” These words of
Jonathan B. Turner, of Jacksonville, who was intimately associated
in the establishment of the Land Grant Colleges, stand forth as a
constant reminder that the material resources of a people can never
be fully developed without the aid of trained intelligence.

The University of Illinois, known at that time as the Illinois In-
dustrial University, first opened its doors to students in 1868. Agri-
cultural education and the direct application of science to the affairs
of agriculture have come up in our country through great tribulations.
The early records show that when the institution was first officially
opened, Willard F. Bliss, of Nokomis, Illinois, was elected professor
of agriculture. He was a graduate of Yale College, had traveled ex-
tensively, was trained in the classics, and was owner and manager of a
large farm in Montgomery county. Mr. Bliss took up the task
assigned him with much hesitation. Actual contact with the matters
involved did not decrease the difficulties, and at the end of his first
year he considered it necessary to return to his own home.

Jonathan Periam was the first real employe of the Agricultural
College. He served in this capacity until March, 1869. In 1870,
Dr. Manley Miles was made professor of agriculture with the un-
derstanding that he should serve during the fall and winter months,
dividing his time between the Michigan Agricultural College and this
institution. However, later it became understood that Dr. Miles
could not accept this engagement. Strenuous efforts were made to fill
his place. Matters drifted for two or three years; and again, in 1874,
Dr. Miles served as professor of agriculture. In the meantime affairs
of “practical agriculture,” as the phrase was, had been intrusted to the
head farmer, and one and another such employes, as temporary
director of field experiments.

46

THE COLLEGE 47

In 1876 George E. Morrow, then professor of agriculture at
Iowa State College, was elected to the professorship in agriculture and
retained this office during eighteen consecutive years. He was a
singularly gifted man in many ways, and these included qualifications
needful in the arduous and difficult task which he undertook to per-
form. ‘There were encouragements as well as discouragements. It
is not in place at this time to attempt a complete story. However, at
the close of his long career, he could not see that in the actual and
plainly observable condition of things his expectations had been just-
ified nor his favorable anticipations fulfilled. Too much was ex-
pected and the end sought too great. There was a woeful want of
understanding in regard to what one man could and could not do.
Superficiality prevailed. No one as yet realized the unavoidable cost
of agricultural education given in anything like a thoroly sensible way.
A lecture room with a desk, some chairs (not very many), a few charts
and pictures hung upon the walls, and a half-dozen books upon agricul-
ture,—these constituted the equipment of the professor of agriculture,
aside from a few things to be found in the way of a Jersey bull in the
barn and some weedy fence corners around the plots. It was ne
wonder that students were few and enthusiasm at low ebb.

Without further enumeration, it may be said that the agricultural
education of the first quarter of a century in our Land Grant Col-
leges was poor and halting, probably because it was before its time
The inertia of the ages was upon it. There was need of a self-
regenerating power.

THe First DEAN AND DIRECTOR

It should not be inferred from its faults and deficiencies that lit-
tle had been done or gained. Yet it is true that there existed a want
of apprehension, inconceivable to us today, of things as vital then as
now, and in that sense there was somnolence and apathy instead of
vision and vigor.

At this stage in development Eugene Davenport was called to
the University of Illinois as dean of the College of Agriculture and
director of the Agricultural Experiment Station. ‘The new dean had
grown to young manhood on a Michigan farm, and had paid his own
way through the Michigan Agricultural College, graduating with the
class of 1878. He had farmed for ten years on his own account,
taught school in winter, and meanwhile as teacher, farmer, and citi-
zen had been vigorously active in rural affairs.

48 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

After serving as professor of agriculture and director of the Ag-
ricultural Experiment Station in connection with his 4/ma Mater,
and later spending a year in Brazil, attempting to organize a govern-
ment agricultural college (which proved premature in that country
owing to changing political regime), he had just returned to America
by way of England when destiny stepped in, opportunity beckoned, and
the broad prairies of Illinois presented their vista. He came; and be-
hold, he found less than a dozen students, no buildings, no equipment
of any kind. He was told to go ahead and make bricks, but to make
them without straw. Later on, after straw began to be supplied from
outside sources as a result of his own activities, there was somewhat of
opposition to be overcome from the executive office of the University
in its ideals and in regard to the matter of support which the progress
of agricultural education required.

CoNDITIONS DuRING THE MIDDLE NINETIES

Reviewing the condition of things in the middle nineties, the
state was preeminently an agricultural one. ‘The people were largely
of the progressive type and tendency—a good many of them. ‘The
Agricultural College was on the campus of a rapidly growing Uni-
versity. “There was sympathy and encouragement on the side of many
members of the faculty, notably in the personal interest of Dr. T. J.
Burrill. The University was beginning actually to push forward the
agricultural interests. _ Our more progressive farmers, and others
whose business or professional activities made them recognized pro-
moters of agriculture, were not numerous in the state, but there were
men here and there of real and growing power, enthusiastic rural
men who had a force and whose influence had important bearing on
subsequent developments. ‘These and other farmers were beginning
earnestly to better themselves; they had already in 1895 planned the
organization of a State Farmers’ Institute, with legislative support.
The agricultural press was assuming a more friendly attitude. The
state legislature was beginning to demonstrate a new interest toward
the University but was yet apathetic toward the agricultural interests.

What if there were no distinctive Agricultural College buildings,
no separately designated College funds, but few agricultural students,
and little favorable inside or outside consideration?

After the University had been founded for over thirty years, some
of the progressive citizens began to realize that they had some per-
sonal responsibility in an institution which was supported by them as
tax payers. A committee from the State Farmers’ Institute and other

THE COLLEGE 49

organizations visited the institution, investigated, and reported. It is
not necessary to say much about what they found, or rather what
they did not find. When the farmers heard about it through their
organization, a movement to right things, sane, intelligent, determined,
irresistible, was begun.

In 1895, the trustees had asked the legislature for $40,000 for a
dairy building. ‘This was scarcely considered. ‘Two years later, they
had asked for $80,000 for an agricultural building. The effort
failed, many farmers and farmers’ institutes opposing it. “Iwo years
later, and for the third time, the trustees asked for an agricultural
building, fixing the amount at $100,000. The farmers and the State
Farmers’ Institute officially endorsed the asking; it was supported by
every state agricultural organization. A campaign of education com-
menced throughout the length and breadth of the state. By careful
study it became evident that $100,000 would not be sufficient to pro-
vide what was needed, and the estimate was raised to $150,000 dur-
ing the campaign. Resolutions were passed, favorable to this asking,
at every county institute held in the state, with one exception. Finally,
the bill passed the General Assembly without amendment and with
only one dissenting vote. When this vote was taken and the building
planned, there were but nineteen students in the College of Agricul-
ture.

In those days it was easier to build a dreadnaught than a College
of Agriculture. Interest could be aroused in two continents in solv-
ing a problem of aerial navigation, but it was difficult to get the people
to support the proposition of spending money in developing the re-
sources of the country in order to increase the productive capacity of
its people,—for in this farmers were not alone interested since in the
last analysis all prosperity rests upon a successful agriculture. Agri-
cultural education stands not only for that industry but for all things
needful and contemporaneous in the development of intelligent and
patriotic citizens. ‘The preponderance of human ideals and human
efforts is, I believe, always toward the good; and the prevailing course
and tendency of human institutions is toward the better. Enterprises
may sometimes seem to go zigzag, to go wrong end foremost, or at
times to remain stationary or go backwards; but ultimately we shall
get onward and upward. ‘The best things come not at once, but by
evolution, step by step, from imperfection to excellence. Agriculture
in its beginning was simple indeed; but in its higher development we
see it growing complex, comprehensible, drawing to its aid, assimilat-
ing, and rendering subservient all our leading sciences of chemistry,

50 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

botany, physics, bacteriology, and becoming in its vast development
ultimately the “master science.”

In those earlier days we were turning to a new agriculture, an
agriculture which was lighted and glorified by science; and to this
new agriculture the Agricultural College and Agricultural Experi-
ment Station was to be the main gate way. Many farmers who
watched the work of the institution, and who applied to their own
business those teachings that might be applicable, soon came to be en-
thusiastic friends of the institution; and thus was developed a wise
public policy which from time to time gave more liberal support to
the Agricultural College and Experiment Station. ‘The advocates of
this education stood upon the high ground that agriculture and in-
dustry in general should be studied toward, and developed from, the
standpoint of public policy; and the principle was enunciated that in-
stitutions of learning and research existed primarily, not for the bene-
fit of particular individuals, but in order to develop certain fields of
knowledge, such as agriculture, science, economics, literature, etc., and
to stimulate their influence among the people.

Agricultural education was bringing to the attention of the peo-
ple a new standard of life for all men. ‘The old idea, held by many,
that the highest life consists in withdrawing from one’s fellows, in
spending one’s days in contemplation, in leading a life which begins
and ends with the individual in some hopeless attempt to solve the
infinite, was fast passing away. Agricultural education introduced
into the world the gospel of service and of doing things, and demon-
strated that industry and service detract nothing whatever from art
and refinement.

New problems constantly arose for adjustment, in taking this
education and using it for the benefit of all men and the development
of industry. It was found that perhaps the most fundamental means
for extending new knowledge among the people is the students who
come to the College and are educated in it. ‘These students are not
educated so much for their own sake as that they may go out and carry
into their generation the best that the present has to give. It is be-
lieved that for the business of instruction in general no method of
propagating truth among the people is so effective as that which goes
out from the classroom and laboratories into the minds and hearts of
the young men and women. ‘These young people go out and begin
new lives; and while the Experiment Station and the scientists dis-
cover agricultural improvements, knowledge of which is spread by
means of publications and the Agricultural Extension Service, yet we

THE COLLEGE 51

believe that it is safe to say that after all the most powerful agents of
progress that the University sends out are its well-trained young men
and young women, when they are settled upon the farms of Illinois.

These were the ideals which inspired a few men in those early
days with an immovable determination to develop agriculture and
agricultural education in Illinois; and the energy with which they
prosecuted this public service in their generation was analogous almost
to the energy and faith of martyrs. All honor to the men who in the
last quarter century gave so freely of their time and service to this end:
Colonel Morrison, W. H. Fulkerson, Lafayette Funk, John R. Tan-
ner, Ames F. Moore, S. Noble King, Charles F. Mills, James H.
Coolidge, E. E. Chester, A. P. Grout, L. H. Kerrick, James Carter,
Frank H. Hall, Fred Hatch, E. B. Vorhees, H. A. Aldrich, H. M.
Dunlap, Jacob Zeigler, H. A. Winter, and many others. In the lead
of these men and associated with them have been many others who
carried on the work which they so ably began, whose names it would
be impossible to enumerate.

THE GROWTH IN STUDENTS

Following this renaissance in agriculture in the nineties, there
came to the College of Agriculture such earnest workers as Daven-
port, Blair, Hopkins, Mumford, Frasier, and Miss Bevier; and they
in turn brought to the faculty in each of their respective departments
an excellent corps of young instructors, many of them already well
known for eminent service in agriculture, and all learned and skilled
in the art and devoted to it. How rapidly the attendance in the Col-
lege of Agriculture increased is indicated by the following table:

Year Students Registered Graduating Class Graduate Students
90-91 a 2 0
95-96 14 0 0
00-01 59 4 0
05-06 430 24 )
10-11 729 51 28
15-16 12517 188 75
20-21 1,184 176 54

Students are now coming from almost every county in the state,
most of the states in the union, and from many foreign countries; and
it is significant that over 50 per cent of the four-year graduates are re-
turning and residing upon farms, over 25 per cent are engaged in
some phase of agricultural activity, such as county advisory work,
teaching of agriculture in vocation schools, or agricultural investiga-

52 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

tion work. Some carefully compiled statistics made just prior to the
war revealed the fact that over 85 per cent of the graduates at that
time were following agriculture directly or were engaged in some
phase of agricultural work.

’ SOME OF THE GUIDING INFLUENCES

The College of Agriculture engages in three distinct lines of
work: (1) the regular teaching in college courses of the students
who come here; (2) the investigation of and research into agricul-
tural problems; (3) extension work. It is not the purpose of this
paper to dwell in detail upon any particular phase of this service, but
to touch in a general way upon some of the fundamental things which
have guided the policy of the institution. Perhaps it may be said in
passing that there was a time in the early history when, but for wise
direction, the funds available for agricultural education would have
been diverted; and instead of there being instruction of University
standard, there would have been simply short-course work or high
school agricultural courses offered.

While closely related to the Experiment Station, yet we consider
that one of the most fundamental policies attempted in the College as
well as in the Station is a system which is unique at Illinois, namely,
that of having an advisory committee relationship for each of the de-
partments, some three to five representative citizens being invited to
act in an advisory capacity with the department whose interests they
especially represent. ‘These men are conversant with the practical
problems which confront them, upon which they especially desire in-
formation. ‘They act as a balance, representing the interests of the
practical man as against the man whose thoughts and interests lie more
in science and theory. This relationship has been a most happy and
profitable one, and it probably has done more toward fostering the
close personal interest of the citizens in the work of the College than
has any other one thing.

Another most valuable asset has been what is known as the Corn
Growers’ and Stockmen’s Convention, or two weeks course in Ag-
riculture, which has met annually at the University for the past
twenty-one years. Several hundred young men and farmers have at-
tended this meeting and have received inspiration and incentive and
an insight into the work of the institution which otherwise could not
have been attained. In this respect again Illinois has been a pioneer.

As these movements for agricultural education were undertaken,
they made a profound impression; citizens welcomed this type of ed-

THE COLLEGE 33

ucation more heartily than ever before, and its influence throughout
the state was everywhere great. One of the first reasons for this
change was that the value of education along agricultural lines was
brought more distinctly home to the farmers through the work of the
farmers institutes, state agricultural associations, and other early ex-
tension agencies. It was no longer simply a question of increased
production on the farm; but rather, in addition to that, a building of
strong, permanent, and intelligent leadership in agricultural communi-
ties, studying and solving those questions which relate to the larger
life of our agricultural people; in short, more attention was being
given to the importance of the human side of agricultural progress
which, in turn, had a profound effect upon the work of all the
agencies for agricultural education. ‘This human side of agricultural
progress, as contrasted with the narrow question of merely increased
production, has had a profound influence in shaping newer lines of
extension service, such as a series of one-day farmers’ institutes,
farmers’ clubs, community meetings; specially organized and planned
institutes for boys and girls with corn and various judging contests ;
personal visits to homes; boys’ State Fair schools; short courses in ag-
riculture, of which the College conducted over sixty in one year;
farmers’ encampments; seed, soil, and dairy trains run over all of the
principal railway lines of the state; and the organization of excursion
parties to visit the University.

Tue Newer PROBLEMS AND LINES OF SERVICE

The so-called stock information in agriculture concerning crop
production, live-stock judging, soils, etc., is pretty well known. There
is active and unanswered as yet a demand for information along such
lines as cost accounting, cooperation, marketing, retail delivery ser-
vice, overland truck service ; taxation and public expenditure ; housing ;
and also a demand for a study of conditions within the state, includ-
ing the sources of raw material, transportation records and rates, vari-
ations in retail prices, etc. These are simply a few of the problems
that confront us in an economic way that must be solved by the young
men of the next generation or two.

Time will not permit the enumeration of the new and large de-
partments and lines of work in the College of Agriculture and the
activities which are being directed especially to the betterment of the
farmers, along research and investigational lines; nor of the ways in
which through the Extension Service it is making known to the citi-
zens of the state the results of its investigations. The courses of

54 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

study as offered in the College are revised from time to time, and
standing committees are constantly seeking to study and improve the
curricula and methods of teaching. There is offered landscape
gardening, which has for its primary object the improvement and
adornment of the home ground; the same applies to the curriculum in
floriculture. Household organization and activities, and home eco-
nomics are subjects which apply alike to every household in the state.
The work of the College, therefore, in a broad way applies to all
citizens and cannot be regarded as favoring one class to the exclusion
of another. The Agricultural Extension Service and the county
farm advisers are now organized in some ninety-five of the one
hundred and two counties in the state.

Citizens of the state visit the University and its Experiment Sta-
tion in large numbers. It is conservative to say that not less than ten
thousand people annually come to the twin cities primarily because of
its Agricultural College and Agricultural Experiment Station. The
visits to such an institution, if for but a single day, do much in arous-
ing and redirecting the dormant energies of mind.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF EUGENE DAVENPORT

The accomplishments of the past twenty-five years in agricultural
education have not just happened nor just come to pass; they have been
the result of wise guidance and leadership. | Somebody’s watchful-
ness, somebody’s thoughtfulness, somebody’s thoroness is always re-
quired. While many men have contributed to the development of
agricultural education in the last quarter of a century, I do not feel
it proper to make these general observations without referring to the
skilful management and organizing ability of Dean Eugene Daven-
port, who is abundantly entitled to all the credit he may ever receive
for the splendid upbuilding of the great Agricultural College of the
University of Illinois; and for the unique and unsurpassed service that
he has rendered in the promotion of agricultural interests and of
the affairs of the state at large. Looking backward it little matters
who was governor of the state for four or eight years, but it is of in-
finite concern to Illinois citizenry as to who for the past twenty-seven
years outlined the plans for the development of our agricultural in-
dustry, how it should be studied, taught, and developed from the
standpoint of public policy.

While agriculture has grown greatly in Illinois, as a result of
this guidance, Dean Davenport has also largely contributed to the
wealth and worth of community life and social well-being in the way

THE COLLEGE 55

of projecting his personality into the minds and hearts of thousands
of young men and women and older people who have come into direct
contact with him and are proud to do him honor as a modest citizen
who has led an inspiring, wholesome life and who has efficiently dis-
charged day by day the duties of his office which he has skilfully ad-
ministered and so highly magnified. He has established an honorable,
rightly earned, and widely recognized name. His ability as an or-
ganizer has probably given him a good share of his reputation, and it
is no doubt true that some of the larger results of his intelligently
directed efforts have been indirectly achieved through the organization
and direction of others, while he has been but little in evidence per-
sonally, preferring to allow other people to have the credit for what
he had really originated.

Gathered here today we see, tho incomplete, an outline of what
the founders and leaders of such an institution as the College of Ag-
riculture endeavored to establish. Let us in prophetic vision con-
template it as it will appear when generations have perfected it in all
its magnificence, its glories, its good to man and to all men of all
classes, in its power to evolve and diffuse practical knowledge and
skill, culture and appreciation and better love of industry and sound
morality, as voiced not only through its research, its instruction, and
its extension service, but through its thousands of graduates in every
pursuit of life. Then let us seriously ask, is not such an object
worthy of at least the best efforts we have and worthy of a state which
God himself in the very act of creation designed to be among the lead-
ing agricultural and industrial commonwealths on the face of the

Globe?

NEWER PROBLEMS IN SOIL TREATMENT

FRANK I. Mann, Gilman

|HE GREATEST asset any nation ever had is that which
the United States had in the fertility of her soils; it is the
basis on which rest all other assets, whether of bank, of
railroad or of manufacture. ‘The importance of this asset,
and the rate at which it is being exhausted, entitles it to
consideration as a national problem, not only for agriculture
but for all industries. We are now drawing on this asset and have
done so for many years; we have sold the products, for domestic con-
sumption and for export, for less than any reasonable cost of replace-
ment. ‘This is a wanton waste, which must some time be reflected in
the decreasing prosperity and happiness of the people. ‘The value of
this asset is largely expressed in the organic matter of the soils; and that
which is of greatest value in the organic matter is the element of nitro-
gen. ‘The ultimate problem in food production is the fixation of at-
mospheric carbon by the plants, and when we remember that, as a
broad proposition, nitrogen, with a small amount of minerals, is the
usual measure of the fixation of carbon, we can realize the great im-
portance of its maintenance.

It has been estimated that the virgin soils of the United States
contained about 550 million tons of the element nitrogen; and they
are now estimated to contain about 275 million tons, which is a re-
duction to one-half the original amount. When we spread this present
total over all the cropping land in the country, it gives an average of
about 2,000 pounds per acre; and when we make allowance for the
larger amounts in the richer soils of what is termed the corn belt, the
northwestern wheat belt, and the alluvial soils variously distributed,
it gives about 1,500 pounds per acre for the remaining land, which con-
stitutes by far the largest area. ‘This area largely comprizes the
Eastern states, the country south of the Ohio and Missouri rivers, and
parts of the states bounding these rivers on the north. ‘This means
that the lands in this large area do not now contain enough nitrogen
to give fair returns from their operation. ‘These figures indicate that
we have already exhausted about one-half of our greatest national
asset.

If we take the total crops produced each year and calculate the
total amount of nitrogen required to form the finished product, we
have a total of about three million tons; that is, there is annually re-
moved from the soils about this amount of nitrogen. If we calculate,

56

NEWER SOIL PROBLEMS 57

as best we can, the amount returned from various sources, in legume
crops, farm manures, and several forms of commercial nitrogen, it
seems impossible to reach a total of more than two million tons; this
leaves an annual deficit of about one million tons of nitrogen. When
we remember that production is based on the use of a small percentage
of the total supply each year, we can realize better the importance of
having a large total supply in order that the small percentage may be
adequate for profitable production. I am aware that some of these
calculations have been made from rather crude data; but it is one of
the problems of agriculture to ascertain the truth, and to either dis-
prove or confirm the calculations already made.

THE PROBLEM OF MAINTAINING AND INCREASING THE
NITROGEN SUPPLY

The problem of the nitrogen supply naturally divides itself into
two lines; one, the conservation of the natural supply ; the other, a res-
toration through new supplies. As the nitrogen is included in the
organic matter of the soil, it is a frequent custom to apply various
agents to those soils low in organic matter that will hasten the de-
composition of the organic matter, so that more nitrogen can be re-
covered than under natural processes. ‘The agents so used are acid-
ulated fertilizers, green cover and catch crops plowed under, lime in
caustic forms; and sometimes even clover and farm manures are used
for the purpose. On much of the poorer land, where the amount of
available nitrogen is the measure of crop growth, it is being found
more profitable to continue the process of breaking down the organic
matter by using more and more of these agents designed to secure
nitrogen, than it is to supply nitrogen. In the end, and the end is
coming soon on much of the land, the organic matter becomes so low
that stimulation is not effective, and complete fertilizers must be used
to provide each deficient element in the quantity needed for the crop.
In general, such crops do not pay the cost of the fertilizer. It is not
contended that there is no legitimate use for these various stimulating
agents, for some of them have great value, and there is a proper place
for them; but it is one of the problems of agriculture to determine
their proper use and their improper use.

A common reply to the problem of restoring nitrogen to the soils
has been to let the legumes doit. It is true that nitrogen can be added
to soils by means of legume crops; but it is also true that legume plants
prefer available soil nitrogen to air or bacterial nitrogen, and are
likely to use the soil nitrogen before using the other source. If this

58 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

is true, it looks like an enormous undertaking to restore to the soils
the net loss of a million tons annually by the growth of legumes. It
would seem a difficult matter even to maintain a nitrogen supply in
soils having a large productive capacity, and well nigh impossible to
build up a poor soil to a very high productive capacity. ‘To pass the
answer to legumes does not solve the problem of adequate nitrogen
restoration. On a soil rich enough to give up sufficient nitrogen for a
hundred-bushel crop of corn, how much nitrogen will be fixed by a
four-ton crop of clover, when the nitrogen requirements are about the
same for both crops? Or on fifty-bushel corn land, how much will be
fixed when only two tons of clover are grown?

To keep any type of soil up to a high productiveness it is neces-
sary to grow more or less of the deep-rooting legume crops for other
purposes than the fixation of nitrogen; and it seems that the amount
of legumes necessary for these other purposes is considerably less than
the amount required to maintain a nitrogen supply. Will it be found
profitable, then, to supplement legume nitrogen with artificially fixed
nitrogen? If the promise to fix artificial nitrogen at about five cents
per pound at the Muscle Shoals plant be realized, what effect will it
have on the future of agriculture? Will the tendency be to replace
legume nitrogen entirely, or will it still find a profitable use? With
this cheap nitrogen, would the farmers be able to produce fixed carbon
cheaply enough for it to be converted into motor fuel without eco-
nomic ruin to the farming business ?

MAINTAINING FERTILITY BELOW THE PLow LINE

A problem of great importance in the future will be to maintain
the fertility in that part of the soil which lies below the plowed por-
tion. “The productiveness of the corn-belt soils has been due in great
measure to the depth of their fertility; and especially in seasons of
drouth is deep fertility a factor, because the deeper crop roots not only
secure more food but are able to secure more moisture when needed.
Plant food is constantly removed from the surface soil and below by
ordinary cropping; it is moved upward and stored in the mature crop,
which is taken from the land. The surface, or plowed soil, may be
kept rich by plowing under organic matter in various forms and by
adding other forms of plant food ; but with the exception of limestone,
this.method does not materially improve the soil below the line of
plowing. At Rothamsted where 15.7 tons of manure per acre were
added annually for fifty years, the soil analyses at the beginning and
the end of the period showed no material gain in any element of plant

NEWER SOIL PROBLEMS 5?

food below the plow line, but showed a loss of some elements.

While the general movement of plant food is upward, from the
roots to the tops, in general cropping, there is a reversed movement
from the tops to the roots in the case of deep-rooting perennial legume
plants during the fall in preparation for winter maintenance and
future growth. To what extent we can utilize this habit of certain
plants will need investigation. We know that limestone will sink
into the deep soil, in the form of hard water, from a supply main-
tained at the surface, but we need also to have active organic matter,
nitrogen, and phosphorus added to the deeper soil if we want a deep
root development on our grain plants. A single instance is not proof
but it is indicative: A field on which has been grown a rotation of
corn, oats, wheat, and clover (which was mostly alfalfa), with the
late growth plowed under after translocation for winter had been
made; on which limestone was maintained at the surface, and to which
one ton of raw phosphate was applied during each rotation until five
tons had been applied,—showed by a single analysis, that there were
about twenty tons more organic matter per acre and about twice as
much phosphorus and sulfur in the soil below the plowed soil where
treatment had been made as described above, than on the check half-
acre which had had-the same rotation but no mineral treatments.

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE PLANT PHYSIOLOGIST

In the study of the plants themselves there is a wonderful oppor-
tunity for the plant physiologist to solve many of the problems now
perplexing us; and when we come to the relations between the soil,
with all its factors, and the plant, there is a field almost untrodden.
It is conceded that sweet and acid reactions in animal bodies are
factors in resisting diseases. Are plants also enabled by these different
reactions to resist plant diseases, more or less? And what are the re-
lations of the soil to these reactions? In plants the changing of
sugars to starches and oils, and of oils and starches to sugars, is in-
fluenced by a number of factors, with temperature an apparent factor.
What are the relations between the soil, climate, and latitude, and
these factors? If quality of grains depends on maturity, and ma-
turity depends on the change from sugars to starches and oils, we must
know more about the factors which induce maturity, if we are to grow
grains of high quality.

Many seeds and plants which prepare for a dormant period dur-
ing the winter do not grow well again until some changes have taken
place during the period of dormancy. Winter wheat, if sown in the

60 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

growing season of spring does not form grain, nor does it produce
well when sown in the fall if the winter be without cold weather.
Spring wheat, when sown late, may make as much growth of straw
as does that sown early but it does not produce as much grain in pro-
portion as does the early sown. Hardy trees and shrubs do not grow
so well in the spring after being kept from frost during the winter as
they do after they have endured normal outside conditions. | What
are the problems involved in these changes, and is there any application
to be made to any extent to such other crops as corn, oats, etc. ?

Each grain or seed is a product of parental mating, and with
plants the same laws prevail as in the mating of animals. We have
studied the succession of visible characters under the laws supposed to
govern; but has any attention been given to mating to secure those
invisible characters—if they are invisible—on which depend such
things as longevity, the inherent tendency to overcome adversity, to
resist diseases, and to show strength in development in the face of
adverse environment? Should we not study plants with reference
to their vitativeness, if in doing so we may find some of the factors of
immunity to diseases of many kinds?

BUSINESS ASPECTS OF FARMING

Cuarves A. Ewinc, Decatur

D S A THEME for this occasion I have chosen—farming, a

< retrospect and prospect. And I will attempt a resumé of
some of the problems arising in the leasing and operating of
a number of typical corn-belt farms, and the conclusions
arrived at concerning them; and then, tho not blest with
the gift of prophecy, I will mention some things that
seem to me not far ahead for all of us engaged in farming,
whether as grain farmers or as stockmen. As the convictions or con-
clusions of others are the more readily evaluated by knowing on what
experience they are based, and how they were arrived at, I will ask
your indulgence for beginning at the beginning, and your pardon for
being so much in the story.

A record yield on a small tract of from one to ten acres, or a
single prize steer, produced under artificial conditions which do not,
or cannot, and ofttimes should not, prevail in general farm practise,
to my mind are illustrative of nothing in particular. If this tale be
worth the telling, it is because the farms of which I shall speak have
been operated not as a hobby but as a business. “The endeavor has
been to conserve and build up the fertility of the soil, provide a rea-
sonably comfortable home for the tenant and his family, leave him a
fair opportunity, and make a reasonable income on the investment.

In the operation of these farms the practises of husbandry as
taught and promulgated by this College have in the main been ad-
hered to. For more than half the time, a record of yields from each
field has been kept, to determine the value of each crop to the enter-
prise. For several years on one of the larger farms, a labor record
showing the man, horse, and machine hours expended on the various
crops and in carrying on the work incident to the general operation
of the farm, was kept. Some large yields have been attained on con-
siderable acreages, but the thing sought after was to better the gen-
eral average and to strengthen the weaker links in the chain, realizing
that it is only the net return per acre made by a system of cropping
that does not deplete the soil, which in the end tells the story of suc-
cess or failure.

61

62 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

Farm Business ConpiTIONS DURING THE PAST QUARTER
OF A CENTURY

It was in the fall of 1896, now a quarter of a century ago, that
I began to take an active interest in the operation and management
of several thousand acres of central Illinois land, tho the responsibility
for its management was not assumed until a few years later. The
land did not lie in one body but in tracts ranging from forty acres up
to more than a section. Let us consider for a moment the conditions
existing in the farming business at that time, for they were worse then
than now.

Some of you may recall a decline in the markets for farm produce
that began about 1889 and lasted without very marked improvement
until after 1897. During that time the barometer of farm business
seemed wholly unable to find its way into the fair weather section of
the chart. Corn sold for twelve to fifteen cents, and wheat around
fifty cents; cattle went as low as a cent and a half, and hogs down to
two and a half cents during that depression. It was during this time
that the abandonment of the New England farms commenced, and
hundreds of them were simply deserted and left to revert to the
bramble and the briar. Alarmed at this condition, efforts were made
to import foreigners to run the land, but without success, and even
to this day that section has not fully recovered from the blight of that
condition. Kansas, during these years, had a particularly trying
time, aggravated by the cyclones, hot winds, grasshoppers, and other
visitations of Providence and politics. It was then that the great
movement from the country to the cities began, which continued
almost unchecked for more than a decade. ‘Then, as now, Congress
was appealed to for legislative relief, but then, as will be the case now,
the recovery was gradual. Now, however, some measures of relief
are being advocated in behalf of the farmer that, in the end, will only
aggravate instead of ameliorate his condition, among them being the
issuing of the tax-exempt securities.

Certain it is that things were bad enough, and there was not
much encouragement or incentive to remain on the farm. About
everybody left who could, but a good many, then as now, were in
much the same position as the fellow who had the bull by the tail.
He couldn’t let go. In 1897, some of the best land in the estate was
offered for sale and brought from sixty-five to seventy dollars per acre;
but even at those figures it was considered better to sell than to try
to make it pay interest on that valuation.

BUSINESS ASPECTS OF FARMING 63

At the outset it was necessary for a period of several years to
make an annual accounting in the probate court; and this was most
fortunate, for it proved to be a lesson of the greatest value. It com-
pelled keeping a careful record of the incomes and outgoes, and of
profits and losses. ‘The value of a performance record was soon rec-
ognized as being necessary for a study of the business, to determine
what part of the operation was paying and what was not; and if not,
why not. Systems already prepared were not available then, nor were
there many to whom to turn for advice about it; so we worked out a
system of our own to serve the purpose. For keeping a record of the
cash transactions a regular double entry system was used. ‘To keep
a performance record, the farms were laid out in forty-acre fields;
these were numbered, and each year the crop, its yield, value, and
fertilizer applications, if any, were noted. A business-like method of
accounting, of striking balances, of taking inventories, and of analysis
of profit and loss is just as important in the handling of a farm as it
is essential to the intelligent handling of any other business. The
information made available by a good record of performance is the
basis of intelligent farm management, and that is the basis of both
safety and success. Any college of agriculture that does not include
in its curriculum a thoro course of accounting suited to the needs
of the farm business, and require every student to take it, is lacking
one of the most important fundamentals. For if intelligent farm
management isn’t the main, ultimate objective of a college of agri-
culture, what is?

The need of definite information on many aspects of the business
was keenly felt, so the acquisition of it began; but it came from so
many sources in such different forms—books, bulletins, circulars, mag-
azine articles, etc.—that soon it was impossible to find the things
wanted. ‘To obviate this difficulty, the material was all card-indexed
according to subjects; so that, for example, the card for corn had a list
of every article in the library pertaining to that subject. By this
method, and almost for the asking, an extremely useful library was
obtained.

It may be a strain on the credulity, but in those days both lumber
and labor were comparatively cheap and money scarce. Buildings
generally on farms under lease were of temporary construction. Fre-
quently the landlord would buy the material and the tenant, with the
help of a jack-of-all-trades from the nearest village, often called a
hatchet-and-saw man, would build them. Not much consideration
was given to their architecture, location, or arrangement, or the direc-

64 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

tion of the prevailing summer breeze, with the result that it often re-
quired some determination to ignore the consciousness of the prox-
imity of the barn lot to the dining room. Painting was rather ex-
pensive and therefore quite often omitted, which did not enhance the
general appearance of things. ‘The record soon revealed a rising tide
of repairs that demanded attention.

As a result of our experience, gained in the course of years and
at some expense, I have found it more satisfactory to lay out a build-
ing plan for the farmstead as a whole, governed by the location of
those improvements already made and substantial enough to be re-
tained, and by the size, topography and contemplated method of op:
eration of the farm itself; and then to construct buildings of a better
and more permanent character, with due regard to their relationship
to each other as to conveniences and architecture. Such a plan has
much to commend it, as it saves both regrets and expense and attains
a more desirable result in the end, for one is assured when improve-
ments are made from time to time that they will be in the right place;
without such a plan an unsatisfactory arrangement is almost a cer-
tainty.

As to the drainage, most of the tile were lateral strings, of small
size, emptying into small open ditches. Ofttimes, the tile were not
adequate to take the water from the whole watershed to which
they were servient, with the result that when the neighbor decided to
drain his land, it was necessary to relay with a larger size or put in
another extra string. So with the tile as with the buildings, it was finally
deemed better to make a complete plan first. When considering the
drainage of a farm, therefore, a complete survey of the entire water-
shed was made, and on the basis of the acreage and annual rainfall an
estimate of the sizes of tile needed to do the work. Of course, maps
of these surveys were made and filed for reference so that the location
of the tile might be determined.

For years prior to 1896 and since, these farms have been operated
as grain farms. Formerly, too large an acreage was planted to corn,
and a little to oats; and while clover was intended as a part of the
system, it so frequently failed as to be almost as much theory as prac-
tise. Wheat was then added to the rotation; which was changed as
follows: the pasture averages about ten per cent of the farm, two-
fifths of the balance is put in corn, and one-fifth each to oats, wheat,
and clover. Thus about half of the farm is in corn and wheat and the
other half in oats, clover, and pasture. In 1905 applications of phos-
phate rock and, soon thereafter, of limestone, were begun and con-

BUSINESS ASPECTS OF FARMING 65

tinued until the freight rates and cost made them prohibitive. In
almost every instance they have proven beneficial when properly
applied, one striking exception being on a farm east of Maroa, Illinois,
where the soil map, when it became available, disclosed the fact that
the phosphate content was already adequate.

The record soon showed that the operation of the small farm of
forty to eighty acres was top-heavy for both landlord and tenant, as
the buildings, equipment and other upkeep furnished by the one, and
the lack of opportunity to use to good advantage the horses, machinery,
etc., supplied by the other, was a bad bargain both ways. ‘The net
returns per acre were too low to be a paying investment, and the
tenant could not make a satisfactory return for his labor after paying
the rent and his expenses. ‘The small outlying tracts were then sold,
as opportunity offered, and where small farms were contiguous they
were consolidated; so that at present the farms range in size from
two hundred and forty acres up to more than a section. It might be
well to state here that only a small part of this land, less than a
section, belongs to me; and my relation to it, therefore, has been that
of a manager, tho a few times I have joined with the tenant in leas-
ing and operating some of the larger farms for a time.

Over a period of years the half of the farm in corn and wheat
has paid a satisfactory return; but the returns from the balance of the
farm, taken separately, have not paid. So far, taken as a whole, the
corn and wheat have made what in normal times would be considered
a fair rate of interest on the inventoried values, as gradually increas-
ing yields have been able to keep pace with increasing overhead
charges; but it seems doubtful if this will continue to be the case.

Fifteen years ago this spring, I undertook the management of
another considerable body of land, which differed in its previous his-
tory, having been operated as a stock farm. ‘The stock was sold out,
and for about seven years the land was operated as a grain farm.
Since that time it has been operated on a system of stock and grain
farming, a joint interest being reserved in the stock with the tenant,
as follows: ‘The crop rotation is similar to that already explained,
and a number of sows and ewes are kept for breeding purposes, suf-
ficient to pasture the grass land and about three-fourths of the clover.
About half of the sows are re-bred for fall litters; in the late summer
or early fall a few stock cattle are bought, and thus a home market
is provided for the roughage. ‘These farms are fenced in forty-acre
fields, hog tight, and provided with a water system so that any field
can be pastured off.

66 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

When properly equipped, and with a tenant who is competent
to handle stock, this system is, to my mind, the best. Pasturing the
clover is not only a more profitable way to market it and makes a
better return on the pasture than the prevailing cash rental, but it
also takes off one of the peak loads of the work, namely, that of mak-
ing hay; and lightens another, that of harvesting corn by hogging
some of it off. It is good for the land, distributes much of the manure
where wanted, brings up the returns on the part of the farm that
most needs it, and has fewer chances for failure and more chances for
success than either a strictly grain or a strictly stock method.

An investigation was made a few years ago under the direction of
the University, to ascertain the number of acres operated per horse, on
the typical farms of the state; the reports ranged from seventeen to
twenty-eight acres. “The same year, on one of our larger farms op-
erated as a stock and grain farm we were doing pretty well with one
horse to forty acres.

In seeking a substitute for oats, several things have been tried,
with varying success, among them cowpeas, soybeans, buckwheat, and
barley. Out of six comparative seedings of oats and barley, two
years the returns were about equal and four years the barley made de-
cidedly the better showing.

‘TENANT RELATIONS

As to tenants, it has always been a custom to retain a good man
as long as he is in sympathy with better farming practises; and some
long relationships of that character have existed, several having ex-
tended over thirty years, and one tenant has not far to go until he
reaches his fortieth year on one of these farms. ‘These are unusually
long periods and except for divers reasons these parties would have
earned and retired to a farm of their own; for it has been my pleasure
to see a number start from the bottom and accomplish this very thing.
In farming as in other lines, however, not all men can accumulate, or
circumstance may circumvent them. In spite of all that has been
said to the contrary, and there has been considerable agitation against
landlords, some of it emanating from sources that should know better,
a good farm offered on a fair lease affords to many a young man with
a very limited amount of capital an opportunity to go into business
for himself under more favorable conditions than are found in almost
any other line of endeavor.

Right here, however, is a question that will stand more study.
What sized farm should a tenant rent? It is not profitable for the

BUSINESS ASPECTS OF FARMING 67

landlord to rent an improved forty-acre farm; neither it is profitable
for the tenant; and I do not hesitate to say that with the prevailing
high cost of operation, a farm of eighty acres offers but a scant op-
portunity unless it is used for some intensive work, such as trucking,
or fruit or poultry raising. I wonder how many farms there are in
this state so small or so poor that they hold no reasonable chance of
success. It is the men on these farms that are most easily capsized by
any adverse wind.

During the period of my experience I have had charge of con-
siderable land in other localities; namely, Indiana, Missouri, Miss-
issippi, and ‘Tennessee; and the disadvantage of being at such a dis-
tance that supervision was difficult and often not as thoro as it should
be, leads to the conclusion that such distant holdings are not desirable.

WHAT OF THE FUTURE?

In closing this review of the past, I am conscious that my efforts
have been almost wholly directed at one phase of the business of farm-
ing, viz., that of production. I am conscious that the margins of
profit, never large as profits are figured in most businesses, have been
crowded down to the danger point, if still visible at all; that the
trend of taxes has been upward, with alarming rapidity; and that the
overhead costs of machinery, labor, material, and repairs have in-
creased very greatly. I find myself wondering how long we farmers
can continue to ignore these other sides of our business, and go on
producing; how long can we play the game by such a rule and hold
a winning hand?

What then of the future? ‘This is oft best foretold in the light
of a knowledge of the past, and there comes to my mind this saying:

“Tll fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and farms decay.”

We are told that when darkness settled over Egypt and she lost her
place among the great nations of the earth, three per cent of her pop-
ulation owned ninety-seven per cent of her wealth. When Babylon
went down, two per cent of her population owned all the wealth.
When Persia bowed her head, one per cent of her population owned
all the land. When the great empire of Rome fell, eighteen hundred
men owned and controlled all the then known world.

What of our own country? In 1850 our capitalists owned
thirty-seven per cent of the nation’s wealth. In 1870, only twenty

68 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

years later, they owned sixty-three per cent. In 1920, we find less
than five per cent of our population listed as paying any income tax
whatever. Hence, it is reasonable to assume that the wealth of this
country is concentrated in the hands of some part of that five per
cent of our population. ‘This affords much food for thought, if we
will only stop and think. How, in this fair land of ours, rich in every
resource, under a government of, by, and for the people, could such a
state of things come to pass? Interwoven throughout the warp and
woof of the political and industrial history of the states and the nation
since the reconstruction period following the Civil War, on down to
the present day, may be found most of the reasons for this condition.
They are already matters of record and too voluminous to relate here.
But most of them will be found to be in contravention of some of the
fundamental ideals of our Government. We farmers, however, are
not without blame in the matter ; our ears have been deaf to the warn-
ing long since uttered by one of our leading statesmen, ““The price of
liberty is eternal vigilance.” We have followed the pied pipers of
party politics, not knowing or recking where they led, and too often
have cast our ballots for measures adverse to our interests. We have
for the most part ignored every phase of our own business, save but
one, and that one circumscribed by the farm fence; namely, produc-
tion. Produce, produce, produce, has been the beginning and the end
of our thought and teachings, taking whatever was offered at the
market, paying whatever was asked for what we needed to buy; and
I assert that such a method has in it the germs of an economic slavery,
just as real and just as dangerous as the serfdom of Russia or the
Sepoy slavery of India. It is said that the Danish farmer, through
his marketing organizations, is able to retain eighty to ninety per cent
of the value of his produce, and that the American farmer, through
the lack of such effective associations, retains about ten to twenty
per cent of their value. A bushel of wheat sells for about one dollar,
while a bushel of puffed wheat sells for about thirty dollars.

The time is at hand now when the other sides of this great enter-
prise of farming must have their just share of recognition at the
hands of the farmers, and we must relieve the business of the handi-
caps that have been put upon it. We must take a hand in shaping
and directing the course of our governments, both state and national,
in some measure more nearly commensurate with our support of them,
and see to it that agriculture has a fair chance. “The questions of
transportation by road, rail, and water vitally concern farmers and
their business, as do also distribution, domestic and foreign markets

BUSINESS ASPECTS OF FARMING 69

and marketing, foreign trade, foreign exchange, credits, and finances.
These are some of the matters which must have consideration, not
only separately but relatively, and if farmers are to be heard on these
matters they must affiliate with organizations that will represent them.
The organization of the Farm Bureau, county, state and national, is
a step in the right direction; but mark this well, the doctrine of
opportunism will neither carry very far, nor long endure, nor will it
succeed in rallying to its support other kindred organizations. ‘The
ills that beset us are not so difficult that they can’t be cured, but we
must understand them. The Farm Bureaus must carefully diagnose
our case and formulate a policy of treatment, not only to make known
to its members and others the principles for which it stands and the
goal it strives to reach, but to mark its own progress and avoid
meandering from its course. If this be done; if a plan be conceived
in wisdom, not aimed to subvert other lines of enterprise, but deter-
mined to remove the handicaps under which agriculture, our greatest
art and our master science, has so long labored; and if the farmers
and stockmen of the country will catch the vision of a united coopera-
tive movement for their own and their country’s best interest and
consecrate themselves to its support, we may with confidence turn our
faces towards the dawn of a brighter day.

At this time and at this place we may ask, What part in this
program will be taken by the College of Agriculture? Let me remind
you that these times of adversity are not without their silver lining;
they are times of real progress. It was after the hard experiences of
the period from 1889 to 1897 that the renaissance of agricultural edu-
cation began, the growth, development, and progress of which have
been without a parallel anywhere, in any field of learning in the world.
It was then that with but nineteen students regularly enrolled in the
agricultural course, an appropriation was asked of the state, and given
by it, to erect a building to be devoted to the study of agriculture,
which should be the largest yet built for that purpose. ‘They were
men of vision who asked it and worked for it, as were also they who
gave it. Let us not forget, however, that the world moves; and
among other things come, faster than we realize but never fast
enough, the changes in our curricula. Each generation sets up a
new list of requirements and each is deemed necessary and essential ;
and perhaps at the time and under the conditions prevailing some of
them are. Were I to pass a general criticism on the schooling of
today, it would be this, and it applies all the way from our grade
schools on up: that in fitting a student for a particular line of work

70 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

the emphasis has been too much on the work and not enough on the
student as a man and a future citizen; too much stress on material
success, too little on his obligations to society and the state; in short,
too much on selfish aims and not enough on service. For it always
has been, still is, and will continue to be one of the verities of life,
that it matters not if a man gain the whole world, if he be lacking
in some of these attributes of character he fails of success. It is not
by what we have or acquire in a material way, nor yet by our intel-
lectual attainments, but by what manner of men we are, that we be
judged. And in this country of ours, under this form of government,
which holds so much of promise for mankind, but is as yet in the
experimental stage, our ideals and character as a people are vital.

In retrospect, I see the College of Agriculture, like the farmer,
with its attention focused mainly and largely on production. In
prospect, I see it with a wider outlook on the business, grappling
with the other sides of farming, sifting them to the bottom, winnowing
out their underlying principles and instilling them into the minds
of the young men who come here to be informed on this subject, and
from whose ranks we shall draw leaders, well trained and grounded
in these principles, to carry forward the cause of agriculture, serve it,
and ably represent it. It is not enough for the state to teach a man
how to produce; it must teach him how to protect what he produces.

‘Twenty years ago when the then new Agricultural Building was
completed, it was dedicated to “Agriculture, The Master Science” ;
and across its front it bears this inscription, ““The wealth of Illinois
is in her soils and her safety lies in their intelligent development.”
At that time, nothing could have been more fitting or appropriate, and
the development of the scientific side of agriculture has borne fruits
of inestimable value. ‘This work, of course, must go on; but were
it for me to say what should be the dedication of the College for the
next twenty years, I should say “Agriculture, our Greatest Business,”
and I would paraphrase the inscription the present building bears, as
follows: “The wealth of Illinois is in her young men and women,
and her safety lies in their intelligent development.”

To the business of agriculture then and the men who are going
to transact it and represent it, would I direct your attention. In-
stead of doubting if this prospect can be realized, I am full of hope
that it will be and with confidence await what lies ahead.

THE FARM BUREAU

E. T. Rossins, Farm Adviser, DeWitt County

=] £N YEARS of Farm Bureau work in Illinois are already

)| a matter of history, and the record reveals significant
changes in aims and methods. Begun primarily to extend
agricultural education among busy farmers, the Farm
Bureau’s major efforts are now directed in business chan-
nels. This has been a logical and natural change. The
Farmers’ Institute, the Short Course and the agricultural shows were
already covering much of the agricultural extension field. As soon
as a Farm Bureau converted a man to the use of limestone, for ex-
ample, the immediate question was where, when, and how to buy it.
When a Farm Bureau assisted a man to purchase the limestone, he
was actually initiated into its use; otherwise he seldom made the start.
It was just so with rock phosphate, alfalfa, sweet clover, pasture mix-
tures, soybeans, improved varieties of grain, and pedigreed live stock.
Then followed the necessity of finding a market for any resulting pro-
duct, such as sweet clover seed, soybeans, Percherons, or Shorthorns,
whose marketing channels were not already well beaten paths. The
Farm Bureau exchange list quickly established itself as a regular and
valuable feature of the periodical communications sent to the members.
County association live-stock sales became a necessity.

These business features of the work have tied the membership
more closely together than purely educational projects could do. Men
will flock to a stock show, a horse race, or even a street dog fight; they
will attend a meeting where dollars tell of business achievement.
Action attracts where mere mental stimulus is ineffective. But when
gathered for the consideration of business problems of local, state, or
national scope, farmers are ready to grasp incidentally new ideas for
improving farm production. Agricultural teaching has found its
most attentive farm audiences at business meetings.

Tuer Farm BurREAU BUILT FROM THE GROUND UP

The Farm Bureau is unique among farm organizations because
it is founded upon individual paid memberships, secured through the
initiative of natural local leaders. It is built from the ground up, not
from the top down. ‘The overhead organizations of state and na-
tional scope are the outgrowth of these county units, developed by
them to concentrate the influence of the thousands and millions of in-

71

72 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

dividual farmers. ‘There is nothing dominating or paternal about
the Illinois Agricultural Association, for instance. On the other
hand, it is the mouthpiece and the active servant of the individual
farmer and draws its authority from him through the county Farm
Bureau. Its special work is to conduct for the individual member the
legislative, transportation, and marketing projects which require com-
bined power.

Rational leadership is an absolute essential in Farm Bureau or-
ganizations. Safe, sane, conservative men are the best guides to steady
the course of action suggested by many enthusiastic minds. ‘The di-
rectors of Farm Bureaus and of their state and national associations
have developed their plans with commendable care and patient de-
liberation. The best proof of this is the success of every important
project which has already had time for development. Of course,
paid executives are necessary so as to be always on the job, to carry
the plans of the directors to successful conclusion, and, incidentally, to
suggest new projects and plans. So far, there has been great respon-
sibility placed upon the farm advisers and upon the state and na-
tional paid officials. We are working a comparatively new field. It
is much more difficult to work out a new and practical plan of market-
ing, for instance, than it will be to carry it on twenty years hence,
after its details have been fully tested, improved, and established.

A DIFFUSION OF RESPONSIBILITY

In the operation of county Farm Bureaus the present tendency
favors a rather extended diffusion of responsibility. “Township and
community units, with local chairmen and committees, serve the gen-
eral wishes and requirements of the members. Live-stock shipping
associations, dairy, and fruit organizations, and the already established
cooperative grain companies, with paid managers, are handling the
initial process of cooperative marketing of farm products. ‘Their
work is supplemented in a special field by the county breeders’ associa-
tions, with their combined advertising and consignment sales; thereby
virtually guaranteeing to the young breeder a market for his purebred
animals. ‘That alone has marvelously increased the ranks of live-stock
breeders in recent years. In Tazewell county, in five years, twenty-
four young men were added to the list of Percheron breeders because
of the Tazewell County Percheron Association.

In thus enlisting the services of many members of a community
in its development projects and marketing problems, the Farm Bureau
work derives the benefit of suggestion and advice from minds of var-

THE FARM BUREAU 73

ious types and from a multiplicity of viewpoints. Valuable ideas
have thus been developed. The chances of failure have also been re-
duced. “In a multitude of counselors there is safety.” Then, too
division of responsibility among many members seems to be the very
best way to develop strong local leaders, men who will become the
logical ones to shoulder the cares of the county, state, and national
federations.

The local units are sure to be very important factors in the
future life of the Farm Bureau. It is through them that membership
‘enrolment, the collection of dues, and the maintenance of morale can
be handled most surely and economically. The local leaders and
committees maintain an intimate and almost daily contact with in-
dividual members, which it is impossible to secure in any other way.
The local committeemen are absolutely necessary in conducting mem-
bership campaigns. In fact if they should handle the details of this
work with little outside assistance, it would probably be the ideal con-
dition.

Through the local organizations the special needs of the com-
munity, such as chinch bug control or any other local project, can
best be ascertained and met. ‘The burning of chinch bugs, for ex-
ample, is necessarily a local project, requiring the cooperation of every
farmer in the territory. It cannot succeed in any other way. Any
such efforts which enlist the attention of a large share of the local
residents serve to develop and strengthen the spirit of cooperation.
Fortunately this spirit is already a factor in community life, as dis-
played in exchange of labor in threshing and shelling. It is only
necessary to extend this fellowship into the range of more compre-
hensive enterprises.

Local units also serve to keep the weak members in line. There
is much opposition to Farm Bureau work by those business men who
fear that eventually it may cut into their profits in one way or another.
By organized propaganda and individual knocking, they have at-
tempted to discredit cooperative work and discourage members of
farmers’ organizations. It is difficult to conceive the state of mind of
anyone who would be prejudiced by such disparaging talk from an out-
sider, but the actual fact is that Farm Bureau members here and
there have become dissatisfied as a result of the so-called friendly tips
of their business enemies. Continual boosting by well-informed and
broad-minded local leaders is necessary in order effectually to counter-
act the poison which is thus steadily injected into the veins of farmers’
organizations. Little progress can be made when half of us are push-

74 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

ing forward and the other half pushing backward. ‘The full meas-
ure of success by the Farm Bureaus can be attained only when the
great majority of farmers are enthusiastic members.

STANDARDIZING FARM PRACTISES

The Farm Bureaus are gradually standardizing farm practise in
various localities. Hitherto the principal accomplishment in this
line has been in the introduction of farm implements by dealers. The
result has been a more rapid agricultural advancement in the use of
improved machinery than in the adoption of pedigreed live stock, or
high yielding varieties of crops, or the extension of soil conservation
methods. It is up to the Farm Bureaus to convert their members to
the use of those improved methods which are not pushed by salesmen;
and they will do it more conservatively and more satisfactorily. The
same crop rotations or live-stock interests which make money for one
farmer should also prove profitable for his neighbor under similar cir-
cumstances. Local demonstrations and community meetings serve to
convince skeptical neighbors that their methods can be improved. One
farmer in DeWitt county told me the other day that he never saw
a soybean until he went to a farm demonstration meeting two miles
from his home, where the crop had been raised continuously for
twelve years.

Some real persuasion is necessary to deflect a man from his chosen
system of farming, inherited perhaps from his father. The business
side of the question is what convinces; and the Farm Bureau can
present the problem and its solution in dollars and cents under home
conditions. In the future we may well expect more progress to be
made through farm management studies based on actual farm ac-
counts, than by any other means. We know that under present de-
pressing conditions many farmers are making nothing on their in-
vestment and are getting nothing for their own work, while some of
their neighbors are making five per cent and in addition some hundreds
of dollars annually to pay for their own time. Such disparity has ap-
peared every year since farm management studies were begun. The
Farm Bureau is peculiarly and almost exclusively situated so as to
turn such figures to practical account in the community.

As farmers become accustomed to calling at the county Farm
Bureau office to confer about their problems, and form the habit gen-
erally of attending local business and demonstration meetings, it will
be possible for one farm adviser to serve a larger number of members
than has been the case during these pioneer years. “There will be less

THE FARM BUREAU i)

farm visiting and more conferences with groups of members. As time
goes on, we shall doubtless develop a well defined system for main-
taining intact the county organization and local units, which are the
absolutely necessary foundation for effective state and national or-
ganizations for legislative and marketing purposes. That will sim-
plify the work; but initiative, resourcefulness, originality, determina-
tion and a thoro acquaintance with farm problems will still be re-
quired of farm advisers. Probably the principal reason for the prom-
inence of Illinois in Farm Bureau affairs is that the men for this work
have been rigidly selected and suitably paid and have been expected
to secure commensurate results.

CooPERATIVE MARKETING OF FARM Propucts

The marketing of farm products is certain to become generally
cooperative. We are making rapid progress in this project because of
the concerted efforts of county, state, and national associations all
along the line. Local shipping associations affliated with the Farm
Bureaus are already an assured success because of their demonstrated
economy in consigning live stock to market. “Their membership and
shipments grow month by month. ‘The cooperative commission com-
panies so far established at the markets leave no cause to doubt that
they will satisfactorily, economically, and permanently bridge the gap
between live-stock producer and manufacturer. “The wool pool has
weathered a stormy early life and emerged into a smoothly function-
ing and efficient marketing partner of the Farm Bureau. The I. A.
A. potato pool last fall distributed through the Farm Bureaus the best
potatoes ever bought by Illinois farmers and at prices which dealers
could not meet. ‘The local cooperative grain companies are gaining
in number and prestige through persistent boosting by Farm Bureaus.
The next great movement, already well advanced, is the founding of
the U. S. Grain Growers, Inc., whose local footing and financial
backing are founded upon the county Farm Bureaus. ‘The successful
development of this project, in the face of the most powerfully financed
opposing propaganda ever confronting American farmers, will surely
be accomplished, and that of itself will be worth to the farmers of
America all the costs of all the Farm Bureau work for all time. This
immense gain will not be secured through domination of markets but
through small economies and various small items of profits incident
to the transfer of grain from the producer to the consumer.

76 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

The Farm Bureaus have led farmers into greater progress in the
last ten years than in the thirty years preceding. While the cost has
reached a considerable total, it is small as apportioned to each member
and as measured in results. Every Farm Bureau member gets full re-
turns on his investment, even if he makes no effort to do so. And yet
it is our duty to make the work both economical and efficient to the
greatest degree. Farm Bureau directors should not be mere enthu-
siasts ; they should be farmers who succeed in the financial management
of their own farms, who appreciate values and who can fairly calcu-
late returns on an investment. We are now passing through the most
expensive period of Farm Bureau work, just at the time when farm
finances are at low ebb. In pioneering these marketing efforts, for
example, we cannot accurately forecast the returns on all the outlay
in cash and effort. Some expenditures will eventually prove to have
been unproductive, and this adds to the final cost. It is much more
expensive to invent and try out new plans than to execute old and es-
tablished systems; but the initial steps must somehow be taken or no
revision of agricultural methods will be effected. As fast as these new
systems are developed, it will be possible to lop off introductory fea-
tures, and thereby save much expense. Delegating a large measure
of responsibility to the local marketing units is calculated to effect
economy as well as to stimulate loyalty, and this principle again co-
incides with the prominence we attach to the local units in the Farm
Bureau. Overhead control should not be sufficient to dominate, but
merely to coordinate systematically the work of local marketing
agencies. So far as we have gone in these projects, these principles
have been followed. Even the centralization provided in the U. S.
Grain Growers, Inc., extends only to the point of concentrating sales
into sufficient volume; and full local representation is provided in the
management.

Pus.iciry oF SUBJECT MATTER AND OF AIMS

Publicity is a necessary feature of Farm Bureau work. Period-
ical communications from the county office are needed by individual
members to keep them fully informed concerning the business and ed-
ucational features of the work, not only within the county but in the
state and nation at large. ‘They should have in concrete form such
information as can be useful in improving their individual businesses
and the cooperative enterprises in which they are engaged. ‘This can
be shaped in an attractive form to fit local conditions and to anticipate
the inquiries which would naturally arise from time to time. The

THE FARM BUREAU 77

county publication or circular letter which is sent to all of the mem-
bers, not only supplies the information and encouragement which
every individual should have, but it furnishes material for the active
member to use in boosting the Farm Bureau among his indifferent as-
sociates. “Ihe more any member knows about the aims, methods, and
accomplishments of his organization, the greater his loyalty will be
and the more he will profit from it. Greater knowledge will also
fortify him against the insidious influence of propaganda from dealers
who oppose him.

The boys’ and girls’ clubs carry this publicity idea into the
future. They train the next generation of farmers to appreciate the
vast improvement which is possible in general agricultural practise.
Club work cultivates a high appreciation of fellowship and mutual
interest in the projects and problems of the farm. ‘The young folks
learn to keep cost accounts, which are certain to stimulate a desire for
economical and profitable marketing. ‘The club members now will
undoubtedly become the Farm Bureau leaders a few years hence.
Their present-day interest and enthusiasm are also sure to spread to
their parents and their associates, so that the benefit of club work is
far-reaching.

Publicity in the local and county newspapers is also necessary in
order to give the general public a fair understanding of the purposes
of the farmers’ organizations. “There are many who profess to be-
lieve that a farmer’s sole duty to himself and the nation is to produce,
to take up his position between the corn rows and in the feed lot and
limit his operations to the confines of his line fences. ‘The general
public has been imposed upon so much in the past by various trade
monopolies and trusts that there is natural suspicion of any new mark-
eting venture and opposing interests make the most of this prejudice
in their propaganda. Fortunately, there is no occult objective for
farmers’ cooperative organizations. Efficient and economical mark-
eting is the aim, and that cannot injure the consumer. It will hurt
only those who now profit unduly at the expense of both producer and
consumer. Consequently, it is best for all concerned to give general
publicity to the purposes for which farmers are organized. An
honestly enlightened consuming public will welcome and assist their
advance. ‘Those whose present business may be encroached upon may
then see the light and readjust their operations along lines of greater
service to the community.

78 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

FuTurRE WorK

There will always be plenty of work for the Farm Bureaus to do.
Constantly shifting production and trade problems the world over are
sure to necessitate readjustments in rotations, in live-stock breeding
and feeding, and in marketing operations from time to time; and the
Farm Bureau is the logical means of putting the necessary changes
promptly into effect. A feature just now is a sensible reduction in
corn production by replacing part of the acreage with soil-improving
legume crops. Only concerted local agitation and persuasion will get
us anywhere with this proposition. If we had been sufficiently or-
ganized to cut down the corn acreage a year ago when the need was
plainly apparent and was strongly urged, we could have averted a
corn-belt catastrophe. We must depend upon the Farm Bureaus to
guide production along necessary and profitable channels, without the
disastrous overproduction and underproduction at times which have
featured our agricultural history. When our lands have been farmed
longer there will also be greater attention demanded by the fertility
question. New marketing problems are sure to arise, and always
there will be the demand for developing and introducing those sys-
tems of farm management which best conform to changing economic
conditions.

THE ILLINOIS AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION

D. O. THompson, Secretary, Chicago

@XH| F I were to figure out what seems to me to be the start of
the Illinois Agricultural Association, so far as I can get
it from the record today, I would go back to the graduat-
ing class of ’76. If I were a philosopher, I would sit
down and meditate upon the question as to whether the
state of Illinois could not well have built an institution—
an educational institution—back in those years, for the sole purpose
of graduating one student in the year of ’76 who would have upon
the agriculture of the state of Illinois the influence that that one
graduate has had. I believe the investment in the whole institution
would have been worth while, just for that one thing.

Seven years ago in this building, for which the Dean of Agri-
culture and the Farmers’ Institute worked so hard, there met a group
of Farm Bureau officers who had been coming here for a few years
with the farm advisers in order to see if there were not a few things
which they had in common which they might discuss, and perhaps
form a sort of loose organization. Following that a meeting was
held at Ottawa. After much discussion and argument, the organi-
zation was formed. I think the greatest amount of debate was as to
whether it should be called the Illinois Agricultural Association or
the Illinois Agricultural and Live Stock Association. Mr. Herman
Danforth was elected president. He was president of the Farm
Bureau in Tazewell county; and Mr. E. T. Robbins, the farm
adviser in that county, was elected secretary of the organization.
Some years later Mr. John Kirkton, of the Livingston County Farm
Bureau, was elected president and Mr. R. C. Bishop, farm adviser
in that county, was elected secretary. Some time later, Mr. Kirkton
continuing in office, Mr. Leonard, who was president of the Wood-
ford County Farm Bureau, was elected secretary; and it was during
that time, and immediately after the war period, that the Association
undertook its largest program of work. The important thing, to my
mind, that happened was that the Association, instead of continuing
on as an association of groups of farmers, was changed to be an
association of individual farmer members. At that time, Mr. Harvey
Sconce was elected president, and I was hired as secretary and since
that time have been trying to do everything except to get the fellows
down East to come out here and eat their pork chops out in the feed
lots.

79

80 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

I am always glad to give suggestions as to what we should try
to do. I gave to most of you, a week ago or two weeks ago, a resumé
of the work of the Association during the past year—which was
really a resumé of three years,—and I think I shall not take time
now to go into that. In my mind the work of the Association is
shaping itself into some pretty definite things; and I can see in the
future, at least a little way into the future, that if it is to meet the
situation as it should be met there must be some shifts—some changes
in the form of the administration of the Association, some shifts in
the lines of work pursued, and a very clear-cut, well-defined policy
of work arrived at during the coming year, so that stakes for the
future can be set up based on right conclusions.

I believe that there will be one department of cooperative market-
ing in the Association. Now that will not all happen this year;
but it is going to happen some time in the future, when some of this
preliminary stuff has been worked out. And I know as well as I
know that, that there will be a department of finance, taking in the
questions of revenue, taxation, farm financing, and farm credit; these
are the subjects that such a department is going to handle, study and
put itself in position to work on. It will have to follow a pretty
definite policy; it must know pretty definitely where it is going, and
then it must work to get there. ‘Then there will be a department
of transportation. ‘The immediate question before the house is
freight rates, but that is the least of our questions. Under the head
of transportation, we have a road question. The farmer has a tre-
mendous road question, and under the same head he has the water-
way question. ‘Transportation in the future is going to mean, in this
organization, more than a reduction of freight rates. ‘Then there is
going to be a general legislative department, which will be tied up
perhaps with the legal department, perhaps not; I do not know
whether the farmers want the law tied up with the legislative de-
partment or not. But questions of law and legislation will be
grouped fairly close together. ‘Then there will be, of course, the
general administrative department of the Association.

Now, I do not claim to be a prophet, but I am willing to prophesy
on this particular thing as coming true in the life of the Association.
It must come if the Association is going to serve its place as one of
the several factors in the agricultural life of the state of Illinois. If
the Association, as a volunteer association of farmers of the state, is
going to make the third point in the triangle, with the State College
of Agriculture and Experiment Station, and the State Department

RE W.-Y ak 81

of Agriculture,—if it is to take its place there, these things are going
to have to come true. Furthermore, in the future, the farmers of
the state of Illinois are going to need to call more and more to ser-
vice in that organization men who know the business aspects of farm-
ing, for these are business questions the proper answers to which de-
termine the answer to the question that is in the mind of more than
one of my pals, “Can I afford to farm? Can I take a chance on
farming?” Until that question can be answered positively, in the
affirmative, the young man hasn’t much business thinking about it.

What has been borne in on me in fifteen or seventeen years spent
around among the farm people of the states of Indiana, Illinois, and
Wisconsin is that a “punkin,” no matter how big it is nor how good
looking it is, isn’t any good as a farm product unless it will pay a
profit. You can grow a better animal or a better ear of corn; and
you can inspire a man to do that; but unless you can teach. him how
to get his money out of it and live, you haven't taught him much.

As I see the job of the I. A. A. in the future, it is to take its
place as the third point of that triangle—the University and Experi-
ment Station, the State Department of Agriculture, and here a vol-
unteer association of farmers in the I. A. A. It is going to have a
glorious part to play in its time, almost as glorious as the pioneer in
the field—that other great institution in this state, the Farmers’ In-
stitute—played in its time.

AN INTERNATIONAL CROP REPORTING
SERVICE

Harvey J. Sconce, United States Delegate to the International Institute
of Agriculture at Rome, Sidell

HEN the American delegation, consisting of three delegates,
attended the International Institute of Agriculture at
Rome in November, 1920, they decided that the para-
mount issue of this nation was a better crop-reporting
service for the world, and their united efforts were
extended in this direction.

At the meeting of the General Assembly, America was honored
and our crop-reporting service was duly recognized as the best of the
entire world, to the extent that Mr. L. M. Estebrook, one of the dele-
gates and Chief of the Bureau of Crop Estimates of the Department
of Agriculture at Washington, was chosen chairman of the Second
Commission which had to do with crop estimates and statistics.

THE NEeED oF ACCURATE, COMPLETE, AND TIMELY STATISTICS

I was also placed on this commission with Mr. Estebrook; and
in an address to the General Assembly I tried to bring before the
delegates of the fifty-six nations represented, the attitude of America
relative to a world crop-reporting service, and to show how essential
it was that each country should have a reliable system of statistics
that would be accurate and timely. I outlined the present condition
to them, showing that only a few countries had any system that was
dependable, while other nations had little or no service whatever;
also that some of the countries who were attempting to report crop
statistics did so at such a late date that the information was worthless
so far as the markets of the world were concerned. I attempted to
show further that the systems of different countries varied in detail
so much that by the time the reports were received, the information
translated, and the figures of the foreign nation converted into the
units of our nation, so much time had elapsed that the resulting
information was without value. I urged that a standard system be
adopted, and that this service should embrace a complete agricultural
census: statistics and estimates of acreage; yields per acre and total
production of all crops grown; numbers of different classes, sexes,
ages, and breeds of all live stock; crop and live-stock forecasting;
farm and market prices; crop, live-stock and land values; popula-

82

AN INTERNATIONAL SERVICE 83

tion and per capita consumption; imports and exports; stocks on
hand; surpluses and deficits; supply and demand; trends of produc-
tion, consumption, and prices.

It was urged that this information, to be of the greatest value
to the adhering nations must be timely, dependable, and unbiased, in
order that it might be used with confidence as a guide to production
and marketing programs. Much information regarding foreign agri-
culture is available in past and current literature, official bulletins and
reports, and unofficial trade papers. However, a great deal is not
available in any form and the information that is available is mostly
historical, incomplete, and fragmentary, and neither systematically
arranged nor promptly accessible. In fact, it is information that has
passed its greatest usefulness and really has no bearing on present
conditions.

At present this nation is receiving agricultural reports and bulle-
tins from foreign nations, but the crop reporters are dilatory in get-
ting their reports ready and the printers are also dilatory in getting
their part of the work done. Another delay is caused in mailing and
transmitting the bulletins, while a further delay is caused by their
translation; so that, by the time it is ready for the farmer, the grain
merchant and the business man, the information is out of date and
worthless.

Some of the foreign nations have never taken an agricultural
census, and others have done so only at infrequent intervals. Informa-
tion of this kind should be collected at stated intervals and in a
standardized manner.

The International Institute of Agriculture at Rome, organized
in accordance with the international treaty promulgated in 1908, fur-
nishes, through its monthly and annual bulletins, information relat-
ing to crop reports, agricultural statistics, agricultural technic, dis-
eases of plants, and agricultural economics which is of great value.
However, the reports of the Institute are lacking in completeness;
many important crops are not covered by the reports. They also
lack timeliness, because the Institute has no organization and no
representatives in foreign countries for collecting data, but in accord-
ance with the international treaty, must depend upon data trans-
mitted to it by the adhering governments.

As the adhering governments are without proper organizations
and methods for collecting these data, the reports of the Institute can
be no better with respect to accuracy, completeness, and timeliness
than the original reports transmitted by the adhering governments.

oe UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

A STANDARD SYSTEM OF Crop REPORTING

After bringing these facts before the Institute, we introduced a
resolution which was afterward adopted, providing that each adhering
nation should adopt in the near future a standard system of crop
reporting; that all the information should be telegraphically com-
municated to the Institute not later than the tenth of each month; and
that bulletins should be compiled and distributed to all the adhering
nations not later than the twelfth of each month. Each nation
agreed that it would endeavor to establish a standard system as soon
as it was possible to get trained experts for the work.

AGRICULTURAL ATTACHES FOR FOREIGN EMBASSIES

To further facilitate this work of crop reporting, I introduced
a resolution which was adopted, providing that agricultural attachés
should be placed in the embassies of the foreign nations to assist the
adhering nations in gathering the agricultural statistics and in bring-
ing the system of crop reporting to a greater state of efficiency;
these attachés to act also as agents for agricultural associations of the
nations represented.

It has been suggested that the American consuls in the various
nations could assist in transmitting crop statistics, and there has been
a law on the statute books for a quarter of a century requiring the
American consuls to furnish crop reports to the Secretary of Agri-
culture through the Secretary of State, but so far this law has been
a dead letter. The fact of the matter is that the consuls are appointed
without any regard to their knowledge of agriculture and are not
trained in agricultural work whatever; therefore, any information
they might gather is taken from newspapers, trade journals, and other
sources that are not dependable... They lack the qualifications neces-
sary to be able to furnish an intelligent report on the agricultural
conditions of a nation because they are unable to understand clearly
what is wanted by the Department of Agriculture or to appreciate
the relative significance and value of information which is accessible
to them.

The commercial attachés of the Department of Commerce are
another possible source of information. However, in the past they
have rendered no service of value to the Department of Agriculture
and very little if any to American agriculture. ‘Their primary func-
tion is to obtain information useful to American business men in
promoting trade in American manufactures; which in itself is enough

AN INTERNATIONAL SERVICE 85

to occupy their entire time, thought, and energy. ‘Their training is
‘along other lines than agriculture, and in fact the commercial
attachés who were interviewed in the foreign nations by the dele-
gates to the Institute appeared to have very little knowledge of either
American or foreign agriculture. Without exception, they appeared
to be wholly ignorant of the fact that the farmers of the United
States produced in 1920 and 1921 tremendous surpluses for which
there was no adequate market and which were sold at ruinously low
prices, causing the loss of millions of dollars and reducing the pur-
chasing power of farmers approximately one-third to one-half; which
reacted disastrously upon business in other industries and caused the
shutting down of factories resulting in widespread unemployment.

At the Institute and before the Committee on Foreign Relations
when we returned from Rome, the American delegation strongly
urged the placing of agricultural attachés in foreign nations, these
attachés to be to American agriculture what the commercial attachés
are to American commerce and industry. As the result of the argu-
ments before the Committee on Foreign Relations, a small appropria-
tion was made for this work, and the work has been started in a
small way. At present the Department of Agriculture has stationed
Mr. Foley in London and Mr. Bullock in Buenos Aires, and they
are rendering most efficient service. For instance, this past fall when
the Department desired prompt information as to the newly sown
acreage of wheat in Argentine, the Department of Commerce was
notified to get. the official figures as soon as available and cable
them. At the same time the same question was asked Mr. Bullock,
who cabled the desired figures within forty-eight hours. A week
later the Department of Commerce wrote that the Argentine figures
would not be available for another month. ‘This shows the value of
having a man on the spot to render service when it is needed.

Last June three cotton specialists were sent to the World Cotton
Convention at Liverpool and the International Chamber of Commerce
meeting at London. ‘Two of these men remained abroad long enough
to visit the principal cotton ports and cotton milling centers in Europe,
as well as the Nile Valley and Palestine. ‘They obtained information
of much value, especially with respect to marketing prospects and
the possibilities of expanding trade in cotton in Poland. In the late
summer a specialist in the meat packing trade, Mr. E. C. Squire,
was sent to Europe. He has been collecting and forwarding valuable
data with respect to stocks of dairy and meat products on hand,
demand, prices, and trade conditions.

86 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

In October Professor G. F. Warren of Cornell and Mr. W. F.
Callander of the Bureau of Markets were sent to Europe to study
sources of information, as well as public and private statistical in-
formation on economic conditions, to arrange with the various
officials for the prompt interchange of crop reports by mail and cable,
and to formulate a systematic plan for the regular flow of agricultural
statistics and economic data to the Department of Agriculture to
supplement the information of the International Institute. Both
Professor Warren and Mr. Callander report that the commercial
attachés are not qualified to obtain information on agriculture because
of their limited commercial viewpoint.

In November Mr. Michaels, formerly with the Food Admin-
istration in Russia, was employed and sent to Southeastern Europe
to collect and report upon agricultural conditions. During the past
summer arrangements have been made to have the commercial
attachés and American consuls in foreign countries supply certain
kinds of information under a set of instructions prepared by the
Bureau of Markets.

At present the program of the Department of Agriculture is to
utilize all existing agencies, such as the International Institute of
Agriculture, the commercial attachés and the consul officers of the
State Department so far as practicable, and to supplement these
agencies with agricultural attachés in the principal countries. The
object is to collect information concerning stocks on hand; consump-
tion requirements; surpluses and deficits; economic situations affect-
ing production, consumption and purchasing power; farm prices and
agricultural credit; cooperation; the presence of plant and animal
diseases and insect pests; and to cable this information to the Depart-
ment of Agriculture together with important crop reports and notice
of material changes in crop conditions occurring in the interval
between official crop reports.

With the latest and best information of this kind available, the
Department of Agriculture will arrange for the prompt and wide-
spread dissemination of the essential facts through the press and
through regular and special printed reports. If we had at least fifty
well trained men in foreign fields to assist foreign nations in establish-
ing a reliable crop reporting service, and to assist in introducing
American agricultural products to the people of the nations where
they are stationed as well as to keep American agriculture advised as
to crop conditions, it would go a long way toward creating an outlet
for the great surpluses we have on hand at the present time.

FINANCING FARMING

J. D. Puiurrs, Chairman of the Special Committee on Farm Finance,
State Division American Bankers Association, Green Valley

HE farmer the same as any other business man, is in need
of funds to use in the operation and development of his
business. Some of these funds are used on the commercial
side of his business and are of short-time maturity, and
some are needed for the investment side of his business and
naturally extend over a long period of years. Before com-

mencing on the rural credits end of this address, I want to say some-

thing about the Federal Reserve Bank; for the farmers are as much
interested in the Federal Reserve System as they are in a system that
will provide for them long-time credit at a reasonable rate of interest.

The Federal Reserve Banking System is the greatest financial
legislation ever enacted into law in this or any other country. It is
not perfect of course, but it has been the financial life-saver not only of

America but of the Allied countries as well, during the terrible, trying,

distressing, nation-wrecking and soul-wrecking time we have been

recently passing through in the World War. While this law needs
some amending before it will become attractive to the country banker,
yet be that as it may, over nine thousand of the thirty-two thousand
banks of America are members of the system, with about sixty-nine
per cent of the banking resources of the country connected with the

Federal Reserve Banks. If in due time, and in the natural course of

business events, it is learned by actual experience that the Federal

Reserve Banks can pay a small rate of interest on required reserves,

and such an amendment should be enacted into law, it would be but

a very short time until every eligible bank in America would join the

system. The making of over one hundred per cent per annum by

several of the Federal Reserve Banks, during the past two years, is
probably responsible for the belief that they will always be able to pay
at least two per cent on required reserves without encroaching on
commercial banking in any way. Should the experience of the banks in
the next few years prove the fallacy of such an opinion, it will of
course stop the agitation along these lines for all time; but on the
other hand, should actual experience, after due trial, without hastily
jumping at conclusions, prove the theorists to be wrong, no power
on earth can stop legislation along the above named lines.

There has been a great deal of unwarranted criticism, principally
by politicians, against the officers of the Federal Reserve Banks and

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88 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

the Federal Reserve Board, in regard to their dealings with the agri-
cultural needs of the country, it being claimed that the farmer has
not received his just proportion of assistance during the trying times
we are now passing through. A careful analysis of the situation proves
the very opposite of this to be true.

According to a report made by Governor McDougal in January,
1921, all the member banks of a great agricultural state had borrowed
at one time 470 per cent of their reserve deposits, or in other words
almost five times their required reserve; while the largest borrowing
bank in the district had 233.3 per cent of their reserve deposits bor-
rowed and all member banks in Chicago had 143.8 per cent borrowed.
On October 1, 1921, all member banks of this agricultural state had
344.4 per cent borrowed, while the largest bank in the district had
21.9 per cent borrowed, and all member banks in Chicago had 40.1
per cent borrowed. I don’t believe that we farmers have any fault
to find with the Federal Reserve System, in the treatment we have
received through the country banks, when the facts are known.

Another thing, the Federal Reserve Banking System saved every
section of this country while the whole world was going on to the
rocks of financial chaos. The Federal Reserve Banks of the North,
without compulsion of any kind, went to the assistance of the agri-
cultural interests of the South and West. At one time the Federal
Reserve Bank of Cleveland alone, loaned to the Reserve Banks of the
West and South no less than $145,800,000.

While the Federal Reserve System has performed its duties in
supplying the farmer and others with short-time credits, the Federal
Farm Land Bank has not done so well in supplying funds for the
permanent, or investment, side of the farmer’s business. This busi-
ness has been handled by country banks, investment bankers, mort-
gage loan associations, lawyers, or most anyone else who could get
enough money together to make a loan on the most favorable terms
possible to themselves. I do not wish to be understood as finding
fault with the men in this kind of business, because I am one of them;
it is the system that we are after and hope to correct if possible.

For the past eight or ten years I have been profoundly impressed
with the need of some means whereby the investing public and the
holders of farm mortgages could be brought together, but until about
a year ago our ideas have all been of an abstract nature. In the
latter part of February, 1921, the Executive Committee of the State
Bank Division of the American Bankers Association met in New
Orleans and this subject was thoroly discussed by the farmer member
(your humble servant) of that committee. At the next convention,

FINANCING FARMING 89

held in Los Angeles, the special committee of five on Farm Finance,
of which the speaker is chairman, was appointed.

This committee met in Chicago, and after considering the matter
decided it would be better to develop machinery already established
than to build new machinery. A subcommittee was created to fur-
ther consider the matter and recommend whether in their judgment
an amendment to the Federal Land Bank Act was the right thing.
The subcommittee has had a number of meetings and a joint con-
ference with a committee of the American Farm Bureau Federation,
and our opinion is that the law should be so amended that all in-
corporated banks might become members of the Federal Farm Land
Banks. Such an arrangement would immediately provide thousands
of well-equipped, permanent, local headquarters for the system. It
would also insure the services of experienced financial men, would
guarantee the making of safe loans based on conservative values, and
would save all the overhead costs of local associations, for the banks
could handle the additional business with little, if any, additional
overhead expenses. Member banks would be required to subscribe
to the capital stock of the Federal Land Bank in their respective
districts.

Commissions would be allowed member banks for originating
mortgage business, the same as the law now provides for farm loan
associations; and the same compensation would be allowed member
banks for collections of interest and amortization payments, the super-
vision of the payment of taxes, and the submission of occasional re-
ports to the Federal Land Banks.

All the duties of the local associations would be assumed by the
member banks; but while they would guarantee the genuineness and
regularity of each loan they should not be required to guarantee the
payment of the loan, for it would be unwise and unnecessary for the
banks to assume this contingent liability. Any farm loan that cannot
stand on its own individual merit, without the aid or assistance of
other loans or the endorsement of any organization of any kind, ought
not to be made. Under the double safeguard of the judgment of
both the bank and the Government, there could be no excuse for ever
losing a dollar on a single loan. Under such a system, the farmer
would do his business through his local banker, the one person to
whom he prefers to go with his financial problems; and the banker
in turn could supply his farmer customers with the needed funds for
their investments without freezing up the assets of the bank to the
danger point.

90 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

There is no better security in the world than a farm mortgage,
properly made, not even a Government bond itself. While I have
no desire to place any security above a Government bond, I do wish
to say that when farm mortgages become worthless in this country,
the Government obligation will have little or no value. The Farm
Loan Bonds, based on such a security, ought soon to become very
popular with the investing public, and hence ought to supply to the
farmer the necessary funds for his investment needs at a rate of in-
terest that would compare favorably with industrial undertakings that
finance their fixed investments through long-term bonds.

Up to the present time the Federal Land Banks have sold that
portion of their bonds not taken by the United States Government,
through selling syndicates made up of the leading bond houses of the
country, but a sufficient number of the bonds have not been sold to
make possible the continuous operation of the system. With a well-
organized sales force, the Federal Land Board might act as a syndicate
manager of future selling syndicates, including the leading bond
houses, mortgage companies, and the member banks throughout the
country. Under this plan each offering of bonds would be sold
through the organization of a national selling campaign that would
carry the appeal to every investor in the land. ‘This would not only
insure the rapid sale of the bonds, but would make possible their dis-
tribution at the lowest underwriting cost consistent with good service
on the part of the distributors. And, as Mr. George Woodruff said
in his address before the convention of the American Farm Bureau
Federation at Atlanta, Georgia, “In order that Farm Loan Bonds
might enjoy a continuous and broad market it might eventually be
deemed wise for the Farm Loan Board to list them on the principal
exchanges of the country, as was done with Liberty Bonds, and their
popularity as a medium for safe investment of the savings of the
people should ultimately become second only to that of the bonds of
the Nation itself.”

With the Federal Land Bank Act thoroly Americanized and
developed along the lines I have been talking about, we will have
an institution rivaling, if you please, in grandeur, strength, and ability
to serve along its particular lines, the greatest financial institution
ever established in the world for commercial purposes, namely, the
Federal Reserve Banking System. With these two banking systems
in the country, properly functioning, I do not believe there will be
any need for an intermediate financial institution to care for the
so-called two- and three-year paper that we hear so much talk about
in political circles.

THE BUSINESS OF FARMING IN SOME OF
ITS LARGER ASPECTS

Tuomas Nixon Carver, Harvard University

=—] HE BUSINESS problems of the farmer are of two kinds,
\¥@ | administrative and commercial. The first has to do with
the wise direction of the working force of the farm in the
production of crops, the other with buying and selling. The
latter grows more and more important with progress be-
cause fewer and fewer things are produced on the farm
while, at the same time, a greater and greater variety of things are
used on the farm or consumed by the farmer’s family. This requires
more and more buying and selling. ‘The farmer’s prosperity will
therefore depend more and more on his skill as a buyer and seller.

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS

The administrative problems, however, are still of great im-
portance. ‘These consist in the directing of the whole productive
force on the farm in the growing of crops and animal products. The
acute phase of this problem, however, consists in paying expenses out of
receipts. Almost anybody could run almost any business if he did
not have to pay the bills. . Many a man can grow good crops and
breed good animals, who can’t keep expenses down below the price at
which they can be sold. Contrary to a rather widespread opinion
among farmers, farming is not an exception to the general rule. It
is no harder to pay the bills out of the receipts in farming than in any
other business. It is inherent in the very nature of competitive in-
dustry that there should be failures. No matter how good a business
man you are, speaking absolutely, if you are much below the average,
speaking relatively, you will never be able to pay your expenses out
of your receipts. Other and better business men than you are will
offer so much to get labor, raw materials, machines, equipment, etc.,
and offer their products at so low a price, that you will be unable to
stay in the same game with them. Your wage bill, your deterioration
charge, your interest and other overhead expenses will be more than
your receipts will cover. If your competitors were not quite so efficient
and would not offer quite such high wages for labor, or quite such
high prices for raw materials and equipment, you could, of course, cut
down your expenses. If at the same time, they would not offer the
finished product at quite so low a price, you could increase your re-

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92 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

ceipts; but the difficulty is that your pesky competitors will keep on
bidding against you, offering high prices for what you have to buy
and low prices for what you have to sell, thus forcing you to the wall
unless you are approximately as good a business man as they are. If
you fall materially below the standard set by them you will fail.
There is no business or profession to which this rule does not apply
just as definitely and rigidly as it does to farming.

PricES AND PROFITS

This being the case there is no such thing as “‘cost plus ten per
cent,” or “‘a living plus ten per cent” for any except the more capable
farmers, if the ten per cent is to be realized on the price of the land
as well as on the rest of the investment. ‘There will always be a con-
siderable number who are just hovering on the margin, and another
number who are below the margin and headed toward bankruptcy.
This cannot be prevented, even by government price fixing. If the
government were to fix the price of corn at two dollars a bushel and
maintain it, guaranteeing to every farmer without exception that
price, it would still be almost as difficult for the inefficient corn
grower as it is now. ‘To begin with, the price of corn land would
go up. If any of you own good corn land, you would not sell it
under those conditions at the price which you are now willing to take.
If you are contemplating buying corn land, you would be willing to
pay a higher price, under those conditions, than you are now willing
to pay. This competitive bidding for land would go on precisely as
it does now. ‘The best business men among corn farmers,—that is,
those who could organize the working force of the farm so thoroly as
to keep expenses down or to get the largest possible number of bushels
per unit of expense—could afford to pay and would, as a matter of
fact, pay a higher price for corn land than the less capable farmers
could possibly afford to pay. The inefficient farmer would have just
as hard a time paying for his land if he bought it, or paying rent for
his land if he rented it, as he now has. Again, the efficient manager
who could so direct his labor force as to get more corn per man em-
ployed than the inefficient farmer, could afford to pay higher wages
for his help. ‘The poorer farmer would be crowded to the wall just
as definitely as he is now. He would find it just as hard to pay these
high prices for farm land, and high wages for farm labor, and high
prices for farm machinery, out of the receipts of his two dollar corn
as he has in normal times to pay the lower prices or the lower rents,
wages, etc., out of his receipts from one dollar corn. Of course, the

LARGER ASPECTS OF FARMING 95

farmer who gets his land before the rise comes, would enjoy the ad-
vantage of owning higher priced land, and could get more money for
it if he ever decided to sell.

THE UNIT OF ORGANIZATION

Again, this is not peculiar to farming. ‘The efficiency with which
the farmer organizes and directs the working force of his farm has
many phases, and depends upon the solution of a vast number of de-
tailed problems. Almost every business, if it is organized at all, is
organized around some unit, such as a power plant, an expensive
piece of machinery, or a rarely endowed manager. Some farming en-
terprises are organized around a mule, a tractor, a plot of land, a fam-
ily as a working unit, or amanager. In every case the size of the en-
terprise is determined by the capacity of the unit around which the
business is organized. Where land it not a merchantable commodity,
the acreage of the farm itself is not easily increased or decreased. It
becomes, therefore, the unit around which the business must be or-
ganized, and the size of the business is necessarily determined by the
capacity of the farm. Where land is a merchantable commodity, the
acreage can be increased or decreased to suit the capacity of the man-
ager. It is his capacity, therefore, rather than the predetermined
acreage of the farm that determines the size of the business.

Where the predetermined acreage of the farm is the unit, the
question is, how intensively to cultivate that acreage; that is, how
much labor and capital to apply to its cultivation. The answer is
obvious to every student of economics: As many units of labor and
capital must be applied as will, one year with another, enable the last
units applied to just pay for themselves; or the last application of
labor and capital on the farm to just pay its cost in the increase of
yield.

Where there is no predetermined acreage, the manager must re-
gard his own capacity, rather than the size of the farm, as the limiting
factor. That is, he must increase or decrease his acreage as freely as
he would his labor force or his supply of tools and equipment. But
he must remember that his capacity is as limited as is that of his land
or that of any part of his equipment. If he tries to run too big a busi-
ness, he must of necessity give somewhat less attention to details. He
must spread himself thinly, as it were, over a large business. He
must, however, enlarge his business until the last unit of a combined
factor “Jand-labor-capital” just pays for itself. If he stops short of
this, so that an additional unit of “land-labor-capital” would more

94 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

than pay for itself, he will be losing that profit. If he goes too far,
so that this last unit does not add enough to the total product of the
business to quite pay the additional cost,—in short, if it does not quite
pay for itself,—he loses money on it and reduces his free income.

BALANCING THE DIFFERENT FACTORS OF PRODUCTION

As to the balancing of the different factors of production in his
business, the rule is that the last unit added to each factor must add
exactly as much to the product of the whole as the last unit added to
each of the other factors. ‘This would be a perfectly balanced farm
business. If, for example, a farmer has so much land and so little
equipment that the last forty acres of land adds less to the total crop
than would have been added if the price of that land had been spent
on tools and labor, the farm is not well balanced—the farmer is
land poor. It would pay him to sell some of his land and put the
money into labor, equipment, etc., if he cannot otherwise balance his
farm. ‘This illustration could be multiplied or repeated with respect
to each and every item in the farmer’s business inventory. ‘Nothing
in excess” must be his ideal; but that ideal is not realized until the
last unit in each part of his business has exactly as great marginal pro-
ductivity as the last unit of each and every other part.

THE CoMMERCIAL PROBLEMS OF THE FARMER—EFFICIENCY
IN BARGAINING

The commercial problems of the farmer are all summarized in
the question, how to increase his efficiency in bargaining so as to buy
and sell to better advantage. More and more the economic world is
realizing that there is a distinct difference between efficiency in pro-
duction and efficiency in bargaining. Efficiency in production consists
in turning out the largest product in porportion to the sum of human
energy expended in the work of production. Efficiency in bargaining
consists in buying a given quality at the lowest possible price, or selling
a given quality at the highest possible price. In many industries the
size of the business unit is determined quite as much by the question
of efficiency in bargaining as by the question of efficiency in production.
Many of the supposed economies of the trust were not economies in
production at all, but mere advantages in bargaining. Later ex-
perience has demonstrated that there were few, if any, real economies
in production in the trust form of organization. ‘This is not saying,
of course, that there were not many economies in fairly large-scale

LARGER ASPECTS OF FARMING 95

production, but we have learned to be skeptical of any alleged econo-
mies that cannot be reduced to a purely mechanical basis. For ex-
ample, it takes a large power plant and a lot of powerful machinery
to roll even one steel rail. When you once have this large equipment,
of course it pays better to keep it busy. Here you have a definite me-
chanical reason for fairly large-scale production.

From the standpoint of bargaining, however, the large concern
has many advantages over the small concern. It can afford to main-
tain a larger selling organization with agents located everywhere,
which agents can “get there first,” before the scattered agents of the
smaller concern can get around. Being able to buy its raw materials
on a larger scale, it may succeed in getting better bargains. It may
also be able to handle its labor situation more effectively and make use
of cheaper grades of labor than the smaller concern. In various
ways, by either buying or selling to better advantage than the smaller
concern, it may beat it out.

The seller is a weak bargainer when the buyer has many other
opportunities to buy. “The buyer is weak when the seller has many
other opportunities to sell. Collective bargaining on the part of sellers
reduces the number of other opportunities open to the buyer; when
practised by buyers it reduces the number of other opportunities open
to sellers. It is dangerous, first, because it is a game that both sides
can play; second, because it may become a means of extortion instead
of a means of defense.

WHEN Does COLLECTIVE BARGAINING CEASE TO BE A MEANS OF
DEFENSE AND BECOME A MEANS OF EXTORTION ?

This is one of the most important questions now before the
world. When the world really answers it, things will begin to be
uncomfortable for those who are caught using it as a means of ex-
tortion, whether they call themselves merchants, manufacturers, labor
unions, or farmers. The world will tolerate a good deal of collective
bargaining so long as it is a means of defense on the part of those who
cannot bargain for enough to give them a decent living. It will not
stand much more than that.

Just now our farmers are weak in bargaining power. ‘They are
justly inclined to turn to collective bargaining as a means of defense.
I warn them, however, that their present weakness is temporary.
Europe is impoverished and not able to buy our surplus at remunera-
tive prices. Our farmers are therefore forced either to sell it to them
at prices which they can afford to pay, or not to sell at all. They are

96 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

wisely choosing to sell at such prices as they can get. Our farmers
are thus feeding Europe at a very low price. ‘This cheap food will be
the chief factor in the rebuilding of Europe. ‘The difficulty of selling
to them at a remunerative price is increased by the fact that Europe has
no money with which to buy our surplus and must pay in goods. Tariff
legislation hinders her paying in goods. ‘Thus our government is de-
liberately reducing the power of European countries to buy our sur-
plus, and thereby forcing our farmers to take still lower prices for
their surplus than they would otherwise have to take.

When Europe again resumes normal production there will be a
pre-war demand for American farm products. ‘The American farmer
will then come into his own and will no longer need collective bar-
gaining as a means of defense. If he uses it at all, he will be using it
as our trusts formerly did and as some of our labor unions are be-
ginning to use it, as a means of extortion.

Consider this in connection with another fact; namely, that our
farmers are already a minority. ‘That being the case, they cannot
prevent hostile legislation. When the majority who are not farmers
discover that the minority who are, are using collective bargaining as
a means of extortion, our farmers must look out for hostile instead of
friendly legislation.

It is interesting to notice at this point a fundamental contrast
between bargaining power and voting power. In the case of any
economic class the more numerous it is the greater its voting power,
but the lower its bargaining power, and vice versa, the fewer its num-
bers the greater its bargaining power and the less its voting power.
During the decades of the over-rapid settlement of our western lands,
the farming population was numerous relatively to the rest of the
population and had great voting power, but its bargaining power was
low and all agricultural products had to sell at a low price. ‘The
tendency at the present time is for our farming population to become
relatively less numerous,—that is, to increase less than other classes.
This is materially increasing its bargaining power, as evidenced by
the higher prices at which farm products sell; but it is correspond-
ingly reducing its voting power, and it will never again be able to
exercise even the moderate amount of control over the policies of
the Nation that it has exercised in the past. This weakness, however,
if it be a weakness, is much more than compensated by the higher
bargaining power that is coming to the agricultural classes.

Collective bargaining, however, may have two very distinct
meanings. So long as it is confined to cooperation, in order to get

LARGER ASPECTS OF FARMING 97

the advantages of buying by wholesale or of selling in large quantities
so as to be able to advertise and attract buyers, there is not and never
can be any valid objection to it. It is only when it reaches the stage
where it is able to keep the entire supply off the market and thus “hold
up” the buying or consuming public that it becomes uneconomical and
dangerous. As suggested above, so long as this extreme method is
used by the very poorest members of society who are obviously not able
to get a decent income otherwise, the world is very tolerant; but the
minute it begins to be used by people who are already as prosperous
as, or more prosperous than, the average of those of whom they are
taking advantage, the latter will rebel or will launch a counter attack.

EFFECT ON LAND VALUES OF FLUCTUATIONS IN AGRICUL-
TURAL PROSPERITY

I have suggested already that the present depression of agricul-
ture is abnormal, and that there are better times ahead for all our
farmers. It does not take a very long memory to convince one that
for several years before the outbreak of the war, agriculture was on the
up-grade. The rise in prices was very general, but the rise in agri-
cultural prices was a little more rapid than the rise in the general
price level. As soon as this present aftermath of the war is over,
there is every reason to think that the pre-war tendency will reestab-
lish itself.

‘These extreme fluctuations in agricultural prosperity furnish an
interesting problem. Contrary to a very general impression that ag-
riculture is the most stable of all industries, there is one important
sense in which it is the least stable of them all. Perhaps it would be
clearer to say that in some respects agriculture is a relatively stable
industry, but in other respects it is one of the most unstable of all.
The instability is associated with the price of farm land and its rela-
tion to the price of farm products. ‘This relationship can be ex-
pressed generally by the proposition that a relatively slight change in
the price of farm products is normally and logically followed by a
vast change in the price of farm land.

This may be illustrated as follows. Let us suppose that for a
considerable area of the lands of the corn belt it costs, one year with
another, fifty cents to grow a bushel of corn, figuring in every element
of cost, including the farmer’s wages of superintendence and interest
on his equipment. If the price of corn, one year with another, is ex-
actly fifty cents a bushel and is not expected to go any higher, corn land
is worth exactly nothing. ‘That is to say, the average corn farmer

98 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

would be as well off if he worked for wages, let his capital for in-
terest, and abandoned his land, as he would be if he kept his land and
tried to grow corn. He would have no motive for holding on to his
land and no one else would have a motive for buying his land.

Suppose, however, that the price of corn should rise to sixty
cents a bushel and it was expected that it would remain at this level,
one year with another. ‘There is now ten cents a bushel surplus.
Obviously, no man would abandon his land under these conditions.
He has a motive for keeping it; and there would be plenty who
would be glad to buy it at some fair price. In other words, no man
could make as much by abandoning his land and letting his capital
at interest as he could by keeping his land and growing corn.

How much advantage would his land be to him? Well, let us
suppose that he can grow fifty bushels of corn to the acre on the aver-
age and makes ten cents on each bushel. He then makes five dollars
on each acre of land. Five dollars capitalized at the rate of five
per cent would be one hundred dollars. One hundred dollars would
be, therefore, the logical price for an acre of that land. Now a rise
from fifty cents to sixty cents a bushel is not so very violent, but with
the figures which I have assumed, it would make the difference be-
tween no price and one hundred dollars an acre for farm land.
Again, assume that there is another rise of ten cents a bushel in the
price of corn, the expenses of growing the crop remaining the same.
A change from sixty cents to seventy cents is not so very violent, but
this would exactly double the logical price of farm land; for now,
instead of making ten cents on each bushel, he makes twenty cents,
clear, over and above the expenses of growing the crop. ‘Translated
into acres, he now makes ten dollars an acre instead of five dollars.
Capitalizing this ten dollars at five per cent makes two hundred
dollars, the logical price of an acre of land, instead of one hundred
dollars. In short, an increase of one-sixth in the price of corn pro-
duces logically a doubling of the price of farm land. A similar fall
in the price of corn would produce a similarly violent fall in the
price of farm land.

To Buy on Crepit A HazArpous UNDERTAKING

In this country, where the tendency is for farmers to own their
own land, they are very likely to measure their own prosperity in
terms of the trend of land prices. It is inevitable that there should
be very wide fluctuations in land prices. Of course, this is not likely
to have a great deal of influence on the farmer who owns his land

LARGER ASPECTS OF FARMING 99

free from debt and is not thinking of selling; but it is also a fact
that in this country more than in any other, land is a merchantable
commodity, is frequently bought and sold, and when bought, is fre-
quently bought on credit. To buy on credit an object which is sub-
jected to such violent fluctuations in value is a rather hazardous
undertaking. You may gain very largely, and then again you may
lose very heavily. In other words, farm land is one of the most
uncertain and hazardous of all investments.

I mention this for the reason that it has been frequently stated
in recent years that farm lands are the safest of all securities as a
basis for credit. ‘That is a proposition which may sound well on
a political platform, but it is not true, in fact; and they who have
taken it literally, especially in the recent land boom in the corn belt,
have learned to their extreme sorrow that it is a dangerous fallacy.

One of my colleagues, in a recent attempt to be facetious, has
remarked that agricultural economics is a kind of mental agriculture.
If so, that is not enough to condemn it. I believe that there are a
good many farmers scattered through the corn belt today who would
be materially better off at this moment if they had practised a little
more of this kind of mental agriculture,—the kind that consists in
analyzing the basis of the value of farm land.

“A Goop Livinc AND TEN PER CENT”

“A good living and ten per cent” has been adopted as a kind of
slogan for an agricultural campaign. ‘This does not sound unreason-
able; that is to say, the conditions ought to be such as to make it
possible for any first-rate farmer to realize that or more. I wish to
contend, however, that for the inferior farmer, or the farmer who is
materially below the average, this is a goal that is forever unattain-
able, if the value of the land is considered a part of the investment
on which he is to realize ten per cent. No matter how good a farmer
he is, if he happens to be materially below the average of those who
are competing with him for land, labor, and equipment, he never will
be able to attain this goal while the world stands. As I suggested
earlier in this paper, his more efficient competitors will bid so high
for land as to make it impossible for this inferior farmer ever to
realize ten per cent on that high price.

There is, however, one very important use that can be made of
this slogan, or one very similar to it. I will explain this use by first
mentioning what happens to a business corporation that fails to pay
all the expenses, including the salaries of its officers. In a case of this

100 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

kind, everything is down in black and white; and the corporation
owes its managers salaries just as definitely and has to pay these
salaries just as certainly as it has to pay for its raw materials, its
fuel, or its machinery. When it fails to pay all expenses, including
the salaries of all its office force, it is a bankrupt corporation and
must be liquidated. ‘Too frequently the farmer does not hold his
farm to the same strict accountability as the business corporation is
held. The farm has to pay for its fertilizers and all its other ma-
terials with deadly certainty, but, in present practise, it is not required
to pay the farmer, the farm boy, or the farm wife definite salaries at
all. Too many of them go on working without any salary, or with
only half salary, and keep the farm going when it ought to be bank-
rupt and its affairs wound up. If such a campaign of education
could be carried through as would persuade every farmer to run his
own farm so as to pay a fair salary for himself and for all his family
who actually work, a good many of our less well managed farms
would be bankrupt and liquidated already. ‘This would be largely,
of course, a matter of accounting. If the accounts were so kept as to
show exactly how much the farmer was getting for his work and
that of his family, and he were convinced that he could get more by
working for somebody else than by working for himself, and if he
were to wind up his business as promptly as the corporation managers
close the corporation that fails to pay salaries along with other charges,
it would be an excellent thing for the farming industry over the
entire country. ‘These farmers would make more if they would give
up farming and work for wages; and the other farmers would be
relieved of the competition of a good many farms that are not now
paying operative costs. I suggest, therefore, as a goal to be striven
for, ‘Fair wages for every farm worker plus five per cent on the
investment.” ‘That is a goal that is attainable, and when it is attained
it will mark a very definite improvement in the economic conditions
of the farming population.

THE UNIVERSITY AND THE FARM

Daviw Kintey, President of the University of Illinois

“10 ONE can turn his attention to the subject of agriculture
in the United States without thinking at once of its condi-
tion at the present time. Therefore, when a conference
on agriculture is called it is inevitable that people should
expect a discussion of the present agricultural depression.
This, however, was not the purpose of the conference called
at the University. The purpose was rather to consider the direction
or trend of the development of agriculture in Illinois in the next de-
cade or two, with special consideration of the part that the University
College of Agriculture and the Agricultural Experiment Station can
or may play in that development. In any conference on the general
subject of agriculture today, three problems present themselves: the
problem of the present depression; that of the improvement of exist-
ing agricultural practises, technically and economically ; and the prob-
lem of the future agricultural methods. As indicated above, a fourth
point in the present conference is the relation of the University to
that progress.

Altho this conference was not called for the purpose of discussing
the present depression, I may be pardoned if I turn aside a moment to
mention it. .We have had all sorts of explanations given and all sorts
of remedies proposed. Most of the explanations and remedies have
no relation to the subject. Most of the explanations do not explain,
and most of the proposed remedies would make the situation worse.
In fact, no one can give an adequate explanation of the situation or an
adequate remedy for its improvement. It is curious that in an age
when the medical profession is relying less and less on drugs for the
cure of disease and more and more upon the healthy, slow processes
of nature, the social doctors are facing the other way and relying more
and more on quack remedies through legislation than on the operation
of natural economic and social forces.

We all agree, of course, that the present situation is the result
of the war, whatever the words may mean. It can be established, I
think, that not only did the processes of the war take out of cultiva-
tion vast areas of land formerly used to produce food, but it also
reduced the consuming power, that is, the purchasing ability, of the
world. Even this statement needs explanation, but this is not the
place for it. Moreover, the demands of war gave a direction to ag-
ricultural production, in this country at any rate, which distorted

101

102 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

somewhat seriously the course of normal agricultural production. In
addition, there are the influences due to the disturbed state of the cur-
rencies of the world; the political unrest, which is both a cause and an
effect ; and the economic disturbances in other than agricultural lines.
So far as the farmers of Illinois and the United States are concerned,
they were led to produce abnormally in some directions, relying on the
high prices of the war, artificially stimulated and held up by govern-
ment action. ‘They were called on, for example, to supply wheat, and
they furnished it from areas which were naturally better suited to
corn; for of course the dominating factor in the choice of a crop was
the price. I think there cannot be found in history a more illuminat-
ing illustration of the evil consequences of government interference in
economic life than has been furnished by the government activity in
industry and agriculture during the recent war. ‘The foolish cur-
rency and credit policies of all the important governments during the
war, and the ultra-foolish policies of some of them since the war in
the great inflation of currency, have made the situation worse.
Thousands of people are starving in some parts of the world which are
accessible by ordinary means of transportation, because the currency
and credit conditions are such that they cannot buy the things needed
to keep them alive.

Looking at the situation in a large way, the first thing necessary
to the restoration of normal conditions in agriculture and industry is
the cessation of currency and credit inflation by Germany and other
countries, the restoration of decent conditions in Russia, and the con-
sequent reestablishment of international trade. ‘The debts of foreign
countries to this government should be funded at a reasonable rate of
interest for a long-time period to assist in the restoration of normal
rates of exchange. A good many other things are necessary, but
these measures would go a long way toward restoring confidence and
setting the world to work.

SomE OuTSTANDING Facts DETERMINING FUTURE
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

With reference to agriculture in Illinois and its future develop-
ment, there are some apparently outstanding facts that we must con-
sider in trying to determine where we are going.

While it is true that, taking the country as a whole, a dozen
years ago less than half of our total land area was in farms, yet less
than a fourth was improved and less than a sixth was tilled. Never-
theless, the available tillable land of the country is pretty well taken
up, and further great expansion in agriculture must come from some

THE UNIVERSITY AND THE FARM 103

other method than by simply taking up more land. ‘The area of im-
proved land has, of course, increased pretty rapidly in the past de-
cade or two, but it has not increased as fast as our population. ‘To be
sure, improved methods of agriculture might render an equal rate of
increase unnecessary. Still there must be some relation between the
rate of increase of population and that of the increase of improved
farm land in a country where land is still open to occupation. When
the land has all been occupied, then the relation must be different and
a larger number of people must be fed from each acre. Speaking gen-
erally, we have reached that condition in the United States and in
Illinois. In other words, we have reached the point of what is called
decreasing returns under given conditions of agricultural practise. In
Illinois in 1920, the improved land in farms was approximately three-
fourths of a million acres less than it was ten years before. In the
meantime, the estimated value of all farm property had risen from
3.9 billion to 6.7 billion, two billions of this increase being in land,
three hundred millions in buildings, and one hundred and forty
millions in implements and machinery. In other words, the value of
the land increased in the decade 70 per cent, that of the buildings 73
per cent, and that of implements and machinery 202 per cent. These
facts also, due regard being had to other conditions, may fairly be
interpreted as evidence that we have reached the point of decreasing
returns under given conditions of agricultural practise.

Again, the average value per farm has increased nearly five times
in the past thirty years, practically all of the increase being in land
and buildings, and the main part of it in land.

Another significant fact for Illinois is that, generally speaking,
the number of farms of every size has decreased excepting those be-
tween one hundred and five hundred acres. “The tendency seems to
be that the usual farm shall be between those limits. Another fact of
some importance, altho I cannot help thinking that it is a temporary
phenomenon, is the change in the character of the cereal crops in the
decade just closed. In the ten years closing in 1919, there was a de-
crease of 21 per cent in the acreage of corn harvested and an increase
of nearly 88 per cent in the acreage of wheat harvested. This change
was probably due to the demand of the war, exerting itself through
the higher prices offered by governments for wheat. The result, of
course, was the devotion of land, better suited to corn, to the produc-
tion of wheat. In other words, the land was not being put to its most
socially productive use, using the term “productive” with reference to
total actual production.

104 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

Again, the character of the animal industry of Illinois has
changed in considerable degree in the past twenty or thirty years,
altho it is true that there were more cattle reported in the 1920 census
for Illinois than in the 1910 census.

Again, notwithstanding a large increase in population, largely in
the cities, there has been, according to the best Census estimate, a re-
duction in the amount of milk produced in the state and in the amount
of butter made, altho the value of the milk, cream, and butterfat sold,
and of the butter and cheese made, is estimated by the census to have
increased 128 per cent.

On the social side, the Census shows a decrease in the number of
farms operated by tenants; but the decrease is evidently all in the
class of cash tenants, or the most independent class of tenants.

Summing these facts up, they seem to me to point in a general
way to certain conclusions. First, as already suggested, they indicate
that in Illinois, as elsewhere, we have reached the point where in our
agriculture we must expect to raise larger crops per unit, or to get more
products per unit, at increasing cost. If, in our attempt to raise our
crops on high-priced soil at increasing costs, we find ourselves unable
to compete with people raising similar crops on cheaper land in other
parts of the world, we shall be obliged either to resort to a system of
protection for agriculture, or we shall have to let part of our land go
out of use, as did Old England and later, New England. We shall
have on our hands the problem of abandoned farms. ‘The obvious
conclusion is that we must seek that kind of agricultural activity in
which we are most efficient under our Illinois conditions. We must
make the most economical use possible of our land and machinery.

We must also take notice of the fact that the industrial growth
of Illinois is likely to be rapid in the next twenty-five or thirty years.
Manufactories will be more numerous. That growth will bring to
our doors a larger home market. Our agriculture may perhaps direct
itself to supplying products peculiarly demanded by such a market.
Still, again, since the value per acre and per farm has increased and
will increase more, we must get a larger output per farm or per acre
in order to make our investment pay.

Generally speaking, our policy in the past has been of necessity
large farms with crops of a single character or cereal crops of two
kinds. With the growth of a home market of industrial centers,
there will have to be more small farms producing the things demanded
for consumption in such centers. In other words, as population be-
comes denser, the most profitable farm may perhaps have to become

THE UNIVERSITY AND THE FARM 105

smaller, its products more diverse, its cultivation more intense, its
value per unit higher, and the products selected for growing those
which are in greatest demand, and in the market where the net profit
is highest.

AGRICULTURAL PoLicy OF THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE

In the light of these facts, there seem to be certain conditions
which will modify our agriculural policy for the immediate future.

In the first place, we are bound to conserve and, if possible, to
increase the fertility of our land. We must not allow it to run down
further; rather we must restore those parts of it that have run down.
How to do this is a problem for the solution of which the farmers of
the state are entitled to look to the University Agricultural Experi-
ment Station for help. Much has been done in the study of the ap-
plication of chemistry to agriculture. Little has been done in the
study of the improvement of plant life, and in the study of plant dis-
ease and the remedies therefor, in order to give us a larger and more
healthy product and to eliminate the waste of diseased products. This
field is a proper subject for study at the University.

In the second place, it is clear that our cultivation must become
more intensive. It is easy to say that we can raise seventy-five or one
hundred bushels per acre in Illinois of this crop or that crop, instead
of the forty or fifty that we have been raising. In the past a great
deal of foolish talk of this kind has been indulged in. There has
never been any doubt in the mind of anyone who is conversant with
the facts that we could increase the output per acre of any of our crops,
but at a cost. The farmer’s problem, so far as he can control the
amount of his production, is to get a product which, at the prices that
can be secured for it when put upon the market, will yield him a net
profit. Society’s problem is to find a system of agriculture which will
produce enough to meet the demands of men and women for living,
at prices which they can reasonably pay, while at the same time letting
the farmer have the profit necessary to induce him to continue his
business and to prosper like the rest of the community. It is non-
sense, therefore, to tell the farmer that he should increase his output
per acre without showing him that the increasing cost of every ad-
ditional bushel will be met by a larger market and an increased price
per bushel. While, therefore, in the next twenty-five years IIlinois
agriculture is bound to be more and more intensive, one of the ways
in which it may become so is by the discovery of methods of cultivation
which will reduce costs of production. ‘This, again, is a field for

106 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

study and investigation by the University. ‘These remarks apply to
improvements not only in the technical processes of agriculture but in
the economic processes involved in farming. We must find improved
business methods for farming. The business side of farming, as has
been said here repeatedly, is capable of great improvement. This is true
not only of methods of marketing, which is a very popular subject of
discussion today, altho it is not the cure-all for agricultural ills that
many seem to think; but it is also true of other phases of the business.

In the third place, as I have already intimated, we may find it
profitable to diversify our agriculture still more in the way of in-
creasing those products which are in immediate demand for family
consumption in cities and industrial centers, which are bound to be-
come more numerous all over the state. It may be that in doing this
the average farm will have to become smaller and the owner will have
to devote himself to more lines of farming than many of our farmers
are accustomed to now. I have no doubt that in time the farms of
some of the states to the east of us, and perhaps in IIlinois itself, will
become more nearly like those of certain parts of the Old World and
of the East, where population is dense, in the sense that each farm, so to
speak, a complex of a large group of agricultural operations. |The
farmer raises a few cattle and hogs, various kinds of vegetables or
garden truck, fruits, a certain amount of milk and butter, and perhaps
a considerable amount of one or two of the grains. Under the con-
ditions in which he lives, and his closeness to a large population, he has
a surplus in each one of his products that he can sell at a profit.

In the next place, we must learn to make a better use of our un-
tilled land. We shall undoubtedly find it profitable, if not necessary,
very soon to increase the number of our trees. ‘The best way to do
this is for each farm to have its woodlands. Other land not under
cultivation and not lying fallow will undoubtedly be more largely
used for grazing purposes, even tho the use be temporary for particular
farmers.

We must look forward, too, it seems to me, to an increase in our
horticultural agriculture. There is no good reason, so far as I can
see, why there should not be a great many small orchards as part of
the farms throughout the State, as well as a few large orchards. It
seems probable that such orchards can be made profitable to the farmer.

Other auxiliary agricultural enterprises, such as bee culture and
poultry raising, will have to be more commonly engaged in.

Still again, the dairy industry of the state needs development and
better organization. ‘The demand for dairy products will grow as

THE UNIVERSITY AND THE FARM 107

the population grows, especially in the neighborhood of cities and in-
dustrial centers. The dairy industry should become larger in the next
decade or two, both as an independent industry and as a part of ordi-
nary farming. In this line, as in others, the University’s duty as it
is supplied with means for the purpose is to cooperate with the prac-
tical farmer by studying conditions and trying to devise methods of
expansion and improvement and to make scientific discoveries that
will promote the progress of the industry.

Economic, SocIAL, AND BusINEss IMPROVEMENT

In addition to the group of activities and improvements thus far
mentioned, there is also the very large field of economic, social, and
business improvement in farming. Farming as a business has been
sadly neglected. ‘There is a good deal of popular enthusiasm at pres-
ent about one aspect of the economics of farming; namely, that of
marketing, and some on the general subject of farm organization and
management. Farm organization may be regarded from the point of
view of technical agriculture or from that of economics. From the
former point of view, the farm should be so organized as to make
possible the utilization of the best technical methods of production.
From the latter point of view, the farm should be organized,—that is
to say, the capital invested in the farm should be so apportioned be-
tween different farm operations,—as to yield the largest net profits
from the processes to which it is assigned. We need a study of the
apportionment of capital to diverse farming operations on farms of
standard sizes. “This would be a study of agricultural investment.
To this the University should give its attention as soon as it can find
means. We need, in addition, a study of the economics of farm dis-
tribution, involving marketing ; warehousing (cooperative and other) ;
transportation, whether by highway or by rail; markets considered

with reference to their geographical distribution and their economic

character; and a number of similar subjects. These are all proper
subjects for study at the University, and it should be a part of the
future policy of the state to provide means for the encouragement of
these studies.

Again, we shall need in our IIlinois farming better and more fre-
quent statistical reports showing the actual conditions in the various
agricultural activities of interest to our people, so that our farmers will
be able more intelligently to determine what products to raise in each
season and how most advantageously to sell them.

108 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

We need to make a more profitable use of what are at present
waste products on the farm. On this subject, as on that of raising
larger crops per acre, there has been much nonsense talked and written.
Speaking economically, an article which has in it the possibility of use-
fulness is not wasted when it is not used, if the cost of using it would
be greater than the value obtained from it. From the farmer’s point
of view it is not waste to use corn, or even wheat, for fuel if he can
get his heat per unit at less cost in this way than by buying coal and
there is at the time no more profitable use open to him. It is not
waste from the producer’s point of view to let the apples rot on the
trees or the oats remain uncut, if it would cost more to put them on the
market than the value that would be received from them. ‘There are
technical and economic problems in this question of waste that are
waiting for solution. We are not yet making profitable use of our
cornstalks or probably of some other products that are commonly
thought of as waste.

Agriculture in Illinois in the next twenty-five years needs, as in-
deed all other businesses and industries do, an improved system of
taxation. ‘There is a great lack of knowledge of the real incidents of
our taxes as they are at present, and there is undoubtedly a good deal
of inequity in our present system of taxation. It is due in large
measure to the retention of the old general property tax under which
it is possible, and indeed necessary, to place the heaviest burden on
property that can be seen and therefore found.

Our next quarter-century of agricultural progress calls also for
a simpler and less expensive system of land transfer. As some one has
remarked, “I can buy a bond or a thousand bushels of wheat in ten
seconds by the clock; but to buy a small tract of land involves an un-
reasonable amount of time, expense, uncertainty, risk, and vexation.”

Still again, on the economic side there is doubtless some room
for improvement in the banking and credit facilities open to the
farmer. As everybody knows, the farmer requires both short-time’
credit and long-time credit. His short-time credit is in general char-
acter similar to that called for by the manufacturer. It depends on his
personal reputation, his evident ability as a business man, and the prob-
able value of his season’s output. When a man borrows on the basis
of security of this character, he must expect to be able to borrow only
a part of the total valuation of that security in the mind of the banker.
Yet I cannot help thinking that the part which the farmer is able to
borrow is ordinarily less than the proportion which the business man
in town is able to get. A somewhat parallel criticism could be made
of credit facilities open to the farmer for long-time loans.

THE UNIVERSITY AND THE FARM 109

On the social side, life in the country, must be made more livable.
I do not sympathize with those who think that the farmer’s boy and
girl are more susceptible to the lure of the great white ways of the
cities than are other boys and girls. I do not believe that the attrac-
tions of the city are in so large a degree as is commonly thought the
cause of the exodus from country to city. Nevertheless, it is true
that means of recreation and pleasure are less abundant and, on the
whole, less refined in the country districts than they should be. ‘This
is a field for educational activity. It should begin with the local ed-
ucational units, particularly the high school, each local community
utilizing its resources to furnish proper entertainment for the young.
It is a mistake for every community to look to the University as in
some states is the practise, for its entertainments, lectures, and study
classes. ‘The local teaching staff should first be used and the Univer-
sity looked to for help only in those lines and subject with which it
properly has to do.

It has been my purpose in these somewhat desultory remarks to
state what seemed to me to be the conditions and the problems rather
than to offer solutions of them. It is peculiarly rash for the layman
to try to give a description of activities with which he is not familiar
through being a participant. Yet the onlooker, who has a general
understanding of the character and direction of activities of a par-
ticular economic character, may sometimes see their general drift more
clearly than if he were immediately engaged in them. It is for that
reason and with that feeling that I have ventured on this unfamiliar
ground. A man would be a fool who would attempt to prophesy
for the next twenty or thirty years in Illinois agriculture. Yet I
venture to run the risk of being called foolish by pointing out that
in a general way we are headed towards a more intensive agriculture,
towards a standard or model farm having one leading agricultural ac-
tivity and numerous auxiliary agricultural processes, each of them
yielding its own profit and all together yielding a larger joint profit
than would be obtained from the pursuit of a single agricultural ac-
tivity on that particular farm. We shall have larger crops per acre
and, in time, either higher prices for them or reduced costs of pro-
ducing them. We shall put our dairying, as a separate industry, on a
firmer basis, and we shall make it a part of the work of every farm.
We shall reclaim our waste lands and use them for forests and graz-
ing. We shall restore our cattle industry by finding some method
of low cost feeding, and we shall improve our economic organization
and make social conditions more attractive.

110 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

In all these things there is an opportunity and duty for the Uni-
versity to assist by its studies and discoveries. “The time has gone by
when the farmer looks with contempt upon the Agricultural Experi-
ment Station. ‘The Agricultural Experiment Station will have to
widen its activities to include some economic and social aspects, and
it will probably find it advantageous to change the direction of its
studies in connection with fertility so as to add to them investigations
in plant life that will enable us to get more healthy plant products
and more of them at the same cost.

THE INTRODUCTION OF NEW CROPS

Cuar_es L. Menarry, Attica, Indiana

=] HE story is told of two lumber jacks engaged in the perilous

} job of rafting logs down a swollen and turbulent northern
stream. ‘The current and rocks were too much for the
raft, and it broke up. Jim was plunged into the torrent.
After a mighty struggle he managed to reach the surface
with belly and lungs well nigh filled with ice-cold muddy
water. His voice registered excitement and despair: ‘Bill, hurry
quick or I’m a goner!” Jim grasped a stray log as it floated past,
but the strong swift current carried his legs and body beneath the
log and toward the surface of the water. Moreover, the log began
to roll. At great risk to his own life, Bill reached Jim’s log and
was reaching for his collar when Jim caught sight of his own feet on
the other side of the log, where they had been driven up to the sur-
face by the sheer force of the current. Again Jim spoke, but this
time his voice indicated more self-control, and into his eye had come
a gleam of courage and self sacrifice. ‘Look there, Bill! I think I
can hold on a bit longer. ‘Try and save the poor hick on the other
side of the log. He’s in head first!”

Should we farmers not try to visualize the entire world in its
plight? May we not summon all our nerve and courage, and if
necessary a certain spirit of sacrifice; for is not human civilization
head first in the same muddy torrent of economic maladjustment
through which we are struggling; and if she perish what is the use
of living?

“Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.”

There is much talk of late about overproduction of our im-
portant cereals and agitation for the introduction of something new
to take their place. But the introduction of new crops needs more
justification than that usually advanced; namely, that oats and corn
are no longer profitable. It may be proved that overproduction is
not troubling us so much as underconsumption, and he who heed-
lessly curtails his production may awake some day to find that our
statesmen and economists have succeeded in restoring the international
political and economic balance, and that a hungry world is again

111

112 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

ready for our bread. Such a man may find cause for meditation.
Dean Davenport said recently that ‘Agriculture has national and
international relationships, but they must be handled in the interests
of public welfare, and not of selfish class interest.” “That is sound
and fundamental logic. When we reflect that a large part of the
world is starving and freezing, the talk of limiting production sounds
like false economy.

Likewise, the new crop which does not find justification in one
or more of about three words is not likely to prove profitable to its
grower. ‘Those three words are: Economy, Feed, Fertility.

If by introducing a new crop we may effect a saving, directly or
indirectly, of cash outlay or labor, providing there is need for the
product, there is justification. If in addition to economy the new
crop furnishes not less but more food and raiment to society, at less
cost, and at the same time increases the fertility and productivity of
our soils, so that future generations may be fed and clothed,—then
indeed there is justification. We need look in but one group of plants
for such crops—the legumes.

New Crops AMONG THE LEGUMES

Among legumes we find three; a perennial, a biennial, and an
annual, all of which are yet new to most Illinois farmers. The first
is alfalfa, a great hay crop, which, however, lends itself but poorly
to most rotation schemes and which, because of its conflicting harvest
season and heavy yields, does not lend itself well in large acreages
to the economical distribution of labor in the corn belt. In spite
of these drawbacks and the plant’s exacting requirements, alfalfa is
too good and beautiful a thing to be ignored. Most of us could grow
it in many of the irregular small lots and patches about the premises,
which are too often waste places and eyesores. Many can use much
more, but let us all use at least this much.

The second plant is the biennial sweet clover, a wonderful pas-
ture plant and soil enricher. Not quite so exacting as alfalfa, it
works better into rotations. Its carrying capacity is so great that
truly it may be said that two animals may graze where but one ate
before. The seed is cheap, and there is but one exacting require-
ment—limestone. Whether pastured by live stock or fed to the
succeeding cereal crop, this plant is sure to enrich the soil, society,
and the farmer.

The third plant, the annual soybean, is destined to become a
great grain crop as well as a wonderful forage plant. Just at present

NEW CROPS 113

it is as a forage plant that it finds greatest usefulness in Illinois.
Practically every Illinois farmer should raise at least a few soybeans,
for all they ask is a good seed bed and inoculation. Nearly every-
body can find some space for a plant which will make a hay equal
to alfalfa, or a grain as good or better than cotton-seed or oil meal;
which will considerably increase the amount of silage he can grow
per acre, or make a wonderful combination with corn to pasture off
with live stock; which will tremendously reinforce his cornstalk
pasture; or which, grown alone and plowed under, will add as much
nitrogen to the soil as will clover. Finally, when a commercial de-
mand becomes established for the seed, on account of its exceptionally
high oil content, there will come to be a regularly established market
for seed.

We need much new information; and we need to have it, as well
as what we already know, much more widely disseminated before these
three little-used legumes will really find their places in our agri-
culture. It has been but a few years since no less valued and influ-
ential a friend and adviser than Mr. Frank Mann, when asked to
criticize our Champaign county farm and our practises said among
other things that he believed we had too large a proportion of our
land in legumes to be practical and economical. He said that that was
a criticism he hesitated to make, but that it was his honest conviction.
The criticism had our earnest consideration, but we have never
obtained the consent of our minds to change our rotation, and we still
doubt if it would be profitable to do so. Our rotation being corn,
soybeans, wheat, and clovers, half the cultivated area is given over to
the exclusive occupancy of legumes each year, and even wheat and
corn have to share their homes with clovers and soybeans. Alfalfa
we use, too, but not in the rotation.

Tue PLace oF ALFALFA

Alfalfa being a perennial, we have found needs more than two
seasons to attain perfection. ‘This fact, together with the exacting
requirements of the plant, and the further fact that the average sized
corn-belt field in alfalfa would be like the tail that once wagged a
dog, has given us pause whenever we have considered putting alfalfa
into our rotation. The fact, too, that its harvest season conflicts with
cultivation of the corn crop and sometimes with wheat harvest, makes
it difficult to distribute labor economically, when too much of it is
undertaken. But alfalfa is much too useful and beautiful a crop to
be ignored.

114 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

On nearly every farm there are a few small lots near the barn
which seem essential but which for the greater part of the time are
not in use. Because of their small size and often their odd shape these
small areas are difficult and expensive to till. Now, we find that
alfalfa fits into these odd areas splendidly. The overhead of seed-bed
preparation is distributed over several years; we have our hay close
to its storage places; we cannot easily overlook either the needs of
the crop or its beauty. Nothing can be placed between the farm
yard and the public highway that will more enhance the view, both
from within and from without. Incidentally, no inexpensive change
will so quickly raise the selling value of a farm as to frame the
dwelling in alfalfa. I do not mean the yard, of course, but the area
surrounding the yard.

Many of the important problems of alfalfa culture are farm
management problems. We believe that alfalfa is primarily a hay
crop. It is too difficult and expensive to establish to use for pas-
turing to any great extent, though for some forms of live stock it
does make excellent pasture. But for hay it would be par excellence,
the best crop, were it not for the fact that its season conflicts with
certain other peak labor loads. How to avoid or overcome these
conflicts is, we believe, the most needed detail yet to be worked out.
It may be that, as Mr. J. W. Morgan intimated this week, the solu-
tion of the difficulty may be found by working with the corn crop
as well as with the alfalfa. It may be that we are spending an
unnecessary amount of time in the cultivation of corn. Have we
been too inclined in most investigational work to see only the imme-
diate crop, animal, or enterprise concerned, without enough con-
sideration being given to the thing’s relationship to the entire collective
business of agriculture? If so, it would seem that cordial cooperation
of those who concern themselves largely with the new study of farm
management is greatly to be desired. Indeed, it is only when there
is the most cordial, interested cooperation of all the various depart-
ments of our College and Experiment Station that they really func-
tion normally and do the greatest good. Not only this, but coopera-
tion and a spirit of helpfulness between the colleges and stations of
our various corn-belt states, and between the experimentalist and the
farmer himself, are also essential for the most rapid progress.

SWEET CLOVER FOR PASTURE AND FERTILITY

The biennial sweet clover lends itself better to the rotation and
makes a more satisfactory pasture plant. Indeed, it is as a pasture
plant and soil enricher that sweet clover is most useful. It makes

NEW CROPS 115

good hay, altho alfalfa and soybeans are both better for that pur-
pose. I was exceedingly glad to see the Agronomy and Animal Hus-
bandry Departments cooperating on the South Farm last fall in the
investigation of this pasture plant. Many of us are convinced of the
great value of this crop, while many others still dispute it or are
frankly skeptical. Much more exact experimental evidence is needed
before sweet clover may occupy its rightful heritage.

NEED FOR INVESTIGATION OF CLOVER PROBLEMS

We need to know a great deal more about the factors governing
the inoculation of all our legumes, particularly sweet clover and soy-
beans. Do such things as the calcium and phosphorus requirements
of these plants affect the multiplication and activity of nitrogen-
gathering bacteria; and does deficiency or abundance of rainfall do
the same? Then how, why, and to what extent, as measured by the
productivity of the land? Do these same factors affect the physio-
logical functions of the plants and their composition? If they do,
how do these differences affect the functions and growth of young
animals that feed upon them?

We need to know whether very early pasturing of sweet clover
is beneficial or detrimental to the plant. Is it wise to pasture it
closely? If not, is it beneficial to clip it when it reaches a certain
stage? If so, what is the best stage, and how many clippings are bene-
ficial and economical? Does clipping improve palatability? Does it
increase carrying capacity?

Shall we try to grow a clear stand of sweet clover, or mix other
clovers or grasses with it; and why? What effect do the different
plants in a pasture mixture have upon soil fertility? Is the amount
of forage increased and its efficiency in meat making improved by mix-
ing pasture clovers and grasses? If so, to what extent? And why,
and how?

To what extent will the answers to all such questions affect our
farm practises? We shall need the help of the economist to reach our
decision.

Soybeans, reaching maturity in a single season, are much more
adaptable than a perennial or biennial. Moreover the requirements
for this crop are not nearly so exacting as those for sweet clover and
alfalfa. The crop is more tolerant of an acid soil, for one thing.
But just what effect will liberal applications of limestone, so benefi-

116 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

cial and essential to sweet clover, have upon the growth, inoculation,
and composition of soybeans? If it affects their composition, does it
make them a better feed or poorer? Does it affect the oil content?
The same questions might be asked concerning phosphorus.

‘THE INCREASING INTEREST IN SOYBEANS

Soybeans, being planted in the late spring, have neither the
vicissitudes of winter nor the competition of another crop to contend
with. Interest in this crop has developed marvelously in the past few
years, and the use of it has grown by leaps and bounds. ‘This has
been but natural, as seed prices have made soy culture very remunera-
tive. The cost of production has been about the same as for corn
on our farms (in many instances less), and the gross returns generally
greater. In the corn belt there has never been a commercial market
for soybean grain other than for seed purposes. The grower has had
to find his own market, and grade, sack, and ship the crop in small par-
cels, often to the corners of the land! ‘This is a problem most
farmers do not care to solve, tho we have not found it arduous,
considering the compensation. However, several corporations are now
promising an outlet for next year’s crop, for oil and feed manufacture;
and unless production should overtake this still rather modest source
of consumption, soybean growing should prove quite remunerative,
altho promising no such returns as we have been in the habit of ex-
pecting. Ultimately, I confidently expect soybeans to displace oats in
our Illinois rotations to a great extent; but it would be a tremendous
mistake to try to accomplish this in a single season, or even in three
or four. A campaign of education is needed to exploit the uses of soy-
bean oil and cake so that the industries and the feeder may appreciate
their value and gradually increase the use of them. Our Household
Science Department might do both the producer and consumer a great
service by teaching the people the great nutritive and dietary value of
soybeans as human food. Unless such educational work is pushed, the
time may not be far distant when the sale of soybean seed will not
be profitable on account of overproduction.

Should this occur, however, it should not deter any farmer from
growing what soys he can consume on his own farm; and, by the
way, practically every farmer ought to start with soybeans on that
basis. We believe the College and Station should for the immediate
present lay most stress upon the use of soybeans as a forage, while at
the same time investigating the uses to which oil and cake may be put.

NEW CROPS 117

Some Tuincs WE NEEp To KNow AsouT SOYBEANS

It seems to us that from now on less attention should be paid to
variety tests, and more to standardization, nomenclature, selection,
and certification. Both producer and manufacturer need to know
how oil content varies with variety, and whether some varieties give
up their oil more easily than others. They wish to know what
correlation there may be between color of seed coat and the quantity
and quality of oil, and the relative value of cake or meal from different
colored seeds. Is there a difference in quality of cake produced by
the different methods of oil extraction? We should know to what
extent and in what manner, climatic and soil conditions influence the
composition of the plant, especially the seed.

This Station has shown that soybeans planted with corn may
reduce the corn yield. We should like to know how varying rates
of planting affect the corn yield. Is there any symbiotic relationship
between corn and soys in the same hill? Certain other stations have
shown that the two plants growing together may produce a greater
weight of silage than either separately. What is the increase worth?
If we do not gain as many pounds of soybeans in corn as we lose in
corn, are the soybeans which are produced worth more, as a supple-
ment to the remaining corn, than the lost corn would have been? Is
a field of corn and soys which is harvested by being pastured with
live stock worth more than corn grown alone on the same field and
harvested by man? We should have this data for all the meat ani-
mals. What will be the cumulative effect on soil productiveness of
long continued practise of pasturing off crops? May we not have
cordial cooperation between the Agronomy and Animal Husbandry
Departments in solving such problems as these?

Considerable importance may be attached to certain laboratory
studies by Dr. Hottes, of the germination of soybean seed, and a
continuation of these studies is greatly to be desired, as they may
reveal why some varieties have given uniformly better stands than
others. “They may settle, too, the much discussed question of what
effect color of seed has on germination and longevity of seed. They
may teach us the best methods of seed storage and care.. We hope
the pathologists will undertake to solve the cause and prevention of
the bacterial blight of soys that we have observed during the past few
years, and tell us why some of our best varieties have been the most
affected.

We believe that experiments on the rate and manner of seeding
should be continued and developed. We feel that managerial economy

118 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

points strongly toward close seeding on well-prepared land, to be
followed by rapid over-cultivation without too much regard for the
individual plant. We feel that higher hay yields are to be expected,
and more nitrogen fixed, where the land is most fully occupied.

Harvesting questions should also receive attention. Economy of
material must go hand in hand with economy of labor. The latter
becomes relatively more important as the price of seed comes down
without a corresponding decrease in the cost of labor. We should
know whether more than one soy hay crop may be grown on the same
land in a single season. Some evidence points to that possibility.
May soys be cut before blooming and survive the cutting? What
yields of hay would they make at that stage? If they will not sur-
vive, may a second seeding be made which will yield a hay crop
before frost?

What yield of ensilage might we get from a mixed solid seeding
of sweet corn or pop corn with an early variety of soys? It might
bring silo filling at a more convenient time on farms where soybean
harvest and wheat seeding sometimes interfere with silo filling. What
quality of ensilage would such a combination in varying proportions
make ?

How is the composition, palatability, digestibility, and yield of
soy hay in tons and in pounds of meat per acre affected by the stage
of maturity at cutting? What is the relative value of soybean straw -
or hullings compared to oat straw? Does it pay to hull soybeans and
feed grain and straw separately, or will the hull tend to overcome
the ill effects sometimes observed when feeding hulled beans? Will
extraction of the oil overcome these ill effects? May they be over-
come by any kind of supplemental feeds? Colorado lamb feeders
find it practicable to harvest field peas directly from the field with
lambs. Can we do it with soys?

FERTILITY AND Soi, Puysics PROBLEMS AS RELATED
TO THE LEGUMES

Fertility and soil physics problems related to all these legumes
need further study. The root systems of perennial and_ biennial
plants, and the functions they perform, differ so much from that of
the annual soybean that comparison is difficult. We should know the
comparative manurial value, in whole or in part, or indirectly, after
being pastured or fed to live stock. We believe the possibilities of
both sweet clover and soys surpass red clover in some respects. Purdue
records show that soys seeded after a wheat crop was taken off, grew

NEW CROPS 119

over 13,000 pounds of material (including roots) containing 92.7
pounds of nitrogen. At the same station wheat after soys has yielded
5.5. bushels more per acre than wheat after corn. Should we not
know what the cumulative effects of these legumes is to be on
fertility?

Until we have answers to such questions as we have asked and
many others equally important, Illinois agriculture will probably
proceed rather cautiously in introducing alfalfa, sweet clover, and
soybeans into its scheme of management, and justly so. Yet how
badly we need legumes and how much economy to agriculture and
to the nation might result from their introduction!

‘THE SOLUTION OF THESE PROBLEMS BY THE EXPERIMENT
STATION

In the introduction of these new crops into Illinois agriculture,
our Experiment Station must be largely influential. Individually, the
farmer cannot afford to do much experimenting, particularly at the
present time. But a great deal may be done collectively, and there
has hardly been a time when we needed to have so much experimenting
done for us. In so far as our inquiries are in the interest of public
welfare we have a right to ask the consuming public to help us solve
our problems by helping to support our College and Experiment Sta-
tion. It is the duty of the public to help to provide research workers
who may in any way help to reduce the cost of living. This the
Experiment Station may do by investigating problems relating to the
growing and the use of such new crops as we have mentioned. It is
only after disinterested scientific investigation by trained workers that
the farmer can afford to venture far into untried enterprises.

Let us all then, whether we be producers, consumers, experi-
mentalists, or economists, interest and concern ourselves that such
new or little used crops as alfalfa, sweet clover, and soybeans be
thoroly investigated, and see to it that the knowledge gained
be disseminated to farmers; to the end that farm production be
economically increased, thereby adding to the farmer’s profit and at
the same time lightening the consumer’s burden of cost. Let us
not forget, in contemplating the benefit to us individually, the thou-
sands of hungry mouths and cold bodies in foreign fields. Above all,
let us remember the succeeding generations of Americans and our
responsibility for their welfare. Consideration for our children and
their children’s children should scarcely be second to the instinct for
self preservation.

FARM FORESTRY IN ILLINOIS

A. N. Assott, Morrison

(Lantern slides were used during the address, showing sandy and eroded

lands, the effects of tree planting on sandy land, and woods where forest con-
ditions were maintained.)
»1 1 IS estimated that timber in the United States is being con-
sumed four times as fast as it is being produced. ‘The
rapidly increasing prices of lumber products during the
last two decades foretell the great timber scarcity which is
now upon us. Our great white pine forests were exploited
with the abandon of a drunken sailor. A heritage which
properly managed would have contributed to the use of the people
forever was destroyed in twenty years.

It is quite time that the Nation, the states, and individuals adopt
a timber conservation policy. Much land is now cultivated, or has
been cultivated, which is of small tillage value and is suitable for
forestry. “The most authentic sources of information indicate that
there are three million acres of woodland in the state and six million
acres more of non-agricultural land, making about twenty-five per
cent of the land of the state of a character that invites serious con-
sideration from a forestry standpoint.

Two features of forestry policy are apparent, the improvement of
the woodlands which we have and tree planting on non-agricultural
land. Just as a good stand of corn is necessary to secure the maximum
crop, so a full stand of timber is necessary to secure the best results.
Interplanting in scanty forested woodlands would seem to be the first
step in a forestry program. For the best result stock should be ex-
cluded ; indeed, in a fairly wooded pasture the grazing is of no great
value, and the damage that stock can do to the young growth is con-
siderable. Exclusion of stock permits the formation of a forest mould,
so essential to the best forest growth.

Forestry on unwooded, non-agricultural land presents another
problem, that of solid tree planting, the treatment required depend-
ing upon the soil. Sandy, rocky, gullied or overflowed land each pre-
sents problems peculiar to itself, the variety or varieties to be planted
requiring study and investigation. ‘The harvesting and marketing of
mature trees require attention. ‘The study of insect enemies and
fungous diseases will be necessary if a state-wide forestry policy is de-
cided upon.

In all fairness it seems that an area as large as twenty-five per

120

FARM FORESTRY 121

cent of the land of the state, which is not very productive, is of enough
importance to be worthy of serious consideration. A tax exemption
law of some kind for non-revenue producing forest lands and a system
of insurance against fire are two very important factors to be con-
sidered. ‘The government subsidizes men to raise sugar and cotton.
It protects the infant industries, but it penalizes the farmer with a
high tax when he wants to raise trees. It does seem to me that a
movement should be started to exempt the land devoted to forestry
from taxation until the trees come to an age when it will be profitable
to log them. It might well be a real job for the State Forester to
pass upon the condition of land that would exempt it from taxation.
We must do something to encourage the planting of trees; it takes
years before a tree arrives at a stage where any profit can be got from
it, and in that time encouragement should be given to the possessor
and caretaker of the trees.

I have lived my life near the Mississippi River, and I can re-
member a time when there was not an hour of the day but what
great rafts of pine logs went down the river. ‘This has all stopped.
I saw the last raft go down the river. ‘There were days when good
white pine lumber sold for two dollars a thousand feet. ‘There is
a lumber yard near my home which was once prosperous. ‘The man
in charge used to be the yard boss, but now there are only two men
there, the boss and another man.

Is it not high time that we did something on our own good land
to supply the demand for lumber? We have heard considerable talk
here that we must reduce the crop of corn. ‘To me it seems that
we must raise corn where corn can be raised. If it costs three times
as much to raise corn in one place than in another, is it not good
policy to use the land that cannot raise corn profitably for some other
purpose? Fifty per cent of the corn acreage in Illinois is raised on
land that never has paid and never will pay for raising corn. If we
can devote that land to some other purpose, we will be better off.
True conservation consists of putting land to that use for which it
is best fitted and can be most profitably used.

CAN ILLINOIS COME BACK AS A STOCK
BREEDING GROUND?
W. S. Corsa, White Hall

1] HE title of the topic assigned carries not only an invitation
| to a discussion of the problems of live-stock breeding in
Illinois, but a challenge to her live-stock breeders as well.

We accept both the invitation and the challenge. We
recall full well the outposts of the pioneers upon the
prairies and the wooded grasslands of Illinois. “The names
of such worthies as Brown, Pickrell, Potts, Huston, Lovejoy, Dun-
ham, Pierce, Goodwin, Judy, and the beneficence of their work de-
scends to us as a precious heritage. Along with the inspiration of
their example and accomplishment, we still have a notable member-
ship of constructive, aggressive live-stock breeders, whose purposes,
ideals, and methods are endeavoring to uphold the prestige and pros-
perity of our commonwealth. In this they are tremendously

aided by—

THe NatTuRAL ADVANTAGES OF ILLINOIS FOR THE PRODUCTION
oF Live Stock

Foremost among these natural advantages, as it appeals to me,
is our wealth of limestone and its availability within comparatively
easy reach of every farm. At moderate cost we can command this
essential in live-stock production. With limestone in our soil to be
transmuted through the chemistry of the crops into the bone and
tissue of our live stock we may labor happily and confidently through
the years, giving play to our fancy as to type; we can bank upon
the results of our previous work; we can go forward unafraid that
our soil conditions will crumble our efforts. If we obtain a desirable
size in our live stock we can maintain it. We are free from this
dread struggle which is ever present for the live-stock breeder over
vast live-stock areas such as Canada and the Argentine. Illinois may
always expect visits of live-stock breeders from those countries. “The
same compelling reason as theirs prompts many of our sister states
to consider favorably Illinois live-stock productions, and this probably
always will be so.

Furthermore the central location of Illinois may be counted upon
as insuring constantly recurring visits of live-stock breeders from
other states. The main arteries of transportation East and West,

122

A STOCK BREEDING GROUND 123

reaching into the great Southwest and to the North, pass through the
gateways of our state. Men may readily come here upon special
mission or stop in transit. Many a visitor has come to the live-stock
breeding farms of IIlinois direct from the central markets. It was
convenient for him to make the trip from such a point. He handles
live stock commercially in a large way, and he is in need of a bit of
live-stock leaven. And yet at no other time and under no other cir-
cumstance would he have come to the Illinois farm. Proximity to
the central live-stock markets is a natural and material advantage
to breeders of purebred live stock fortunate enough to live and
operate in Illinois.

Possibly a less tangible advantage, but nevertheless one of far
greater significance and real value attaching to purebred live-stock
breeding in this state, is the circumstance that Illinois is the home of
the “International.” It is unnecessary to dwell upon that annually
marvelous exposition. When traveling in other states I have been
repeatedly distressed to hear young men of eager enthusiasm regret,
as under recent financial conditions, their prohibitive distance from
this final court of adjudication of supreme live-stock merit. These
men wonder that all inhabitants of Illinois interested in live stock do
not always attend the “International.” And the answer is that
Illinois people, manufacturers, merchants, and mechanics, as well as
live-stock men, are coming more and more by their presence at the
“International” to sense the value of this rigid short course in live-
stock husbandry.

SoME DRAWBACKS

With all of our natural advantages there are some drawbacks
to be met in IIlinois in the production of purebred live stock. Our
state has no monopoly of these hindrances, which for the most part
are simply useless and unnecessary drags upon our business and the
prosperity of the state. It has seemed, and is still evident, that in
Illinois there is a marked lack of esprit de corps among live-stock
breeders. ‘This lack is being overcome, in a measure, in state breed
associations among the adherents of the various breeds; but this spirit
is more or less absent among those interested in somewhat competitive
breeds and it is notably absent among the supporters of non-
competitive breeds. The interest of the beef breeds in one another
is that of mere decency, and possibly the same may be said of the
dairy interests. “The hog men have made marked progress in their
get-together spirit; but the horsemen are tightening the traces of

124 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

their own load, oblivious of the troubles of others. “The fact remains
that we are all part and parcel of the great live-stock industry of
Illinois in which the human equation will largely delimit results for
ourselves, for one another, and for Illinois. ‘The area of Illinois is
neither so great, nor is her heart so small, that she cannot successfully
foster the sentiment of state pride among her children who breed and
feed live stock.

The banker indifferent to live stock, and especially to purebred
stock, has been found occasionally in Illinois. He is more frequently
encountered in this state than in states farther west, where, in nor-
mal times, especially low terms and long-time loans are waiting for
the man who is willing to undertake the improvement of the live-
stock population. Fortunately, however, a great number of bankers
in Illinois have the foresight and vision to see the end of the road
of exclusive grain farming, or even of a live-stock industry based
on scrub animals. It is not always the money of the banker that is
wanted—in fact, it may not be desirable that the breeder should have
it—but what is needed is an intelligent sympathy and understanding
on the part of the banker which will make him able and willing to
give counsel and, where advisable, to render financial help. The
lack of this mutual confidence has doubtless been frequently responsi-
ble for individual disaster among live-stock men. And any great
number of such occurrences in a community means one of two things:
Either the community will settle down content with a very inferior
and constantly deteriorating class of live stock, or its money will be
constantly going away from home for such stock as it needs. The
banker will be affected either way.

It is strange that the state policy of Illinois should not be clearly
and at the same time generously defined relative to promoting its
own welfare through the purebred live-stock industry. It is re-
grettable that some of its officers in the person of unwise assessors
should officiously put the brakes on her welfare. Fortunately, how-
ever, for the state, many men of discretion and judgment acting as
assessors recognize the great assessable wealth spread over the com-
munity through the enterprise and judgment of the purebred live-
stock breeder. It is plainly unfair and even folly to tax the price
which a breeder may have wisely or unwisely paid for an animal.
Purebred and registered live stock should be assessed in accordance
with their merit in the regular tax classification. ‘That is to say,
if top quality milk cows are assessed at fifty dollars, then the indi-
viduals of a herd of purebred Holsteins or Jerseys should be rated at
fifty dollars.

A STOCK BREEDING GROUND 125

A drawback to purebred live-stock raising in Illinois, as elsewhere,
is the excessive transportation charge for purebred live stock in
express and freight rates. It is necessary only to point out that the
tariff is loaded with double and triple the weights of the actual ani-
mals, and that the rates are at the uppermost limit. It is noteworthy
that in Canada, where the pure-bred industry is wisely cultivated,
such pure-bred live stock may be transported at a reduced rate. In
fact, on a recent shipment of horses from White Hall, Illinois, into
Canada, the charge was as great to Detroit as to a point one hundred
miles farther on in Canada, on a through bill of lading over the
same road.

Wuy Ixtirmois WILL CoME BAcK

The purebred business in II]linois is a going concern. That being
a fact, the live-stock breeder is now finding himself fairly com-
fortably situated as to cost of production and the imminence of his
market. It will be well indeed for the breeder and his community
when they recognize their mutual dependence and benefit. Really
the live-stock field in Illinois has only been summer fallowed. A
greater market awaits the Illinois purebred live-stock breeder within
the boundary of his own state lines than most men ever dreamed of
acquiring. ‘The saving in railroad fares and freights, the oppor-
tunity of inspecting the parent breeding stock and the farm practise
employed, all will serve more and more to develop the home market.

In the economy of live-stock production our comparatively
favorable rates to the central markets mean much. No breeder may
hope to reach the high rounds who invariably sells all of his best
productions. Again, no breeder who keeps all, or any great part, of
his poorer productions may hope to accomplish any good for himself
or his breed. ‘The road for these poorer specimens to take, in ever
increasing numbers, is to the central markets. Cull, eliminate, ship
and repeat. Feed the best to the best and ship the rest. If this is
the policy, then Illinois will come back and we will come back with
her.

Indeed, Illinois must come back. Her present land values de-
mand products of higher quality and value. ‘The overhead of every
farm—and this somewhat indefinite but very real item of expense is
quite likely to grow rather than diminish—calls not only for economy
of production, but for quality as well. Quantity in the production
of live stock is not always a blessing. In fact, as has been well said,
there may be a “curse of prolificacy.” The female that with per-

126 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

sistent regularity ushers misfits into the world should be discarded.
The more of her kind we have the worse off we are, and the longer
will Illinois be in coming back.

The higher quality productions demanded by present land
values must be found generally distributed over our state in the form
of high-grade herds, flocks, and studs; and this, not alone for the
recompense which will warrant present land values, but for the main-
tenance of the life and health of our soil, our live stock, and our
people. So, to some of us, it has seemed unfortunate that the attitude
and teaching of our Agricultural College has apparently been mis-
understood. Valuable as is the wonderful trinity of limestone, phos-
phorus, and legumes, it further requires the participation of live stock
to form the four-square quartet that is the invincible basis of Illinois
agriculture.

Among the agencies powerfully helping Illinois to come back
in live-stock production is her College of Agriculture. Many friends
of the College, recognizing the purity of her purpose in withdrawing
the College team, some years since, from intercollegiate judging con-
tests, are greatly pleased that she can now see her way clear to re-
enter the lists. We believe this will meet with the hearty approval
of the live-stock interests of Illinois and go a long way toward help-
ing Illinois to come back, through the awakened enthusiasm of her
student body. Further, may I suggest that the good work of bringing
the live-stock breeders to the College be supplemented by taking the
College to the breeders. Some of the live-stock breeders of Illinois
feel that today they have more friends among the under-graduates
and alumni of our sister state institutions than of their own state
Agricultural College. This is simply because, from time to time,
delegations of such students from states—not in every instance, neigh-
boring states—have repeatedly visited the live-stock breeding farms of
Illinois. ‘The breeder of purebred live stock appreciates the stimulus
and encouragement which comes from the personal visits of the under-
graduates and the instructors of the agricultural colleges, but more
especially does he appreciate those from the college of his own state.

A very desirable contact is established between the breeders and
the Agricultural College when it fosters state breed associations. “The
annual meeting of the Illinois Percheron Breeders’ Association, just
held here, reflects the steadying influence of the College through the
quiet, thoughtful guidance of the State Association, from its organi-
zation to the present, by a valued member of your staff.

To aid her in coming back, Illinois has a new and mighty helper.
He is full of the enthusiasm of youth, he is rich in the experience of

A STOCK BREEDING GROUND 127

the ages, his pleasure is in service to others. His name is “County
Adviser.” Selected and fitted for his work, from his youth up, by
the Agricultural College, we can depend upon his energetic support
of the higher and better things in Illinois agriculture. He is in
almost every county, reaching to the uttermost township, encourag-
ing the beginner, aiding the more experienced, organizing both for
business. His intelligent direction of community effort is starting
something. It is Illinois coming back. Already she is on her way.

Illinois’ pride in past performance, her natural advantages, her
Agricultural College, the spur of her necessity, these will not com-
pletely bring Illinois back. In the last analysis, that is up to the men
and women of Illinois. Illinois is relying today upon the love and
affection of her children to bring her home. Her men, now as of
old, are men of courage and of industry. They are not lacking in
gratitude for the rich inheritance of a good name, and a fertile soil,
and they pledge themselves to pass this on unsullied and unimpaired.
They have the vision to know that changing times do not change the
eternal principles of a permanent agriculture. ‘They have faith to
believe that the opportunities of that agriculture will come again—

“They do me wrong who say I come no more,
When once I call and fail to find you in.
For every day I stand outside your door—
And bid you wake, and rise to fight and win.”

THE OUTLOOK FOR LIVE STOCK IN ILLINOIS

H. W. Mumrorp, Professor of Animal Husbandry, and
Director of Live Stock Marketing, Illinois Agricultural Association

#i N THE agricultural development of the corn belt of the
»{| United States, Illinois early occupied a prominent place.
In this development, live-stock production played an im-
portant part.

It is not my province to deal with the historical
phases of live-stock production in the state; but for the
purpose of obtaining a proper perspective of the outlook for the
industry in Illinois it may be pointed out very properly that Illinois
breeders and feeders have occupied for many years an important place
in live-stock affairs. In 1860 Illinois ranked third among the states
of the Union in the value of her live stock, in 1870 second, in 1880
first, and in 1900 dropped back to third place which position has
been maintained.

The importance of live stock to the agriculture of a state, how-
ever, is not to be measured in numbers or even in value but rather
by the contribution that live stock has made to its agricultural
development. In the development of agricultural policies in the past
too little consideration has been given to the various factors which
have a direct bearing upon the development of particular phases of
agricultural production, such as suitability of soil and climate, avail-
able markets, labor supply, likes and dislikes of farmers themselves,
and in some instances, as in meat and milk production, the inter-
dependence upon other phases of agricultural production.

Perhaps the most significant and encouraging sign in connection
with live-stock production in the state of Illinois is the tendency to
consider it in its national and even international aspects and to rec-
ognize it in its relation to the farm business as a whole and not as a
more or less separate and independent unit of the farm business.
The more persistently these considerations are kept in mind, the
more wisely and more permanently will the animal industry of the
state be developed and guided into the most logical and profitable
direction.

Factors AFFECTING THE FuTuRE OF LIVE-STOCK PRODUCTION
IN ILLINOIS

Most of the conditions that led to the prominence of live-stock
production in Illinois in the past will continue to be determining

128

OUTLOOK FOR LIVE STOCK 129

factors affecting the future of live stock in the state. Some of the
more important of these conditions are—

(a) The large production of corn and oats. According to the
Census of 1920, Iowa and Illinois produced twenty-eight per cent of
all the corn produced in the United States in 1919. These two
states sold nearly half, forty-eight per cent to be exact, of the total
corn sold*from the farms of the country. Illinois leads as a corn-
surplus state. In oats, Iowa and Illinois produced thirty per cent of
the total produced in the United States and sold 45.6 per cent of
the total. Iowa leads as the oat-surplus state.

The fact that Illinois is one of the leading corn-producing and
corn-surplus states of the corn belt goes a long way toward deter-
mining the direction which live-stock production has and should
logically take; viz., that type of animal production in which a rela-
tively abundant and easily available supply of grain is essential. As
examples of this type, we have meat and milk production in the form
of beef, mutton, pork, poultry, and dairy products. The time will
come if indeed it is not already here, when widespread, small-scale
live-stock production as a conserver of grain-growing residues on most
farms will not be despised. Every grain farmer is vitally concerned
in the preservation of the live-stock industry. Under normal condi-
tions approximately 80 per cent of the corn, 63 per cent of the barley,
39 per cent of the oats, and 12 per cent of the wheat is fed to live
stock.

(b) A considerable area, approximately seventeen per cent of
the land acreage in the state, is suitable primarily for pasture. If
one will take the trouble to inventory the agricultural resources of
the state suitable for live-stock production, he will find that there are
in addition to considerable areas of land, very large quantities of
feed that cannot be utilized advantageously in any other way. If
the area in cultivation were increased to the highest possible state
of intensity, there would be a decrease of the amount of land available
for pasture but there would be an actual increase of available food
for live stock.

(c) Illinois is favorably located with reference to the leading
live-stock markets of the country. It is doubtless true that live-stock
producers in Illinois are at a slight disadvantage, when it comes to
buying corn for finishing live stock for market, as compared with
some other corn-belt states. On the other hand, no other state is so
favorably located with reference to nearness to the great live-stock
markets of the country.

130 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

NATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

In determining live-stock production policies for Illinois it is
necessary to approach the subject from a national as well as a state
standpoint.

Speaking generally, live-stock production has not kept pace with
the increase in population. It might be expected that this growing
tendency would bring about a shortage which would favorably affect
prices of live stock in the markets of the country, and to such an extent
that live-stock production would be stimulated. ‘The fact is however
that, disregarding the war period, the margin of profit in the produc-
tion of beef, mutton and pork has been narrowing for a considerable
number of years. In very many cases it has disappeared altogether,
and not infrequently very large losses have resulted.

It is, I believe, literally true that one of the largest factors
affecting live-stock production policies has been the fact that farmers
find it increasingly difficult to make the finishing of beef cattle
profitable. The anticipated shortage has failed to materialize, largely,
it is believed, because of the falling off of our export demand for beef,
due to the competition of Argentina, which has the advantage from
the standpoint of cheapness of production. Similar analysis might
be made of the mutton and wool industries. Looking forward, it is
logical to anticipate that the competition in the meat markets of the
world by such countries as Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and South
Africa will increase rather than diminish. Just what effect that will
have upon live-stock production in Illinois and the United States
should be given the most careful consideration. ‘These facts are
stated to emphasize the international aspects of live-stock production.

DEMAND FOR EcONOMY IN PRODUCTION AND IN MARKETING

No proper consideration of the outlook for live stock in Illinois
can be complete without due regard to the trend of production and
an examination of the causes of such tendencies. It is reasonable
to conclude that in the main these tendencies are the normal result
of changing conditions which are likely to continue to operate and
which are certain to affect the agricultural policy of the state.

From the standpoint of the live-stock producer, any condition
or circumstance which stimulates production abnormally, whether due
to temporary high prices or to zealous advocates, is likely to be
followed by disastrous results to the producer. On the other hand,
depressing conditions which tend to large reduction in our flocks and
herds, threaten the normal supply of meat and are therefore of con-

OUTLOOK FOR LIVE STOCK 131

cern to the public. It is therefore desirable that producers should as
rapidly as possible approach an equilibrium in live-stock production,
where the total production more nearly conforms to a normal demand
for domestic meat products; and should formulate plans for the
supplying of the markets with this live stock in quantities and kinds
required. In this work Illinois will need to join with other states
and act in harmony with them.

As this country grows older and the population becomes more
dense, the demand for cheap food will become more intense. ‘This
means, among other things, that if the laboring man, who should
always be our largest consumer of meat, is able to eat as much meat as
the nature of his work requires, it must be furnished to him at a price
that is reasonable in comparison with other foods.

This fact alone will force the practise of the greatest economy
in the production and distribution of meat. Already there is no
possibility of the producer securing adequate profit in the production
of live stock by following wasteful methods of production. In order
that the producer may receive the full benefit of a normal demand
for his product, the costs of marketing and of the distribution of
meats to the ultimate consumer are in importance second only to that
of economical production.

Much work has been done to improve methods of maintaining,
fattening, and breeding of beef cattle. ‘There still remains much to
be done, particularly with reference to establishing rather definitely
the place of the beef cow and the steer in systems of farming adapted
to Illinois conditions.

THe Dairy PROBLEM

The live-stock problem as it relates to beef cattle and to dairy
cattle seems to be different in some respects. “The community and
the individuals in a community who are in the dairy business are more
prosperous if they do not depend alone on milk production for their
profit, but on the selling of improved live stock as well as milk. That
is, the successful dairyman must be a breeder of dairy cattle as well
as a producer of milk. ‘This applies as much to grade cattle as to pure-
bred cattle.

The man who approaches the dairy problem from the standpoint
of raising dairy stock both for his own future herd and also to sell,
requires a higher degree of intelligence. “The production of milk
alone as a source of income tends all the time to give inadequate
attention to the health question of the cattle. Whereas the man who
is breeding his own cattle for a future herd, expecting to get a part of

132 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

his income from the cattle he breeds as well as from the milk, finds it
necessary to look after the health of his cattle, so the whole health
problem is involved in that system of dairy farming.

It appears that the more prosperous dairy communities are those
in which this dual-purpose is the aim of the individuals in the busi-
ness. Such a system of dairy farming in any community or around
any center will tend also to a more even supply of milk. ‘The dual
purpose in the dairy business leads to efficiency in production because
the breeding of better dairy cattle leads to the production of a more
efficient cow, cheapens production, and increases profits at the same
time; while the other does not necessarily tend that way.

The future of dairying in Illinois will be very directly affected
by the improvement in the milk marketing situation throughout the
state. More attention should be given to developing a market that
will recognize quality in milk.

The kind of dairy farming referred to does not confine itself to
milk production, because the sale of cattle is another profitable phase
of the industry, and there is a marketing problem in the sale of cattle
as well as in the sale of milk. It seems, therefore, that the prosperity
of the dairy industry hinges upon a better marketing plan both for
milk and for dairy cattle. In the marketing of dairy cattle the thing
that we need to improve, in order to make that end of the business
prosperous, is the health of the cattle; and then we need to establish
a reputation that is comparable with the health and quality of these
cattle.

Tue Piace oF OTHER LIvE Stock

Not even a brief discussion of the future of live stock in Illinois
would be complete without recognizing the very large place that swine
will most certainly occupy. In this, as in all other live-stock enter-
prises, new problems are constantly being presented; and upon the
satisfactory solution of these the future of the industry will depend.
Swine diseases, and the most profitable type of hog for corn-belt farms,
are among the problems requiring the most thoro study.

The poultry industry, the importance of which in this state is
not generally recognized, will more and more force its claims upon
the consideration of producers and the public. It will not be
unexpected if this industry records a very marked development in the
state during the next ten years.

I can see no good reason why the business of finishing and fat-
tening sheep and lambs for market and, at the same time, the keeping
of small farm flocks, should not be extended in this state.

OUTLOOK FOR LIVE STOCK 133

The horse, so recently threatened with banishment from corn-
belt farms has demonstrated that he still deserves a place on every
farm and for short haul work in cities. ‘The location of the state, and
the long years of successful experience of Illinois farmers in horse
production, point to the conclusion that there should be some profit
to a community in producing its own work stock, with possibly some
surplus to sell.

Future LINEs oF DEVELOPMENT

Broadly speaking, it is difficult at a time when agriculture
is in such a disturbed condition as it is at present, to forecast the
future of live stock in Illinois. Notwithstanding this, it is all the
more desirable to take a forward look and indicate along what lines
our thought and action should lie, keeping in mind that some of our
conclusions will most likely need revision as the agriculture of the
country returns to a more normal state.

More economical production may still be effected as a result of
further investigations in animal breeding and feeding.

In the selection of breeding stock of dairy cattle, meat animals,
or poultry, we follow rather blindly the traditions and standards
handed down to us from the past, without much knowledge, except
in dairy cattle, whether those standards are justified by the capacity
of the animal to produce economically. A thoro testing of present
standards for the selection of animals for various purposes such as
meat, milk, and work is sorely needed. Not much progress has been
made in developing practicable methods of measuring the efficiency
of breeding animals of the meat-producing types.

There is need for a greater degree of independent thought and
action among live-stock breeders. Perhaps to too large an extent
have breeders silently submitted to the fixation of types in our breeds
by individuals and groups whose chief thought was more the com-
mercialization of an idea than its utility. In general, live-stock
breeders, while displaying great skill in the development of animals
to meet the standards of the show ring, have lacked courage in giving
proper recognition to the development of breeding animals with the
usefulness of the animal in the every-day economy of the farm pri-
marily in mind. It is to be hoped that this will be one of the sig-
nificant developments of the next twenty-five years.

The development of disease resistant strains, within our im-
proved breeds of animals, offers a fertile field of inquiry.

134 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

When it comes to practicable methods of extending the influence
of better live stock throughout the state, a further development of
community live-stock breeding projects gives much promise.

A large field is still open in the direction of research. Studies
should be conducted to ascertain the energy requirements of sheep,
swine, and horses; the factors which modify these requirements, par-
ticularly the age of the animal, its size, condition, and the atmospheric
conditions; the efficiency of the horse in the performance of different
kinds of farm operations; and the efficiency of the conversion of the
energy of feeds into meat, milk, and work, particularly as affected
by light, medium, and heavy rations.

The fact that the future of live stock in Illinois will to a large
extent be shaped by the agricultural policy of the Nation, particularly
of the corn belt, and by the larger movements in agricultural pro-
duction in the world at large is unescapable. Because so much
depends upon what the state as a whole, the Nation, and the world
at large are doing, the largest possible assistance should be extended
in the development of plans for securing such information and making
it generally available for live-stock producers.

In helping to solve the various problems arising out of live-stock
production, large use of economics will be required. Not only should
the most thoro research in agricultural economics be encouraged,
but also it is particularly important that agricultural students who
are to be the leaders in agricultural thought in the state should be
well grounded in the principles of economics. We must learn to fit
our live-stock operations into systems of farming so that they will
utilize, not only our surplus, but also the by-product feeds of the farm,
which would otherwise ordinarily go to waste. We must not allow
our live-stock operations permanently to take out of the cropping
system land that can better be utilized for grain production. In
other words, any attempt to preserve a phase of agriculture when its
preservation is uneconomic is a short sighted policy and indefensible.

In our zeal to make the greatest possible use of this field of
study it is not necessary that the sense of proportion with reference
to other fields of study should be lost. ‘The question resolves itself
rather into extending our lines of study, and to utilizing economics
in attempting to interpret and to gain a better understanding of the
relation of the various phases of agriculture, and indeed of the relation
of agriculture to other industries.

No other institution is in as strategic a position to give proper
direction to the future of live stock in Illinois as the University of

OUTLOOK FOR LIVE STOCK 135

Illinois. It is of the utmost importance that the teachings of the
Agricultural College, the agricultural research of the Experiment
Station, and the work of the Extension Service should all materially
contribute to the proper development of the live-stock industry, and
that none of these should fall into the very natural error of the
specialist of viewing agricultural problems primarily from the point
of view of the development of special phases of agricultural produc-
tion. In determining a proper agricultural policy for the state of
Illinois, live-stock production should occupy an important place because
without large live-stock holdings it is impossible to secure the largest
utilization of all the agricultural resources of the state.

ROADSIDE IMPROVEMENT

W. N. Rupp, Blue Island

T IS perhaps hardly twenty years ago that in writing a paper
on this subject for presentation before almost any audience
in our state, one would have been pessimistic as to its
reception, almost certain that it would not be considered
worthy of serious attention; perhaps well enough for the
women to talk about, along with their posy beds, but

nothing for a hard-headed, upstanding, two-fisted man to waste time
upon. The writer would have felt it necessary to devote half his
space to special pleading, in a timid way, for a hearing, and the
balance largely to showing how little really need be done and how
very, very cheaply improvements could be made.

Today, there is not one person present here who does not realize
fully the great importance of banishing from our homes, and from the
surroundings among which we do our work, all that we can of the
ugly and unsightly; and of bringing in all that may be possible of
the sightly and the beautiful—importance, mind you, not only on the
esthetic side but on the cold, hard, dollars and cents side also; in
the proved increase in our property values, in the better output of labor
when we are working in pleasant surroundings, in the greater happi-
ness which will keep more of our young people at home, and in the
increased traffic attracted by beautiful drives and the increased busi-
ness which it brings to our neighbors who are makers and sellers of
things needed or desirable. We can approach the subject confidently
today, as one of accepted importance, without necessity of excuse,
apology, or special pleading. Our problem now is not whether to do,
but what to do; and how, when, and where to do it.

It is stated on apparently good authority that there are 96,000
miles of public highway in Illinois. Those who are so minded may
find interest in estimating how many times these highways, if con-
tinuous, would go around the earth’s circumference and how many
trees it would take, if planted fifty feet apart, to border each one of
them on both sides. Truly, in the light of these figures, our subject
becomes a very big one indeed. We have no need to be discouraged
at the magnitude of the task, however. It will be spread over many
years to come, and we and our children and our children’s children will
all be working at it.

The work divides itself naturally into two lines: first, to do
away with the ugly or unsightly, so far as we can; second, to add

136

ROADSIDE IMPROVEMENT 137

such elements of beauty as are found desirable and feasible, after
a careful study of topographical, climatic, and soil conditions, econom-
ical first cost and, especially, cheapness of maintenance. Above all,
we must ever have in mind that a road is built for a very real and
a very definite purpose of use, a supremely important use; and we
must not in our work either take away or add anything which will,
in any serious degree, prevent the most free and the fullest use for
which the road was built, or interfere with the facilities which it was
intended to furnish.

It is a fundamental principle of decorative art, perhaps the
fundamental principle, that any attempt to embellish, or to orna-
ment, or to beautify a thing intended for use, which results in render-
ing that thing less useful or less easily used, is bad art—always and
everywhere. Confidentially, and “mentioning no names,’ the appli-
cation of this test of true art to certain buildings in a certain one
of the world’s great universities, might reveal some art that is—well!
not good. But that’s another story.

The first line of work, the removal of unsightly things, is easy
to carry out. The greater part of the unsightly things are left or
placed in the highway or near it by thoughtless or careless persons.
Persuasion and the arousing of public sentiment will secure the
removal of the unnecessary and the repair of the dilapidated. The
expenditure of money in this connection will rarely be needed.

Perhaps the most difficult of all the ugly things along the high-
way, to handle, are the billboards generally erected in the precise
location where they may destroy all pleasure in the finest view, or
most effectually exasperate the lover of Nature’s beauties. ‘The
National Civic Association is conducting a campaign against them,
and has issued bulletins covering the matter very thoroughly; so that
nothing need be said at this time, except the suggestion that a drastic
license fee might be imposed, increasing with the size of the board,
and a little neighborly remonstrance exerted with the owner who
allows his land to be used, or his buildings to be defaced, for such
purposes.

The growing custom of erecting advertising signboards, masquer-
ading as directing or distance signs, should be checked. It is entirely
within the powers of highway officials to remove them and to prevent
the erection of others. An aroused public sentiment is the remedy.
The rural mail box is a necessity, but the straggling groups of them

138 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

looking like groups of drunken sailors at almost every junction of
our country roads should not be permitted. The highway officers
have full power to designate places for them and to require their
erection and maintenance in a proper, orderly, and sightly way.

The nailing of signboards and political and other notices to trees,
telegraph poles, and fence posts need not be permitted. Public bulletin
boards of unobtrusive size might well be erected at selected locations
and their use allowed on permits, possibly after the payment of small
fees sufficient to provide for their erection and maintenance. ‘The
many other small nuisances will, in most cases, each suggest an obvious
and ready way for its abatement.

The lines of telegraph, telephone, and electric light poles are
unsightly things which we cannot at present do away with, but we
can at least require their being maintained in a neat and upright
position and prevent the unsightly bracing we so often see applied
to weak or improperly set poles. The tree mutilation which so fre-
quently accompanies the operation of such lines is a crime, to the lover
of beautiful trees. The courts have allowed punitive damages to the
owners of adjoining land who have planted the trees, in such cases;
and it is perfectly feasible for public officials having jurisdiction, to
prosecute and punish such offenses.

In one Canadian province, at least, the pole nuisance is being
minimized by increasing the width of main highways from sixty-six
to eighty-six feet, placing the poles outside the trees in the added
strip of ground, thus rendering them less conspicuous and much
less likely to interfere with tree growth. Our Illinois country is much
more thickly settled and our farms of much greater value, so that,
except in unusually favorable locations and for short distances, it
would not seem feasible to adopt this desirable practise in our state.

So much for the negative, the easy and the obvious part, of our
great task. The other part, the constructive part, is not by any means
so simple a thing. It is always easier to tear down than to build,
always easier to take a blemish out of a picture than to create the
picture.

We are to be makers of beautiful pictures just so truly as the
painter who works with his oils and his colors on the flat canvas.
Our colors are the trees, the shrubs and the flowers which we use.
The painter’s colors dry to their final hue tomorrow, or next week;
ours, not for a generation or more. ‘The little saplings which we
plant today will not fill the space we have planned for them, nor
give the ultimate effect desired, until, perhaps, after we are dead and
forgotten. We seldom see the finished result except in our mind’s
eye. We shall therefore be wise if in doing this work we obtain the

ROADSIDE IMPROVEMENT 139

advice of those who by long study and varied experience can direct
with asure eye and a competent hand.

Our state, as you know, is a land in large part of flat level
prairies and our roads, often for mile after long mile, run straight-
away without turn or curve and without appreciable rise or fall.
Our present accepted hard road construction is an eighteen-foot streak
of gray or almost white concrete, stretching away miles beyond all
possible range of vision; mathematically exact at its edges, never
widening, never narrowing; and then the fences equidistant on each
side, wire and posts, wire and posts, and more wire, and more posts,
posts without end; and we begin to understand what Kipling’s soldier
felt with his

Boots, Boots, Boots, Boots,
Slog, slog, slogging up and down

and we try to make a little rhyme to match it beginning—
Posts, Posts, Posts, Posts,

and we can’t do it because rhyming is neither our trade nor our
profession. And there is your Illinois road for many miles, in many
parts of the state, and there is your problem, to take the curse off of it.
It is a most difficult one to solve; but we can be thankful that few,
in fact none, of the others are so difficult. It can be solved; all
problems can be solved, except, possibly what to do with our telephone
poles.

The person who has given little study to the question will be
quite apt to say, with conviction: ‘“The whole problem is a simple
one. Plant trees. Plant them on both sides of the road. Plant them
by the thousand. You can’t have too many trees. What is more
beautiful than a fully developed maple or a perfect, mature elm?
What greater delight than to drive under the cool shade of their
over-arching boughs, sheltered from the scorching sun of a July day?”
Ah! But after July and August come September and October, and
the winter months and then spring. Only a small part of our days
are July days. We must have variety. We must have delights for
all days, not July days alone.

I can conceive of nothing more monotonous than an endless
ribbon of gray road seen through a never-ending arch of green boughs,
except, possibly, the same road without any trees at all. No! It
would be deadly monotony and our traveler would again be at his.
rhyme, only instead of posts, it would be Trees, Trees, Trees, ‘Trees.
We must have variety and change. We must have ever new and
different beauties. We must not shut out the beautiful distant views.

140 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

We must have open spaces where the large trees give way to masses
of shrubs and groups of the smaller native trees and their fall coloring
of foliage and the winter berries and colored bark. ‘There must be
places where there is no planting at all, to distract the eye from lovely
distant views. There will be a few groups of the hardier flowering
plants here and there in the open; not too many, because their lives
are short and their upkeep expensive. ‘There will be many noble
avenues of trees, and let .us hope that we may be able to widen the
roadway along those avenues. ‘There will be isolated specimen trees.
There will be trees planted in groups; trees in rows on one side of
the road only. There may be wooded areas adjoining our roadway
which can be acquired cheaply and through which winding, unpaved
summer drives may be opened to tempt the traveler off the beaten
track. ‘There may be adjacent swampy or wet areas of little agri-
cultural value which will lend themselves finely to a very different
style of planting. Perhaps we may find cheap areas at the inter-
sections of roadways where planting may be done in a parklike way
and thus improve two roadways with one planting expense.

We have thus sketched hurriedly and most imperfectly plans
which if carried out in spirit would make the highways of our great
state an inspiration and a delight to all people, to the traveler from
other sections, to the busy man journeying on his daily affairs, to
the children on their walks to and from school, and to the whole
family on its way to church.

Mention of our schools and our churches brings us squarely up
against the fact that these two institutions, alongside our roads, are
in general the greatest offenders in the length and breadth of Illinois
in the way of maintaining unbeautiful and even positively ugly con-
ditions in the grounds surrounding the buildings which they occupy.
The old Puritan idea that religion is an austere and an unlovely thing
has been cast aside and we now believe that religion is most beautiful
in all ways. Why then should we not surround the edifice where we
go to practise its rites with all the beauty that we can reasonably
give it? Why should not every schoolyard be planted with flowers
and flowering shrubs and these young, plastic minds taught to love
such things, and how to cultivate and protect them? Why should
not they be taught to protect our beautiful wild flowers; to pick them,
when really desired, carefully and with moderation, instead of ruth-
lessly dragging them out of the ground, roots and all, by arms full,
to be carried for a little while and then thrown aside ‘that more may
be pulled up and destroyed ?

| ROADSIDE IMPROVEMENT 141
I

can all be done so easily and so cheaply, although we may
have ta go among those who are training our teachers and drive out
some lg worship of teaching methods and drive in a little more
attention to what to teach. We can well do with a little less of
George Washington, and Raphael, and Leonardo, and with a good
deal mote of Daffodil, and Primrose, and Columbine.

Granting the extreme desirability, the almost necessity, of the
roadside improvements we are advocating, the question then comes,
“What of the cost?’ With economical and careful planning, the
ultimate cost can be made astonishingly low. One one-hundredth
part of what we are spending for hard roads would enable us to
accomplish wonders in improving those same roads; and the work
need not be done all at once, but could be spread over a number of
years, making an absurdly small annual charge.

The elimination part of our programme could well be carried out
by small groups of people working in their home localities. The
constructive work could better be handled by larger organizations,
perhaps county-wide. “The work on the state-maintained roads
might well be centralized in a group closely allied to and functioning
with those in charge of the maintenance of those roads. Friction
and overlapping authority could thus be avoided, and greater economy
in both our construction and maintenance be attained.

THE COUNTRY HOME

J. V. STEVENSON, Streator

| HE future of our nation depends upon the kind of citizens
)} that we produce. In turn, what our citizens are depends
very largely upon the homes they come from, so I take
it that it is in this light that we are interested in discuss-
ing the country home today. ‘The statement has been
made often, and needs no proof here, that the most of our
leaders in thought and action have come at some time from the farm.
This has been true all through our history, from the days of the log
cabin country home down to the present time. We are constantly
drawing on our rural population for new blood, in government, in
business, in all the professions. And it is this steady stream of new
blood, pure, virile, and one hundred per cent American, that has
enabled us to forge ahead and assume the lead among all nations.

CITIZENS IN THE MAKING

What is it, then, in the training and home life of the country
bred citizen that gives him this virility and dependability so essential
to success? We might mention first the influence of pure air, pure
food, of quiet and natural surroundings and plenty of sleep. ‘These
help to develop our country children into better “animals.” A sound
body and a sound mind make up a useful combination. Without
either a person is out of balance and his usefulness is impaired.

Closely related to this matter of good physical development is
another point in favor of the man or woman reared in the country.
Almost from the time the child is able to walk it begins to learn
something about work. ‘The little girl four years old can help her
busy mother in many ways; the boy of the same age loves to
follow his father around while he is doing the chores. And he too,
very early finds things that he can do to help, and ways in which
he can save his father a good many steps. While the little tots are
thus saving their parents a good bit of energy, the effect on the chil-
dren is of vastly greater importance; for they are learning to work.
They are learning that there are things to be done every day and at
certain times of the day, and that if these things are not done at the
proper time more or less serious consequences will result.

A little later the child goes to school. Before and after school the
city child has nothing to do but play. The father is busy at the office

142

THE COUNTRY HOME 143

or the store or the factory. The mother is frequently also busy at the
club or the shops or the matinee. The child is left more or less to his
own deyices, and he plays with his school friends, often in the street
or alley, having no other place to play. Here schoolboy “gangs” are
formed. Here he learns every form of meanness that boys know, and
very frequently right here is planted the seed that later develops into
the hardened criminal. The country child, on the other hand, has his
chores to do both morning and evening. The woodbox must be filled,
the chickens fed, the eggs gathered, the cows milked. ‘Those chores
are just as much a part of his day’s routine as eating his three meals
or going to bed at night. So, while his city cousin is playing with
the gang in the street or going to a movie or otherwise offering a
fertile field for Satan who “finds mischief for idle hands to do,” the
country boy is keeping his hands busy doing useful work, and what
is more important, is forming the habit of doing things on time.

Another point in favor of the country child’s training is that he
knows nature and learns to distinguish between the fundamentals
and the non-essentials of life. ‘To him clothes are incidental, and
the tricks of so-called polite society are unknown. But he knows how
things grow, and he knows something of the relative value of the
things that we eat and wear and work with. ‘The city boy of twelve
probably knows the latest fashion in clothes, the latest fad in haircuts
and the newest song hit on the street. But in many cases he does not
know whether potatoes grow on trees or bushes, whether some of the
cows give buttermilk or whether we “keep a bee” to furnish the
honey for our table.

THE FARMER’S LIFE AN OPEN Book

There is one feature of the farmer’s business that has an important
effect upon his home life and his moral development. In his business
there is little chance for concealment or deceit. While the work of
others may be surrounded with considerable secrecy, which may lead
to misrepresentation, the farmers’ business is always open to inspec-
tion. He cannot hide his fields or his stock from his neighbor’s eyes.
So, while the business man may talk in terms of many figures and
may contrive to make his business appear much more important than
it really is, it is a comparatively easy matter for any farmer to know
in a general way what his neighbor is doing in any of his productive
enterprises. When a man’s business is thus open and above board,
it is reflected in the character of his home life. He is a better hus-
band, a better parent, a better citizen.

144 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

And this leads me to what is perhaps the most important factor
in this development of citizenship in the country home. It is the sym-
pathetic relationship that exists in the farm family. ‘Three times a
day the whole family gather at the table for meals. All of them
know what the others are doing and they are interested in talking
about the things that affect the whole family. In the evenings, after
the work is done, again all enjoy this companionship, lying on the grass
in the yard to cool off on summer evenings, or sitting by the fire in
winter with popcorn and apples and books and music.

What sort of place is this country home that offers so many
advantages for the training of citizens; where shall we find it and
how may we know it at sight? I would say that it will be found
surrounded by evidences of good farming. We may expect to find
good barns and outbuildings of all kinds kept well painted, a silo,
good herds of well-bred live stock kept in by good fences, land well
tilled and crops well diversified and with evidence of a careful con-
servation of soil fertility. “The dwelling will be of permanent con-
struction, will be designed to harmonize with its location, and will
be surrounded by a grassy lawn with enough shade trees and simple
landscape planting to make a good play ground for children and a
pleasant resting place for grown people. Inside the house we may
expect to find modern conveniences, including a bathroom, modern
heating system, electric lights, mechanical laundry equipment, com-
fortable furniture, a piano or a phonograph or both, and many good
books and current magazines. ‘This is the kind of country home
that in this twentieth century will induce companionships within the
family, develop in children a love of farm life, bring out the best
there is in them, physically, mentally and spiritually, and give them
a memory of home to cherish always.

How Far WE ARE FROM THE IDEAL

I wish I might stop here and say that I have described the ma-
jority or even the average of farm homes in Illinois. If that were
true we need have no concern about the future of our agriculture.
Unfortunately it is not true, for so far in our development we have
built very few permanent farm homes. The great majority of them
have been merely dwelling houses built only with the idea of furnish-
ing the lodging facilities necessary to carry on the farm business. But
the time is coming, and it seems to me that it is not far distant, when
we shall realize that the farm home must furnish more than lodging.
It must furnish comforts and conveniences that will make country

THE COUNTRY HOME 145

life satisfying and efficient. ‘There are many farmers in Illinois
today who can build such homes as soon as they make up their minds
that they|\want them. ‘To those I would say that I believe there is no
other way that they can buy as much satisfaction with their money
as in building an up-to-date, permanent farm home. ‘There are very
many others who want such homes, but have not the means to get
them, and it is their case that I wish to present in this paper.

Take first the case of the tenant farmer. In some of our richest
corn-belt counties seventy per cent of the farms are operated by
tenants. Now there are some tenant farms where the home very
closely approaches the ideal, but they are rare. In the majority of
cases the owner is interested only in taking as much as he can from
the farm every year. He has never realized or considered the im-
portance of preserving the fertility of the soil. His business has been
to mine that fertility just as rapidly as possible. Likely he lives in a
distant city, perhaps in another state. Possibly all the business is
handled through a third party acting as agent. In any case there is
little or no thought given to the matter of making the place attractive
or homelike. ‘The only improvements made are those that are con-
sidered necessary to make the farm workable and to insure the land-
lord his rent from year to year. What is the result? A farmstead
consisting of a little cluster of cheaply constructed and unattractive
buildings, set very likely on the bleakest, most desolate part of the
farm, with very few trees for shade and comfort and no grassy lawn
for children to play in. No good live stock; because the landlord
won't build barns to house them, and won’t allow land sown to clover
or other hay or pasture crops to feed them. Constantly diminishing
yields, because the landlord can’t see far enough ahead to provide for
maintaining the fertility of his soil. Can you imagine children grow-
ing up in such surroundings with the desire in their hearts to be
farmers? Is it any wonder that they flock to the cities as soon as
they are free to shift for themselves?

WHAT IS THE REMEDY?

What is the remedy? A step in the right direction will be taken
when landlords stop renting from year to year on a single year lease,
and adopt the long term lease, making provision for live stock and
soil fertility requirements. ‘This will make life seem more worth
while to the tenants, will make them better farmers, better home-
makers, better citizens. Some landlords argue that they cannot get

146 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

tenants to whom they are willing to rent the place for more than one
year at atime. To them I would say that if such a condition exists,
it is a strong argument in favor of restricting the amount of land
that can be held by an absentee landlord. ‘There has been considerable
agitation about this matter and much argument on both sides. It
seems to me that we must agree that better homes and better citizens
are the rule on farms operated by the owners than on farms which are
part of large holdings belonging to absentee landlords. If the state
is interested in having better homes and better citizens, and if we
agree that these are encouraged by the pride of ownership, certainly
we should welcome a law placing a reasonable limitation on the
amount of land that any man might own unless he worked it himself.

But merely passing such a law will not get us very far in the
solution of this problem. We must provide not only for the sale of
part of the landlord’s holdings, but we must provide also for their
purchase by the tenants. And this is by no means easy under present
conditions. A tenant, or any one who desires to buy a farm, may do
so if he has accumulated approximately half the price. The other
half can be borrowed by giving a mortgage on the land as security.
Under the old system of borrowing from mortgage brokers, a mort-
gage on a farm for half the purchase price is by no means to be lightly
considered or carelessly contracted. Such loans usually run for five
years. Within that time it is very often impossible for the young
farmer to pay any considerable amount. ‘Then there is hanging over
him all the time the dread of this mortgage, the knowledge that on a
certain date it will be due, and the fear that he will not be able to
renew the loan, or will be required to pay a generous commission to
the agent who handles it. Instances are known where the commission
charged for obtaining a loan of this kind was equivalent to one year’s
interest. Hence the traditional dread of mortgages, and the plan
followed by so many farmers of skimping and scraping and slaving
during the best part of their lives, and sacrificing education, culture,
physical comfort and even health, in order to get out of debt. We
need not be reminded that real homes cannot be developed under these
conditions. In many cases these farmers and their wives not only
spend the best part of their lives trying to pull out of debt, but they
come in time to develop a habit of scraping and saving to pay off
mortgages, a habit that they never overcome. ‘They start out to pay
off on their farm that they may have a home free of encumbrance.
It takes all they can save to do the trick. There is nothing left for
even the ordinary comforts of life. When the farm is finally paid

THE COUNTRY HOME 147

for, they mortgage it again to buy more land in order to be sure to
have enough for a “rainy day.” And early training has instilled in
them such a fear of mortgages that they continue to deny themselves
the comforts of life until they are all paid out. Often this goes on
and on until several hundred acres of land have been acquired. ‘Then,
realizing that they are growing old, they decide to build a modern
home and enjoy life. But it is too late. ‘The early habits have be-
come fixed, ‘They may build the finest house in the community, and
surround and equip it with all the conveniences that money can buy.
But they cannot be happy because they do not know how to enjoy
these things. All their lives they have thought of nothing but saving
money and in so doing they have stunted their intellects and souls so
they will be miserable for the rest of their days.

Our Limitrep CrepIT FACILITIES

The Federal Land Bank and the Joint Stock Land Banks go part
way in the solution of this problem. ‘They loan to the purchaser of
land up to fifty per cent of its value in most parts of the country.
They furnish a loan that never comes due. By means of the prin-
ciple of amortization the borrower makes a nominal payment every
six months and in thirty-three years’ time both principal and interest
are completely paid. The old dread of the mortgage becoming due
is removed. ‘The borrower feels better able to invest part of his
income each year in things that will make his farming more efficient
and his life more satisfying. Among these things he will include the
improvement of his home. He feels free to give a little time and
thought to reading, music, and various forms of culture that make
him a better home man and a better citizen.

But what about the young couple who want a farm home and
don’t have the fifty per cent for the initial payment? The Federal
Land Bank cannot help them. There is no way for them to buy a farm
unless they can find some good friend who is financially able and
willing to loan them the other half of the price either on their per-
sonal note or with a second mortgage as security. But in the majority
of cases such a friend cannot be found. What, then is the result?
They must start out as tenants, probably on a farm that they can
never expect to own or to make their permanent home. And you need
not be told that it is a long and hard pull for them to get enough
money ahead to make the initial payment on a farm. Not only is
it a long and hard pull, and one that takes the best part of their lives
in doing, but in the great majority of cases it is work done on a farm

148 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

that they can never expect to own, and is accordingly time wasted as
far as building a real home is concerned. Surely one of the most
urgent matters before the country today is that of providing some
sort of credit facilities for the young farmer and his wife starting with-
out capital in order that they may get started at once toward making
a home of their own.

BETTER CREDIT, AND "THEN—

But again we must realize that even this will not take us all the
way. A good farmer remarked just recently that to be able to bor-
row money is important, but to be able to pay it back is more im-
portant. Certainly we need better credit facilities for farmers, but
just as certainly we need a better assurance of being able to pay out.
For pay day always comes, and it is hard to see how the farmer can
afford to pay six per cent interest for money to invest in a business
that does not yield that much in returns. And we must face the
fact that even with pre-war price relations reestablished, the average
farmer cannot buy corn-belt land, equip and farm it, and make six
per cent on his investment after paying wages, taxes, insurance, upkeep,
and living expenses, not to mention wages for the work done by his
wife and family. Now if it is going to be necessary for the farmer
to deny himself and his family all culture and even the ordinary com-’
forts of modern life to make both ends meet, we cannot hope to
build a very great number of permanent homes in the country, and
we cannot expect to keep our best young men and women on the farm.
If it is worth while to give a college education in agriculture, that
education should fit the student for life on the farm. For not all of
our graduates can spend their lives in research or teaching or exten-
sion work. And in just so far as the products of our agricultural
college will go back to the farm to put in practise the principles they
have learned here, in just that measure will the influence of the
college grow and strengthen our commonwealth.

But it is commonly said that a college education trains the boy
or girl away from the farm. And in a measure this is true. Four
years here at college have accustomed them to conveniences and com-
forts that they have never had on the farm. Not fine clothes and
elaborate furniture and gay society, but things that are coming more
and more to be regarded as necessities of life. Running water, good
lights, mechanical laundry and cleaning equipment, music and books
and, what is just as important, a little time to enjoy them; a home
and farmstead built to harmonize with its surroundings and furnish

THE COUNTRY HOME 149

an attractive place to live, these are the things that are more and
more going to be demanded of the farm home. And no matter what
other advantages farm life may afford, we cannot hope to see our
best young men and women stay on the farm if they are denied these
comforts. Just recently, I heard an old farmer who has spent all his
life in hard work and who has never had the advantage of higher
education or modern culture, say that he thought often when a farmer
comes in hot and dusty from a hard day’s work a good shower bath
would do him more good than his supper. ‘‘And yet,” he said, “the
farmer is in the most part denied this comfort which is commonly
available to the factory workers in our cities.” Now we agree, and
others are coming to realize, that farming is the biggest business in the
nation today. Such a business demands that a great many of our
best young men and women stay on the farm. Let me repeat that not
many of them are going to be willing to stay there if they must deny
themselves the common comforts and conveniences of daily life that
are enjoyed by the average resident of our cities. Surely we must
have in the country more real homes, homes that are not merely
dwelling houses but homes that provide the advantages that will make
country life attractive and will give to our future citizenship the
greatest possible development.

THe Lorp Hetps THEM TuHat Hetpe THEMSELVES

How is this to be brought about? I should say by the farmers
themselves. ‘The main thing needed is to make farm business more
profitable, to make farm returns somewhat comparable to the returns
of other industries that require a similar investment and corresponding
ability. Before we can build many permanent country homes, our
farm business must be made to pay a fair rate of interest on the
necessary money and time and ability invested. ‘This cannot be
brought about by any special governmental concession or guarantee,
but a great deal can be accomplished by the farmers themselves.

Much can be done in this direction by the use of better systems
of farming, systems that will enable the farmer to produce more
efficiently and at lower cost. ‘This is a matter of education and I
believe our research and extension activities should continue and be
further developed along this line.

But better farming cannot do it all. We must realize more
and more that our business does not stop with production. We must
pay more and more attention to the economical marketing of our
products till they reach the consumer’s hands, in order that we, as

150 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

well as the consumer, may benefit by more efficient methods. This is
a job that no farmer can do individually, but we are just beginning to
learn that we can do it by organization. Not only through cooperative
marketing can organization help us to a better return for our invest-
ment, but through organization and in that way alone, can we bring
our case to the attention of the general public. ‘Through organiza-
tion farmers can meet around the council table or in legislative hall
on equal basis with capital and labor, and thresh out such questions
as taxation, transportation, and finance, that are vitally connected with
the matter of income.

Now these cooperative organizations in order to be successful
must have the right kind of leaders. ‘These leaders must have a
technical knowledge of agriculture. ‘They must have a knowledge
of the principles and methods of cooperation as they have been worked
out through experience in this and other countries. And they must
be instilled with the idea of giving service to their communities. I
believe the University should give attention to the special training
of men to be leaders in these cooperative organizations. ‘The state-
ment may seem far-fetched, but I believe it is true, that one of the
greatest contributions the University can make to the development
of the country home is the training of the men to be leaders of
farmers’ cooperative movements.

In closing let me repeat that we can hope for better country
homes only when the business of farming becomes more profitable.
‘The farmer has it in his own power to bring this about, first by his
individual effort to produce more efficiently, and secondly by his
organized effort to market more efficiently and use his influence
toward a fair solution of our state and national problems. I have
said that these farmers’ organizations must have wise and well-trained
leaders. ‘Their success will depend ultimately, however, upon personal
interest and activity of the individual farmer. If, through lack of
interest, he allows his organization to be controlled by a few men
with selfish personal ambitions, or allows it to degenerate into a
paternalistic scheme supported by government funds, it will fail. In
my humble opinion nothing in recent years, if indeed in our whole
history, has dignified agriculture as an occupation so much as the
growth and work of our farm bureau organizations. And this is true
because the organizations were built by the farmers themselves.
Therein lies the hope that we shall eventually solve our problems as
they come to us, including the problem of the country home.

PHYSIOLOGICAL BASES OF CROP
PRODUCTION

W. L. Buruison, Professor of Crop Production

[ass] HROUGHOUT all ages the growth of plants has inter-
GYR) ested thoughtful men.” ‘The beginning of plant culture
goes far back into history.” “The mystery of the change
of an apparently lifeless seed to a vigorous growing plant
never loses its freshness.’’ And it is evident, too, that as
time goes on and the world’s food problem becomes more
complex, this interest will steadily develop.

A review of some of the world’s literature relating to agriculture
reveals many interesting statements. It was thought by some gar-
deners that the moon exercised a controlling influence on the growth
of plants. Others thought that the ruling force was an unknown
God whose power never could be known. Before the advent of the
fifteenth century, speculation and superstition ruled supreme. Since
about the middle of the fifteenth century, plant culture studies have
passed through certain rather well defined epochs, each in turn con-
tributing valuable information and thus enlarging and enriching our
knowledge of how plants grow.

THE SEARCH FOR THE “PRINCIPLE OF VEGETATION’’*

Almost five centuries ago, Palissy said: ‘You will admit that
when you bring dung into the field it is to return to the soil some-
thing that has been taken away. Whena plant is burned it is reduced
to a salty ash called Alcaly, by apothecaries and philosophers—every
sort of plant, without exception, contains some kind of salt. Have
you not seen certain labourers when sowing a field with wheat for the
second year in succession, burn the unused wheat straw which had
been taken from the field. In the ashes will be found the salt that
the straw took out of the soil ; if this is put back, the soil is improved.
Being burned on the ground it serves as manure because it returns
to the soil those substances which had been taken away.” ‘These
facts have been confirmed in part from the study of chemistry.

Early in the sixteenth century, a search for the “‘principle of veg-
etation” was begun by Von Helmont. His work is regarded as the
classic of its time. In speaking of his experiment, Von Helmont says: -
“T took an earthen vessel in which I put two hundred pounds of soil,

*Russell’s Soil Conditions and Plant Growth.
151

152 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

dried in an oven, then I moistened with rain water and pressed hard
into it a shoot of willow weighing five pounds. After exactly five
years, the tree that had grown up weighed 169 pounds and about
three ounces. But the vessel had never received anything but rain
water or distilled water to moisten the soil, when this was necessary,
and it remained full of soil which was still tightly packed, and lest
any dust from outside should get into the soil, it was covered with a
sheet of iron coated with tin, but perforated with many holes. I did
not take the weight of the leaves that fell in the autumn. In the end
I dried the soil once more and got the same two hundred pounds that
I started with, less about two ounces. ‘Therefore, the 164 pounds of
wood, bark and root, arose from the water alone.” A notable con-
tribution, but only a part of the truth was found.

Glauber believed that ‘‘saltpeter” contained these important
“principles.” | Kulbel was convinced of their presence in “humus.”
Along about the middle of the sixteenth century, Tull wrote interest-
ingly of how plants feed. “It is agreed,” he wrote, “that all the fol-
lowing materials contribute in some manner to the increase of plants,
but it is disputed which of them is that very increase of food: (1)
Niter, (2) Water, (3) Air, (4) Fire, (5) Earth.” ‘‘Altho niter,
water, air, and fire and heat aid plants in growing, the earth is the
real food and increase of plants; niter and other salts prepare the
earth by dividing its particles, as a knife is to cut and prepare the
food ; water and air move it, and by carrying and fermenting it in the
juices of the plant to produce heat. ‘Too much niter corrodes a plant,
too much water drowns it, too much air dries the roots, too much
heat burns it; but too much earth a plant can never have, unless it
be therein wholly covered up.” ‘Tull’s work closes the period known
as the epoch of a search for the “principle of vegetation.”

Earty Errorts To ASCERTAIN “PLANT NUTRIENTS”

According to Russel, the year 1750 marks the beginning of the
epoch regarded as a search for “plant nutrients.” It was about 1755
when Home was set to work by the Edinburg Society “to try how
far chemistry will go in settling the principles of agriculture.” Home
seemed to think that the whole art of agriculture centered in the
“nourishing of plants.” His chief contribution to plant culture was
the emphasis he placed on a study of the function of ‘“‘plant nutrients.”

Priestley, in 1771, pointed to the fact “that plants instead of af-
fecting the air in the same manner as animal respiration, reverse the
effects of breathing and tend to keep the atmosphere pure and whole-

CROP PRODUCTION 153

some, when it is become noxious in consequence of animals either liy-
ing, or breathing, or dying, and putrefying in it.” Upon the observa-
tions just cited, coupled with Priestley’s discovery of oxygen, is based
one of the most important principles of plant physiology.

Up to about 1800, studies were largely of a qualitative nature,
but the work of DeSaussure on quantitative gaseous exchange in
plants laid the foundation for work now included in the modern
period of plant investigations. DeSaussure, however, viewed his studies
largely from the chemical aspect.

Early in the eighteenth century, Liebig referred to the work up
to his time as being of a nature “fitted only to awake pity.” Liebig
announced that “the crops on a field diminish or increase in exact pro-
portion to the diminution or increase of the substances conveyed to it
in manure.” ‘The fundamental truths that he contributed marked the
beginning of a new era and he prepared the world for the splendid
progress that followed.

About the time Liebig was startling the world with his theories,
was born Von Sachs, who was later to be known as favorably in the
field of botany as was Liebig in the science of chemistry. In April,
1859, Sachs was called by Professor Stéckhardt to the Experiment Sta-
tion at Tharand to perfect and extend his researches on the water
(nutrient solution) method, and to direct the work of the Experiment
Station along lines of experimental plant physiology. Later at the
Agricultural Academy at Bonn, Poppelsdorf, he gave us the now
classic contributions on germination, material transportation, and
translocation ; and thus laid broad and deep the foundations for an ex-
perimental study of plant nutrition. His chief interest in botany
seemed to be in its application to agriculture. It is to be regretted
that botany and agriculture alike failed to follow his leadership in the
application of plant physiology to agriculture. The intimate and
definite relation between the two fields so well recognized by Stéck-
hardt and so masterfully developed by Sachs was all but broken with
the latter’s passing. A field so auspiciously developed has been allowed
to lie fallow for more than half a century.

THE Neep For BoTrany IN A Stupy OF Crop PROBLEMS

Just why botanists of the immediate past have overlooked such an
opportunity for service is not clear. “What is the matter with
botany?” is a favorite question nowadays. Piper suggests that ‘‘in-
tellectual isolation” is one cause of this indifference. Probably “‘pro-
vincialism” is at the foundation of certain troubles. One writer be-

154 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

lieves that a “feeling of superiority” is a contributing factor to such a
certain lack of interest in crops problems on the part of some botanists.
Perhaps it is not impertinent to ask the question, ‘‘What is the matter
with agronomists specializing in crop production?” If the botanists
are somewhat at fault, so are the agronomists. Good botanical train-
ing has been available to them, but few have sought such equipment
as botany can give. It must be admitted that both groups are at fault,
and as a result, fundamental investigations in crops are few and are
progressing slowly. We are almost at a standstill. We seem to be
yet in the variety testing stage—in the “cut and try” epoch.

The contributions of chemistry have been so numerous and im-
portant that this has been referred to as the chemical age. ‘The ap-
plications furnished agriculture are fundamentally important and are
recognized as such, but we believe chemistry cannot solve our crop
production problems unaided. It appears now that a newer plant
physiology, quantitative in nature, is destined to enter the field of
action along with chemistry, and from this combination much is to be
expected.

In Illinois live two corn breeders of national reputation. I
might, without the feeling of contradiction, say international reputa-
tion. Only a fortnight ago, the older of them was heard to say, “I
have studied corn breeding for thirty years and I am only in the
A-B-C class.” The other has remarked that “after nine years of pa-
tient endeavor, I have little to say because my results seem to be so
difficult of interpretation.” ‘These statements lead us to the firm
belief that the trouble lies in the fact that our botanical truths are
not sufficient to furnish a foundation on which to build breeding op-
erations.

If agronomy is to occupy the important station is should, it must
ally itself to the science that is basic in the interpretation of plant
function; namely, plant physiology. By establishing the closest re-
lationship among the intricate and basic problems concerning the in-
fluence of the agricultural environment on plant functions, and
through these on crop production, much will be accomplished.

Wuat Are SoME OF THE Basic PROBLEMS OF Crop PRODUCTION ?

So far as crop production is concerned, what are some of its basic
problems? What contributions can plant physiology make?

Before attempting to answer these questions, it will be well to
study briefly the general agricultural features of our state. From
north to south, the length of the state is 385 miles, which means, of

CROP PRODUCTION 155

course, great variation in the climate of the respective sections.
Northern Illinois receives an annual rainfall of less than thirty-five
inches, while the southern third of the state receives from forty to
fifty inches. ‘Temperature variations for these areas are even more
striking than rainfall differences, and result in a marked change in
the length of the crop-growing seasons. At Fairfield corn may be
planted during the last days of April, while at DeKalb, May 18 is
the earliest date at which it can safely be planted.

The soil survey, which is more than three-fourths completed,
shows how great a variation we have in our soil types. To date,
about one hundred and twenty-three types have been recorded. Such
extremes of soil type indicate clearly the complex nature of the crop-
production problem with which we have to deal. With such great
variation in soil type and climate as we have in Illinois, is it any
wonder that a man who is a successful farmer in southern Illinois
might be a failure in northern IIlinois?

A satisfactory solution of crop-production studies in Illinois must
be founded on a full knowledge of the soil and what is taking place in
it, as well as a complete understanding of the influence of climate and
the inter-relationship of these great factors as they affect plant growth.
Much has been done looking toward a proper solution of the soil prob-
lem, tho many vital questions remain unsolved. It will be some time
before plant studies have overtaken soil investigations, because the
former field remains largely untouched.

Again, what are the outstanding problems which should be
attacked first? It seems to me that the fundamental crop problem
is “adaptation.” If this is granted, what is the method of attack?
We believe the approach must be made through a study of plant
physiology. “The aim of plant physiology” as stated by the great
botanist Palladin, “is to gain a complete and thoro knowledge of all
the phenomena occurring in plants, to analyze the complex life pro-
cesses so as to interpret them in terms of simple ones and to reduce
them finally to principles of physics and chemistry.”

Little is now known of the sensitive or critical period in crop
plants in relation to environmental factors such as moisture, tempera-
ture, and light, as viewed from the physiological aspect, more partic-
ularly in its application to field conditions. The basis of attack, then,
must be the study of the relationship of environmental factors to the
various life stages of crop plants. These life stages or physiologic
phases may be grouped as follows: (1) the seed stage; (2) the germ-

156 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

inative stage; (3) the plantlet stage; (4) the active growth or vegeta-
tive stage; (5) the reproductive stage.

A thoro knowledge of the physiological behavior of farm crops
must include a knowledge of the life stages, each in relation to the
several factors of environment. When we have such information it
is not difficult to determine the critical phase or period. We are con-
vinced that a clear understanding of the critical period is necessary be-
fore we can proceed far in crop-adaptation studies.

A few typical questions will add emphasis to the suggestion made
above. ‘These questions are not made-up questions; they actually
have been asked by Illinois farmers during the last twelve months:

1. One variety of wheat, corn or oats is better than an-
other, Why?

If this variety lodges worse than another, Why?

If early seeding of spring wheat is best, Why?

This year we have scab, next year none, Why?

Wheat winterkills, Why?

Soft wheat for southern Illinois, Why?

. Bearded wheat for northern Illinois and smooth for south-
ern, Why?

8. Today I plant corn, tomorrow I plant from the same bag,
and from today’s planting I get a stand, from tomorrow’s planting a
poor stand of puny corn, Why?

Truly a new day is dawning in Illinois agriculture. ‘The man on
the land is once again facing the east, with always in the forefront the
eternal question, Why? It seems clear that the agronomist has come
to realize his position and he now resolutely acknowledges the basic
question, Why?

MDUAR WN

Wuat Is Beinc DonE Towarp SOLVING THESE PROBLEMS?

If there is a new day in plant agriculture in Illinois, the question
arises in your mind, what is being done looking to the solution of
these important questions, and we feel that it is only fair that some
notion be given as to what progress is being made.

Last September, Dr. Charles F. Hottes, who is recognized as a
master in his field, consented to become consulting physiologist to the
Department of Agronomy. In his laboratory, without doubt one of
the best in the country, tho needing much additional equipment, the
investigations of several basic problems are under way; and it should
be added that these same problems are being studied simultaneously
on the crop experiment fields.

CROP PRODUCTION 157

Illinois is one of the two leading corn-producing states of the
world, with an annual .total yield of more than 355,000,000 bushels.
Since corn is our great staple, it is natural that our most extensive
studies should center in its physiological behavior. Strange as it may
seem, there has been little investigational work on corn to determine
the normal requirements of the crop. It is doubtful if we can find
data which show the best temperature for the germination test of corn.
Seed corn should always be germinated before being planted in the
field. What is the most desirable temperature for this operation?
Should the temperature be 75° or 85°, and what influence will the
temperature relationships have on the accuracy of the results? Certain
we are of the fact that very little is known of the temperature re-
quirements of the plant in its several life stages. “Through the whole
literature on corn, you may search for this kind of information, with
little or no success.

Just as the physician understands the human body, so must the
agronomist understand the plant body. If we are to understand the
abnormal, or the plant in sickness, so must we understand the healthy
or normal, because it is on the normal behavior that our recommenda-
tions for management are based.

Much has been written about the selection and storage of seed
corn, but we find nowhere in literature data on which to make a safe
recommendation. At what temperature should seed corn be stored
for the maintenance of maximum germination and vigor? When
seed corn is brought in from the field, how rapidly should it be dried
and at what temperature? What temperature and moisture content
should be maintained throughout the winter months? A line of
work now under way shows clearly that there is danger of reducing
too much the moisture content of seed corn. Corn dried to six per
cent moisture previous to storage was slower in absorbing water and
more tardy in germination than similar corn stored when it contained
twice the quantity of water. The total percentage germination was
lower and the vigor of the young plants was slightly less in the low-
moisture corn. On the other hand, another lot of the same corn
which contained nineteen per cent water when it was stored did not
do so well as the dry corn, even tho the processes of germination were
more rapid. ‘This indicates that the proper quantity of moisture for
retaining vigor of seed corn in storage is nearer twelve per cent than
either six or nineteen. In other words, the best quantity of water
in corn to permit the proper amount of physiological activity in the
seed to insure the nourishment of the young plantlet and keep it at
its best, is about twelve per cent.

158 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

What is the best moisture content for corn at planting? More
than a year ago, Mr. Frank I. Mann raised the last question and sug-
gested its importance. No doubt his experience has taught him that
corn plants which begin their growth under most favorable conditions
are ordinarily superior to those from the same kind of seed, but germi-
nating and making their initial growth under less favorable conditions.
Preliminary studies indicate that soaking seed corn in water previous
to planting is a method of hastening germination, thereby giving the
plant an earlier start than otherwise would be the case. This pre-
liminary soaking has resulted in an increase in the yield where the
crop was planted late. However, the length of time the kernels are
soaked determine whether the result will be an increase or a decrease
in production. Soaking for periods less than twenty-four hours is
favorable to growth, whereas, soaking for a longer time either is not
beneficial or is detrimental. In addition to duration of soaking, there
are some indications that the benefit to be derived from this practise
is vitally dependent upon the time of planting and the moisture of the
soil when the planting is done. ‘These are typical of the problems now
in progress dealing with the seed stage of the corn plant.

A sister institution states that corn for seed may be gathered in
the milk. Seed thus selected will germinate, but it is an easy prey for
fungi, and in most instances the plants would never appear above
ground. It has been clearly demonstrated that thoroly mature corn
is best for seed, because fully matured seed possesses powers of re-
sistance. Disease organisms may be present but they are unable to
get a hold on the strong, healthy grain, while the early selected seed
would be converted to a mouldy mass by the end of the third day after
being put in the germination test.

In field practise, what should be the temperature and moisture
content of the soil to give the little corn plant a rapid start? The
problems with the plantlet are of the same sort as those having to da
with the germination stage. An important study has just been con-
cluded by the Agronomy Department, and the material prepared for
publication, on the relation of early vigor of the corn plant to yield.
This problem concerns itself with the plantlet stage primarily.

The Station has data covering twelve years of work on the fre-
quency of the cultivation of corn. It is impossible to interpret these
figures because we know so little regarding the nutrition cycle of corn.
If cultivation assists in nitrate production, is the cultivation performed
at such a time and under such conditions as will render these nitrates
- available at the time needed by the growing plant? The growing
plant undergoes rapid changes in its nutrient requirements and reacts

CROP PRODUCTION 159

in its several growth phases in widely different manners. The
nutrient element required today may not be liberated until tomorrow;
and the stimulations making for increased growth and reproduction
one day, may under apparently the same conditions lead to decreased
production. Investigations on the rots of corn which are being con-
ducted in this state are attracting the attention of corn growers every-
where. ‘Two examples from this work will give additional proof as
to how plant physiology lies at the very foundation of such studies.
Researches conducted by James G. Dickson, at the University of
Wisconsin, point to a relatively high optimum temperature for the
growth and sporulation of wheat scab and corn rot organisms, Gid-
berella saubinetii. ‘When this fungus is inoculated on to corn and
wheat seedlings, the maximum development occurs at widely different
temperatures. On wheat growing under greenhouse conditions, the
fungus behaves as we would normally expect it to; its growth is most
rapid and the greatest injury is caused to the host when the tempera-
ture is high. When grown on corn, practically the reverse is true.
The greatest growth of fungus and the least growth of the young corn
plants takes place under relatively low temperature environment. This
would suggest the desirability of planting corn late in the season when
the temperature is high. However, some Illinois experiments with
diseased corn show that when corn planting is delayed the severity of
the disease is increased, the yield reduced, and the quality of grain
lowered. ‘Thus it is manifest that two organisms that have similar
optimum temperature requirements when grown alone, may have
widely different requirements for their best growth when one is
allowed to parasitize the other. Also when any one of the controlled
standard conditions is changed, the relationship of the host and parasite
is affected. In other words, there seems to exist in nature a state of
equilibrium between plants and the various factors which make up
their environment. When any one or more of these are altered, the
others are affected and the equilibrium is changed accordingly.
Further, our corn-rot investigations bring sharply to mind the
problem of disease resistance and immunity. One instance will suffice
to bring this point clearly before us. We have two lots of corn, one
lot very much like the other, and when planted on clean land the
yields are about the same, but when planted on infested land the yield
of one was reduced about fifty-two per cent and the other only about
two per cent. Why this great difference? We naturally ask our-
selves, What is disease resistance and what is immunity to disease?
Such problems are typical of studies in the physiological behavior
of different kinds of strains or varieties of corn, and upon such studies

160 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

must be based sound field practises. Answers to such questions will
give us the key to the crop-adaptation puzzle.

Wheat is our most important small grain; therefore it is fitting
that some time be given to the underlying principles of its management.
Turkey Red is the most widely grown of winter wheats. It is a
leading wheat for Central Illinois. Our winters are rarely ever
severe enough to injure the crop. Red Rock, a much heralded wheat
from Michigan, winter-kills about one-half the time. | Why this
difference in adaptation to climate? At this date, an effort is being
made to determine the best moisture and temperature relationship at
time of germination, since this is believed to be of large significance
in determining how varieties differ.

The Station has five years of work on the time of seeding spring
wheat. The yield from the early March seeding is about twenty
bushels, the April seeding is twenty-two bushels per acre. Is it be-
cause these spring wheats develop greater vigor by being seeded early,
thus at low temperature? Or is it that the crop seeded early develops |
its flowers early, thereby avoiding the influence of the hot weather
of late June or early July? We believe it is the former, and not the
latter, as we used to believe. Marquis Spring Wheat is a most sat-
isfactory wheat for DeKalb, 125 miles north of here. Illinois No. I
leads Marquis at Urbana by six bushels per acre. It has been found
that Marquis germinates at a lower temperature than Illinois No. I.
Here is a suggestion that one fundamental difference is in the tem-
perature best for germination, a fact which suggests why Marquis is
best for northern Illinois and Illinois No. I is best for central Illinois.

All of these problems aim at an understanding of the normal life
cycle of the crops studied, an understanding of which is necessary be-
fore an accurate determination of the adaptability of any crop can
be made.

I feel confident that the outline presented above points to an
affirmative answer to President Kinley’s question, “Is there any sys-
tem which might be adopted whereby the adaptation of different crops
to different soils may be more accurately determined, and the use of
proper crops on soils be insured?” I believe this plan will give to
this great agricultural state a system of crop production that shall re-
flect credit upon the institution initiating it, and will add increased
wealth and prosperity to the people of Illinois.

ECONOMIC PHASES OF FARMING

W. F. HAnpscuin, Professor of Farm Organization and Management

N DISCUSSING the economic phases of farming, the ques-
tion of prices received for farm products and prices which
must be paid by the farmer for the goods and services which
he wishes to buy is of primary importance. It is important
to pay somewhat special attention to the question of prices
at this time because of the fact that all of our price rela-

tionships have been entirely upset during the past five or six years.

Unless we analyze the situation with some care we are likely to mis-

take an emergency, even tho a somewhat peclonerd emergency, for the

usual state of affairs.

READJUSTMENT OF PRICES

The farmer is suffering just now, more than from any other
cause, from a maladjustment of prices between his products and the
products of other industries. "To be sure, other factors have con-
tributed to his difficulty, but the wide disparity between the price of
farm products and the price of the goods and services which the
farmer usually buys, constitutes in my judgment the principal cause of
the farmer’s present difficult situation.

While farming has been practically the only important industry
which has maintained normal production during the year 1921, the
price of farm products has fallen, without a corresponding reduction
of prices in other industries, to a point which leaves the farmer with
scarcely more than seventy per cent of his pre-war purchasing power.
This in turn has reacted on business in general through a reduction in
the demand for the products of city industries, and has been one of
the chief factors contributing to the widespread unemployment and
general business depression which has obtained during the past twelve
months.

As a result of this maladjustment of prices between farming and
other industries, we find ourselves in the anomalous position in which
the manufacturer and merchandiser have been able to maintain sat-
isfactory prices; and at the same time “business is rotten,” profits are
practically unknown, and prosperity is still just around the corner.
The laboring man is still enjoying a good wage scale, in the main, but
a third of his fellows are out of employment, many more are working

161

162 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

on reduced schedules; and the total wage fund perhaps is reduced
fully as much as is the farmer’s income.

I cannot, in this brief paper, take the time to enter upon a dis-
cussion of what seem to be the chief causes of this contradictory state
of affairs in our industrial life. It is significant, however, to note that
practically all classes of men seem now to agree that before we can
have anything like a return to normal business conditions, prices of
all important commodities must at least approximate a common level.

Whether this leveling of prices is to be brought about by raising
the price of farm products, copper, rubber, sugar and other essential
commodities which are substantially below the level of general prices;
or whether it is to be brought about by scaling down the price of other
products to the price level of the products mentioned, depends largely
upon whose opinion is sought. ‘The farmer wants higher prices and,
for once, nearly everyone seems to be agreed that he should have what
he wants. All seem to be in favor of the plan. Except for the fact
that it does not work it seems to be entirely satisfactory.

The farmer would no doubt, as a matter of first choice, have his
prices boosted to the level of industrial prices and wages. If he can-
not have this, he wants lower prices for the things which he desires
tobuy. In this, however, he seems as yet to have enlisted only partial
cooperation from manufacturers, merchandisers and wage earners.
Meanwhile he sits tight, reduces his expenditures to the minimum, in
the main because he has little to spend after paying interest, rent,
taxes, wages and meeting other necessary expenses. He waits, because
he must, for the steady but unrelenting economic pressure in the situa-
tion to teach other industries that only normal production of goods
made on wages and sold at prices that will move them into consump-
tion can bring general prosperity, and that much-to-be-desired state
which President Harding calls normalcy.

If we agree that prices must reach a common level before we can
have general prosperity,—a doctrine which seems now to be somewhat
generally accepted,—it is highly important that we try to estimate as
accurately as possible whether farm prices will go up, whether other
prices will come down, or whether these two sets of prices will meet
at some point between their present levels.

In attempting to predict what will probably happen to prices, I
can take the time to set down only a few of what seem to be the more
important facts bearing on the problem. We know, for example,
that the production of the cereal grains in the United States has been
considerably above normal during the past three years. “Three suc-

ECONOMIC PHASES 163

cessive favorable seasons and high yields have given us the largest
production of corn during 1919, 1920, and 1921 of any three-year
period in our history. The present corn surplus is the largest on
record. Since corn is the basis of our meat making industry we can
scarcely expect any great increase in live-stock prices in the near
future, altho we may logically expect the price of corn to approximate
the level of live-stock prices before many months have passed. While
the price of wheat is considerably below the level of general com-
modity prices, it is substantially above the pre-war figure and some-
what above the level of general farm prices. “This is no doubt due to
the very considerable exports of wheat made during 1921.

We know also that as long as we do not have general prosperity,
the consumption of farm products in the United States must of neces-
sity be below normal. Europe is now, and must remain for a long
time, on a subnormal basis of consumption with reference to farm
products. In view of these facts, he is an optimist indeed who can
see any great prospect for a recovery in the price of farm products
within the next twelve months.

If prices must reach a common level, and the prices of farm
products offer no prospect of substantial early recovery, it does not
require more than one shrewd guess as to what must happen to
prices. One and only one conclusion remains; the price of goods
made by the city industries must come down. It is only a question
of how long we wish to defer the return to a reasonable measure
of prosperity. This conclusion in fact offers the first, and in my
judgment, the most important measure of early relief to the farmer
in his present difficult situation.

This price problem, which just now confronts the farmer in
somewhat acute form, is a good example of the kind of question in
which the farmer must be continually exercising his individual business
judgment. Obviously, he cannot himself assemble the information
necessary to making such judgments intelligently. He must depend
upon federal, state, or private institutions to supply him with basic
information in this field. The price studies made during the past two
or three years by the U. S. Bureau of Labor, by the College of Agri-
culture of Cornell University, and by other agencies, public and
private, are good examples of the kind of service which the Agricul-
tural College and Experiment Station should render in increasing
measure in the future. Without such information, both the individual
farmer and his organization will be working largely in the dark in
attempting to solve many of their economic conditions.

164 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

CoLLECTIVE MARKETING OF FARM PRODUCTS

The farmer has long felt that he should have better facilities for
marketing his crops and animals. Because of the violent decline in
the price of farm products experienced during the past year he seems
to have become more fully convinced that our present system of
marketing is hopelessly inadequate. At the present time one or more
farmers’ organizations are developing plans for the collective market-
ing of nearly every one of our staple farm crops in one or more im-
portant producing areas. All of this is being done in large measure
without the basic information necessary to the development of plans
which shall conform in their essentials to good economic procedure
and sound business practise. Without such information, we must
learn largely by our own experience, which is usually both expensive
and hazardous, instead of being able to profit by the experience of
other undertakings subject to the same economic laws and principles.

We hear much these days, for example, regarding the orderly
marketing of farm crops. By this is meant, as I understand it, that
the farmer shall endeavor to market his crops as they are required for
consumption. Since the consumption of nearly all of our important
farm crops is surprizingly uniform throughout the twelve months of
the year, the farmer would have to market approximately one-twelfth
of his crops each month in the year. Reduced to its simplest terms,
in the abstract, this would mean that the farmer, rather than some-
one else, should carry his crops until the time when they are required
for consumption.

In actual practise the problem must be far less simple. Someone
must first determine how much of the crop there is on hand. How
much of it is to be marketed. How much would probably be con-
sumed at different prices, and what prices will have to be named to
move all of the crop into consumption during the year, allowing of
course for the normal carry-over. In order that one-twelfth of the
crop shall move into consumption during each month of the year, it
would no doubt be necessary to pool all, or practically all, of the crop
to be marketed and pro-rate the monthly price to all of the consignors
to the pool.

In connection with this problem I cannot help but point out the
danger of carrying over large surpluses from one year to another, in
the hope that subsequent reduced production will make possible the
absorption of such surpluses. The most obvious fact should be that
the very act of somewhat artificially maintaining prices by withholding
a part of the crop from the market would tend to increase rather than

ECONOMIC PHASES 165

to reduce production; and, one year with another, would tend to in-
crease rather than to reduce the size of the surplus. If any proof of
this thesis is required, we need only cite the experience in sugar, rubber,
tobacco, copper, and several other essential products, the surplus of
which has been increased in most cases to unprecedented amounts, by
means of a stimulating price and a tendency to hoard the products for
a still higher price. ‘The same thing happened in the case of a variety
of manufactured products as well as in the raw materials mentioned.
Until recently, it was somewhat generally supposed by those in-
terested in the collective marketing of farm products, that the prin-
cipal steps in the successful conduct of such activities were integration,
standardization, warehousing, transportation, and similar processes
having to do with the physical handling of the commodities. We see
now that these essential steps in the processes dealing with the physical
goods are in themselves relatively simple, and that the real marketing
problem deals with such questions as the influence of supply and de-
mand on price; and, no less important, the influence of price on supply
and demand. We have also come to appreciate that the problem of
handling the physical goods is relatively simple as compared with the
problem of financing the marketing of such goods. My point is not
that the farmer cannot through collective effort improve the present
marketing systems, but merely that we have not made any adequate
study of the economic principles underlying the process of marketing
farm products. We have dealt too much in general terms such as or-
derly marketing, cooperative marketing, costs of distribution, reason-
able price, and a variety of other terms, which we use fluently, without
bringing them under careful economic analysis in order to see what
they really mean when subjected to the test of practical application.
In the problem of meeting the farmers’ credit needs the question
is being raised whether either the Federal Reserve System, a system
based on deposit banking; or the Federal Farm Loan System, a
system based on long time bond investments, can offer the farmer the
kind of credit facilities which his production and marketing operations
require. We know that the Federal Reserve System was designed
primarily to meet short-time credit needs; that is, for ninety days
or less. ‘The Federal Farm Loan System was designed to meet the
needs for mortgage credit extending over periods of five to thirty-five
years. As compared with these facilities, certain of the farmer’s credit
needs require that his loans be carried from six to twelve months, or
even longer. Many believe that we need still a third or intermediate
type of credit, designed to meet certain peculiar needs of the farmer

166 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

in so far as they cannot be satisfactorily met by the two existing
agencies.

These are merely illustrations of the kind of questions confronting
the farmer and his organizations in their efforts to solve some of
their economic problems. ‘They indicate the need for a more thoro-
going and comprehensive program of research in the field of agri-
cultural economics. In such a program the Agricultural College and
Experiment Station should have a large part.

FARMING A BUSINESS OF SMALL UNITS

While one of the most obvious facts about farming is that it is
a business of small units, the real significance of this fact is only
partially understood. Because farming is a business of small units,
and because of the public importance of its efficient development as
an industry, practically all modern nations have made some effort
to subsidize research activities in the interest of developing the more
important scientific facts underlying the business. ‘The agricultural
experiment station is the result of this development in the United
States. It would be plainly impossible for the individual farmer to
work out the facts and principles which have been developed by these
publicly supported institutions.

It would be almost equally impossible for many individual
farmers to avail themselves of the information developed by the
experiment station. To insure the more complete dissemination, and
introduction into actual farm practise, of this information we have
established the publicly subsidized Agricultural Extension Service
and the County Farm Adviser working in cooperation with the
County Farm Bureau.

One of the principal reasons for the formation of cooperative
and other collective farmers’ organizations is the fact that the indi-
vidual farmer, representing a small business unit, cannot deal on the
basis of equal advantage with the larger organized groups with which
he must do business at many points. In matters of legislation, rate-
making, taxation, and collective bargaining the individual farmer
must be largely ineffective. Collectively he develops strength to deal
on a somewhat more nearly equal basis with other organized groups.

Whether this collective organization is to be of permanent value
to the farmer depends upon how he uses this newly acquired power.
If he uses it in his own interest, he may benefit largely by it only in
so far as his use of it does not conflict with the public interest. If he
goes beyond this point, in price enforcement, legislation, rate-making,

ECONOMIC PHASES 167

taxation and other lines, both he and the public are certain to suffer
as a result. Here indeed lies great opportunity for fine discrimina-
tion in making all-important judgments on the part of farmers’
organizations. It will require both comprehensive information and
a high order of moral responsibility to make such decisions wisely.

Because farming is a business of small units, more than one-half
of all the people employed in the entire industry must be possessed
of a degree of management skill adequate to assuming the sole
responsibility for the success of the business. ‘This places a peculiar
handicap on farming as compared with many other industries. In
most of the manufacturing industries not more than one person in
five or six is required to take direct responsibility for other workers
or for the making of dividends. ‘The inevitable result is that the
management skill employed in farming must in general be of a lower
grade than that employed in the large-scale industries.

If in the future we are to continue to have small farms, efficiently
operated, we need to make every reasonable effort to maintain and
improve the management skill of our farm operators. ‘This is already
being done in very large measure through our general educational
program in the state colleges of agriculture and in the secondary
schools. ‘The extension agencies, developed mainly during the past
ten years, have already made a splendid contribution to the improve-
ment of management methods particularly in the technical processes
relating to production. ‘The combined influence of resident teaching
in our colleges and secondary schools, and the extension work carried
on with actual farmers on their own farms, should go a long way
toward offsetting the handicap in management skill imposed upon the
farmer.

/
STANDARDIZED SYSTEMS OF FARMING

I believe we should go even farther than this. I believe the
experiment stations, through investigation of the most successful farms
in the various agricultural regions and through their other lines of
research, should be able in the relatively near future to make a be-
ginning in the development of somewhat standardized systems of
farming for each of the more important type-of-farming areas. I
appreciate fully that such systems would have to be made flexible
enough to meet the needs of individual conditions. However, where
soil types are fairly uniform and the conditions of climate, topography,
markets, and transportation facilities are in the main the same, there
must be at any given time a best system of farming which can be

168 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

defined within somewhat narrow limits, if we but have the basic
information. I recognize also that the individual qualifications and
personal preference of the farmer and his family must be considered
in the problem.

If it is true, however, as all studies go to show, that any given
region can never grow successfully more than three or four staple
crops, it must follow that the farmer has after all little economic
choice as to what he will grow. ‘To be sure, he may vary, to some
extent, the proportions of the crops grown. But unless these crops
rank practically the same from the standpoint of relative profitable-
ness, he again has little choice. In any event, he must grow a some-
what balanced acreage of the crops included in his rotation, in order
to secure good distribution of labor, the control of insect and disease
pests, and a fair measure of insurance against crop failure or
unfavorable prices for any one crop.

In the production of animals he has a somewhat wider range
of choice than is the case with crops, since animals in general enjoy
a somewhat wider range of adaptation than plants. Here too, how-
ever, he must soon be limited by the relative profitableness of different
animal enterprises.

Once we get the basic facts, showing just what combinations
of crop and animal enterprises are best adapted to a given region, we
must recognize, I believe, that any considerable deviation from this
combination will of necessity prove to be a handicap in making the
maximum economic return. In fact many of these systems are already
in some measure developed in the various regions. We need only to
find them, determine the essentials of their organization on the basis
of careful accounting analysis, and combine the fundamentals of
successful management practise for the region into a somewhat
standardized working plan.

I realize that all of this is difficult, in the minds of many im-
possible. My only reason for seriously discussing it in this company
is that if we are to continue to produce food for our constantly
increasing population at a price which they can pay, and at which we
can still make a profit on the enterprise, we must introduce into
more common practise a high degree of productivity on our farms and
we must secure this productivity at the smallest possible cost. ‘The
realization of this aim is of the greatest importance to the well-being
of the individual farmer, as well as to society as a whole.

ECONOMIC PHASES 169

LAND PROBLEMS

In conclusion, I can only mention a few of the other problems,
of first importance to the farmer, which the Agricultural College and
Experiment Station should bring under investigation at the earliest
possible date.

The whole field of farm organization and operation needs to
be brought under more careful and more comprehensive investiga-
tion. Our land problems need to be more carefully studied. We
need to have the facts regarding land ownership, tenancy, the best
adjustments of the lease contract, and other phases of the tenure
problem. We need to learn how far the farmer can afford to go in
increasing the intensivity of production on our better lands before
he will get decreased returns. We should have more information
showing when we can afford to take up and develop our land areas
not as yet included in farms or not yet improved.

The whole question of land valuation is one of our most difficult
problems. In spite of the fact that questions in the valuation of any
form of property can never be answered with absolute accuracy, it is
nevertheless important that the people who own our farm lands learn
to evalute them more accurately from the standpoint of their actual
economic return. A large part of the tendency to over-value farm
lands in the United States during the past has been due to faulty
accounting procedure in capitalizing too large a proportion of the
gross income of such lands. The American farmer, and the corn-
belt farmer in particular, has tended to use his surplus in raising the
price of land rather than in raising the standard of living.

These are some of the more important problems to which, in my
judgment, the Agricultural College and Experiment Station should
be attempting to make answer in dealing with the economic phases
of farming in the next few years.

THE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICE

M. L. Mosuer, President National Association of Farm Advisers, Eureka

that part of the program for agricultural development
which connects the individual farmer and his family with
the work of the state and national departments, institu-
tions, and organizations which are working to make farm-
ing more profitable and to insure the profitable operation
of our farms in the future, so that here in America the generations to
come may continue to have enough food to eat, enough clothes to wear,
and comfortable houses for shelter. Another function of the Ex-
tension Service is to carry to individual families on the farms informa-
tion as to how the profits from farming—when there are profits—may
be spent or invested so as to bring the most satisfaction to themselves,
to their children, their neighbors, and the Nation.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EXTENSION SERVICE

The development of the Extension Service has been a very natural
one. Fifty or sixty years ago, the agricultural colleges were organ-
ized to teach the farm boys the science and the art of successful farm-
ing. ‘The teachers soon learned that they did not have the necessary
facts with which to teach; so about thirty or forty years ago the state
experiment stations were organized. Gradually the people out on the
farms became interested in getting more and more of the accumulated
information, and fifteen or twenty years ago an extension service was
instituted in order to carry such information to the farms. ‘The
leaders of the movement soon adopted the plan of placing a representa-
tive of the agricultural departments and institutions, known as a
“county agent” or “farm adviser,” in each agricultural county in
order that he might live among the people and maintain a close per-
sonal connection between the farm family and the colleges and the de-
partments of agriculture. ;

The formation of the organizations now known as county Farm
Bureaus, through which the farm adviser might function and by which
the payment of the expenses of maintaining the work might be in-
sured, naturally followed the coming of the farm advisers. The
federation of these county Farm Bureaus into state organizations, and
of the state federations into the American Farm Bureau Federation,
was a very natural development. ‘The state and national federations

170

THE EXTENSION SERVICE 171

are primarily representative and promotional organizations, through
which farm people may be represented before legislative assemblies and
in conferences with other organized business interests; and by which
economic laws affecting the business of farming may be studied, and
the development of cooperative and private enterprises which will
work for the good of farm people and of all the people, may be pro-
moted.

In this connection, after nearly ten years of service as farm ad-
viser in two corn-belt states, during which time I have myself done
some buying and selling for Farm Bureau members, it is my firm con-
viction that it is a mistake for the Farm Bureau as such to enter into
purely merchandising enterprises, where the object is to save money
rather than to do the work as a necessary part of a program
planned to build up a permanent agriculture. It is a mistake also to
use Farm Bureau membership fees as working capital in any buying
and selling enterprise; in any purchasing done for the Farm Bureau
members, the selling price should be enough above the cost to pay the
overhead expense. In other words, the Farm Bureau membership
fees should be used to maintain educational and promotional work for
the members and not to pay the overhead of business enterprises.
Neither should the time of the farm adviser be taken from what I
would call the legitimate work of the Extension Service and of the
Farm Bureau.

In considering the future of the Extension Service, three de-
veloping conditions may well be brought to your attention.

POTENTIAL LEADERS ON Our Farms

During the past quarter of a century several forces have been
at work which have gradually developed a vast army of potential
leaders on the farms of Illinois. Hundreds of graduates of the Col-
lege of Agriculture are now on the farms. Six years ago, when Farm
Bureau work was begun in Woodford county, there were only two
or three men on the farms of the county who were graduates of agri-
cultural colleges, whereas now there are ten or a dozen of them.
One is president of the Farm Bureau, and one who had two years
of college work is president of the county farmers’ institute. A home
economics graduate is president of the women’s division of the
farmers’ institute.

The winter short courses have been the means of inspiring other
hundreds of men and women to study their work and to fit them-
selves to take places of leadership in their communities. The Illinois

172 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

Farmers’ Institute has been a tremendous force which has inspired
thousands of farm people and helped to develop in them the qualities
of leadership. ‘The president of the Illinois Agricultural Association
stated publicly a few days ago that he first became interested in organ-
ized agricultural work when he was asked to assist the corn judge at
a farmers’ institute fifteen years ago. ‘The Grange has helped in
many localities to develop some of the strongest leaders in the county
and the state, as well as in the home communities. Chautauqua speak-
ers have led many a farmer and his good wife, and many a boy and
girl, to take a new and greater interest in farm life. These, with
other forces, have developed leaders in nearly every community in
the state.

The development of the Farm Bureau, which, as has been pointed
out, is primarily an extension organization, has been the means of
bringing into activity a great number of these potential leaders. It
has seemed to me during the past year that there is just now a rapid
increase in the number of men and women who are taking their places
as leaders in community, county, and state work. How this active
and potential leadership may be utilized in the Extension Service of
the near future will be considered later in connection with another
condition which has gradually been developing.

THE GROWING APPRECIATION OF SPECIALISTS

The same influences which have been at work developing the
active and potential leadership in every community in Illinois have
tended to create in the minds of the same people a respect for the
work and the opinions of specialists. “The college student who has
come to realize, during a thoro course of study, the tremendous amount
of labor and the thousands of soil tests made by Dr. Hopkins and
his associates and successors, has a real regard for the statements of
fact and of opinion by the soil specialists of the University of Illinois.
The student of animal diseases who learns of the years of patient
study and the thoro tests made by those men who discovered and
developed the serum-virus preventive treatment for hog cholera will
listen to or read with respect statements made by the same and other
specialists regarding the control of other live-stock diseases, and he
will not hesitate to follow those suggestions in his own farming
operations.

The short course student who learns that the score card for corn
by which he is taught to select his seed is the condensed conclusion
regarding the best size and shape and condition of kernels and ears

THE EXTENSION SERVICE 173

as determined by thousands of field trials in several corn-belt states,
is not only ready to go home and select his own seed accordingly but
he is also ready to accept other recommendations from recognized
specialists regarding seed selection and along other lines. The farmer
or his wife who, after attending a poultry culling demonstration put
on by the farmers’ institute or the Farm Bureau, selects his own flock
of hens carefully and arranges his poultry house and provides the
feed and care as suggested by the poultry specialist, to find later that
his net income has been doubled and trebled, is ready to read with a
responsive mind the statements of other specialists regarding other
lines of work.

Looking back over fifteen years of service in state and county
extension work, I have a very definite feeling that there is now a
rapidly developing belief in, and a growing demand for, the advice
of specialists along all lines which have to do with the science and the
economics of both farming and home making.

A GROWING APPRECIATION OF THE PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE GAINED
BY FARM EXPERIENCE

During the recent rapid development of the Extension Service,
extension workers have brought to the attention of the public so
many instances of valuable practises that have been developed gradu-
ally, through the years, on individual farms and in communities, that
there is now a rapidly growing realization that some of the best
lessons regarding the art of agriculture are to be learned out on the
farms of the country.

The announcement made this past year by the United States
Department of Agriculture of the method of sanitary production of
pork, known as the ‘““McLean county system of swine sanitation,” was
preceded five years by the publication of the results of studies made
by the Department of Farm Organization and Management of the
University of Illinois, on the farms of pork producers in central
Illinois. In these studies it was shown that the men who raised and
fed their pigs on fresh legume pastures were able to produce pork for
forty to sixty per cent less cost per pound than were those who kept
their pigs in old dry-lots and small, long-used, blue-grass pastures.
The difference was then attributed largely to the superior value of
the green legume forage as a feed, but recent developments would
indicate that much of the difference was doubtless due to the better
sanitary conditions. But regardless of why those men were getting
more economic returns for their capital and labor, the fact remains

174 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

that the farm management studies showed how they were doing their
work to increase their profits; and the Extension Service, farm
papers and farmers’ institute workers carried the story of their suc-
cess to thousands of other farmers, many of whom profited by the
example. About twenty years ago, out in Missouri, an unknown
farmer split a log in two, made a sled of it and dragged it sideways
up and down the road along his farm. His success in maintaining
a serviceable road was noticed, and the King split-log drag became
known throughout the country. Out of its use has been developed the
patrol maintenance of dirt and gravel roads, which bids fair to
revolutionize road-building methods in the corn belt.

I hope that reference to work in which I have had a part will be
pardoned. I will use it here because it illustrates this point so well.
In the Woodford county corn test, in which seed corn submitted by
one hundred and twenty men was planted in comparative field trials
for three consecutive years, those men who had followed most
closely the recent teachings of the utility seed corn specialists gradu-
ally increased their corn yields until their seed was among the twenty
per cent most productive. ‘This shows the value of following the
advice of specialists. It is also true, however, that the seed entered in
the test by a few men who had been selecting seed for many years along
lines developed by themselves, their fathers, and their grandfathers,
far outclassed in yielding power that brought in by those other men.
Two brothers about sixty years of age, who had learned forty years
ago from their father how to select seed, and who had never attended
a college, an institute, or a short course, had some of the highest
yielding corn. ‘The son of one of these men had one of the best lots
of seed in the test. “This test shows, therefore, that while we may
well listen to the specialist, we may well watch, too, for those
profitable practises which are often to be found out on the farms of
men who have been doing things, intuitively perhaps, in a way that is
superior to the plans suggested by the results of any scientific study
which has yet been made.

THE FUTURE OF THE EXTENSION SERVICE

If these conditions, which have been pointed out as really to
exist are facts, then they have a very definite bearing on the future ex-
tension policy of our state. I believe that one of the most valuable
functions of the Extension Service in the future will be to develop
local leaders and give them work to do. Let us encourage those who
have organizing ability, and help them to organize the community

THE EXTENSION SERVICE 175

club, the grange, the rural church, and the community school in order
that they may render the great service which such community organ-
izations elsewhere are rendering and may continue to render. Some
can write. Let us help them to get together the facts being discovered
by our investigators, and the records of successful practises that are
being evolved on our farms, and encourage them to write articles and
news notes for the local papers and the agricultural press. Some of
the most effective writing being done today for the local and general
press is that contributed by men and women on the farms. Some
people are naturally good speakers. Let us use them. ‘They are
needed in all these local organizations, to furnish information con-
cerning the scientific and economic principles which have to do with
successful farm work and satisfying farm life, as well as to explain
simple farm practises which will make farming more profitable and
farm life more happy.

I believe that in the future much more of the work of the county
farm adviser could well be devoted to finding these potential leaders
with their varying talents and helping them to organize for work.
The collecting of facts and the putting of them into shape for these
local leaders to use may well be a greater part of the farm adviser’s
work than it has been in the past. It may be hard for some of us who
have been doing much of the organizing and writing and speaking to
turn it over to others; but my best judgment tells me that he who suc-
cessfully does that will multiply the effectiveness of the extension ser-
vice in his county many times over.

In my judgment the growing desire for the advise of specialists
will call for the employment of more of them in our State Extension
Service. With a clientele of from one thousand to three thousand
farmers, each of whom expects specialized service of some kind, the
farm adviser is utterly unable to render the satisfactory service which
was possible when he was working with three or four hundred people.
This great increase in the number of interested people, and their grow-
ing belief in the specialist, make it imperative that more men and
women trained along special lines be provided to go out into the
counties and communities to carry to the receptive people the informa-
tion which they desire.

While I believe that the scientific study of soil problems, of the
principles of plant and animal breeding, of economic laws, etc., will
carry us further, years hence, than any one has yet gone, experiences
of the past lead me to believe that there are men on the farms all over
Illinois who have gone further, intuitively perhaps, along many lines
than the most thoro scientific study has yet taken us.

176 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

While I believe that a satisfactory program for agricultural de-
velopment demands increased funds and more people to be devoted
to the discovery of unknown scientific truths, I believe just as fully
that the most efficient extension service in the near future will be that
which provides for a more systematic study of farm practises than has
been undertaken in the past, in order to find those which are worth
disseminating. There should be strong currents of information com-
ing in from the farms through a branch of the Extension Service, to
our institutions of learning, where they may be summarized and vital:
ized and sent out again through the Extension Service to thousands
of other farmers throughout the state.

In conclusion, let us picture in our minds a plan of extension
service based on the developing conditions as here stated. ‘The State
Extension Service will continue to reach out over the state, through
the county farm advisers, who will in the future more than in the
past be county directors of agriculture, working for the interests of
agriculture through the Extension Service of the University and
through the Farm Bureau. The Farm Bureau will confine its ac-
tivities to educational, promotional, and representative work. As
county director of agriculture, the farm adviser will devote his time
more fully to the development and organization of local leaders and
to bringing to his people the services of specialists along all lines.

The State Extension Service will provide more and more spec-
ialists along all lines affecting farm work and farm life, and will de-
vote considerable necessary attention to maintaining the organization
necessary to successfully carry the work of the specialists out through
the counties and communities to the individual farm families.

The county Farm Bureau and the county farm adviser will also
-be the means and the agents through which the Extension Service will
operate to find and to draw in many new ideas and practises from the
farms, and send them out to thousands of other people who are ready
to receive and apply them.

SOME NEXT STEPS IN THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE AND
EXPERIMENT STATION

EuGENE DAveNpoRT, Dean of the College of Agriculture

| HE original purpose of the Land Grant Act and its farseeing
promoters was to provide a suitable education for farmers
and “mechanics,” as shopmen were then called. By a
“suitable education” was meant not only information and
training in the subjects directly related to agriculture and
the mechanic arts, but also an education in the relation of
industry to other professions in life, and of artisans to the body politic,
this latter idea being specifically embodied in the phrase, “without
excluding other scientific and classical studies.”

Instruction in the “‘other scientific and classical studies”’ proceeded
successfully from the first, for neither the subject matter nor the
method needed to be different from that adapted to the needs of other
students. History has but one meaning to humanity, and that mean-
ing is the same for the farmer and for the philosopher. ‘The appeal
of literature is as broad as the instincts of the race and the capacities
of the individual and, outside of those who make literature a profes-
sion, it is not influenced by occupation. ‘The facts of nature are abid-
ing truths, and while they may be put to different uses by different
people of varied occupations, yet there is a vast body of knowledge
common to all peoples and fundamental to all needs.

Instruction in these fields of knowledge, therefore, encountered
no special problems peculiar to their association with agriculture, but
not so much could be said as to the technical subjects bearing directly
upon the profession of farming. With the early attempts to teach
the technical portion of an agricultural education, it became clearer
with every passing year that farming had not yet risen above the
status of an art and that an art which depends for its successful prac-
tise upon so many and so varied local conditions as does farming is
practically unteachable in college.

THE COMING OF THE EXPERIMENT STATION

Accordingly, in the late eighties the appeal was made to Congress
for a supplementary act endowing agricultural research, in order that
agencies might be provided for the discovery of something really
tangible, to be elaborated into teaching form. So was the Experiment

177

178 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

Station established—not as an accessory but as a foundation in this
newest attempt at education for the practical professions of life. So it
was that research in agriculture was established in order to make
successful teaching possible, its employment as a means of advancement
for agriculture in general being a much later development.

The broader view of agriculture as a national industry, and the
use of research for its general advancement, did not occur to the
minds of even the most advanced thinkers until about the opening of
the present century, when the findings of science within the field of
farming began to make it clear that research could do something more
than explain to students why certain practises are successful. For a
score of years now it has been clear that investigation and experimenta-
tion, indeed the very broadest conception of research, is capable not
only of explaining agricultural practise but also of rationalizing it
and advancing it; in other words, of developing the business and the
life of farming, not only from the individual, but from the commu-
nity, the state, and even the national point of view.

Stated in terms of logic, this is the day of the inductive method.
We are vastly concerned now about the many major premises with
which we are doing business. We are not so credulous as were our
ancestors. We have more tools to work with, more tests of supposed
truths, and we realize more than they could realize the untoward con-
sequences of proceeding upon false or inadequate assumptions. “The
fact is that we have only begun the vast undertaking of interrogating
nature about this matter of agriculture, and to stop now or even
slacken effort would be of all forms of folly the most foolish. If we
be wise, therefore, we shall continue to prosecute our inquiries into
the mysteries of agriculture and its relations, linking close together
those three manifestations of the same service—research, teaching,
and extension. And in doing that we shall, without abandoning any
of the old methods of inquiry, make use of certain new tools of our
trade lying ready to hand but hitherto not much employed.

Chemistry has served us well; indeed until almost the present
day it has been about the only science that has been particularly fruit-
ful of results along agricultural lines. We shall continue to use it,
and it is no flight of fancy to predict that what has been found by the
chemist in the past is but a tithe of what awaits his achievement in the
future. But we must harness other agencies—physics, for example.
Undoubtedly we feed the young mainly for body building, but we feed
the horse as we stoke the boiler or furnish gasoline to the motor—
for the energy that may be developed. ‘To be sure, the horse operates
his own repair shop with highly skilled mechanicians, but we keep

SOME NEXT STEPS 179

him and we feed him for the power he can exert, exactly as we keep
and feed the engine or the motor.

There is, for want of a better term, what might be called a
dynamic element in agricultural science that has been too long
neglected. We recognize this quantitative element in function in the
different degrees of vitality in germinating seeds; in what is called
spirit or nervous energy in certain individual animals; in what Cope
called growth force in individuals and in species whereby some indi-
viduals outdistance others and some species enjoy a constantly accel-
erated development, as in the evolution of the modern horse from
a five-toed ancestor about the size of a jack rabbit. ‘The same phe-
nomenon is manifested also in the typical termination to growth by
which an arm or a leg stops growing at the proper point while hair
and skin continue to grow as long as life lasts, and regeneration of
injured tissues is well-nigh universal. ‘These are important questions
not yet touched by our investigators.

When physics shall have made its contribution to agricultural
research, we shall know more than we do now about the tension of
films upon soil particles as affecting drainage, irrigation, and trans-
location, and upon the fat globules of milk in its relation to the
ripening of cream and the churning of butter. We shall then be
enlightened about those vast and complicated transformations of
energy that accompany the tearing down of the structure of our foods
and the building up of those complicated compounds on which animal
and human activity depend. ‘Then we shall no longer begin our
chapters on nutrition by the absurd statement that the first object of
feeding is to “keep up the body temperature,” which is a resultant,
not a prerequisite of physiological activity.

The biological sciences lie at the base of agricultural production,
but it is not too much to say that until a very recent date their
contribution has been slight outside the fields of breeding and of
communicable disease.

For example, it did not help the farmer much to be told that what
he has all along called wheat is really Triticum sativum. He was
ready enough to believe it, but what earthly use could he make of
this strictly botanical information evolved for classification purposes ?
It helped him but little more to be told that the berry is really a
fruit, tho it was news indeed because from boyhood up he had asso-
ciated fruits with things juicy and good to eat out of hand. And so
it was that “glumes” and “culms” and “inflorescence” went into
the intellectual scrap bag along with “plumule,” “embryo,” and

180 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
“yradiolaria,”’ as interesting but not valuable agricultural information
coming out of the biological era given mainly to classification.

But as botany and zoology emerged from a study of form to a
consideration of structure and finally of function, then it was that
the biological sciences began to vitalize agriculture almost exactly
in proportion as they vitalized themselves.

And now at last we are at the threshold of a scientific study of
that wilderness of function that we call physiology. It is that form
of science which studies systematically what living things do as well
as how they are constructed. It studies them alive and in action
rather than depending, as we have too much depended, upon killing
the thing in order to count its bones.

So is physiology at last coming into its own after a generation or
two of practical neglect, while scientists largely have been following
the lead of chemistry or have switched off into one of the by-roads
known as evolution, plant breeding, genetics, or the study of diseases
and their control. ‘These subjects are all exceedingly useful but they
are all branches of the main stem, which concerns itself with the way
in which living things perform their normal functions day by day and
the conditions necessary to successful growth—which, after all, is
our principal agricultural problem, especially in crop production.

The successful growth of crops depends much upon new and
better varieties, especially those that are resistant to disease; but it
depends even more upon a better knowledge of the sensitive periods
of each particular species and the attending conditions of soil and
climate best suited to its production. Valuable as are the vitamines,
important as is the rule of the amino acids, there is yet even greater
significance in those vital activities which do not lend themselves to
chemical analysis but must be studied by direct methods brought to
bear upon the animal or the plant at work and discharging its normal
function.

‘THE CONTRIBUTION FROM ECONOMICS

Slowly, haltingly, almost apologetically, has the great science of
economics at last been recognized as able to contribute something to
agricultural advancement.

Agriculture as a great productive industry has always figured
large in the accounting of the economist. In peace it is one of the
basic industries, whether considered as a source of wealth or as a
reliable element in commerce and the balance of trade. In war it
often turns the tide of battle, and as history abundantly demonstrates,
it is the products of the land that decide the final fate of nations.

SOME NEXT STEPS 181

Agriculture, therefore, has always been recognized as of high
economic, social, and political consequence. But with few exceptions
the economist, like the physicist, has pretty much let agriculture alone
as a subject of study for its own sake. As a consequence, this great
industry has not much profited by the intelligent application of well-
known economic principles, nor have farmers as a class much en-
joyed the benefits of instruction in economic theory and the well-
known facts of broad human experiences in business relations.

The result has been that while here and there a few among the
many students of agriculture have done the best they could in a
pioneer manner, in acquiring in a kind of second-hand and rather
belated fashion something of a knowledge of economics as a kind of
top graft upon a technical training in agronomy, horticulture, animal
husbandry, or what not; yet the world awaits a generation of men
trained from the bottom up in the application of the essential prin-
ciples of economics to the serious business of farming and its relation
to the world of commerce and finance, in which it forms so large
a part and upon which the prosperity of the farmer so largely depends.
We need new agricultural specialists trained to think in terms of
economics.

One of the results of these coming economic studies will be a
clearer conception on the part of the public of the difference between
agriculture as a great national industry and farming as an individual
occupation. As a national industry, it ranks with other great produc-
ing enterprises, and the value and variety of the product is the thing
in mind. As an individual occupation, it is intensely human.

From the individual point of view, agriculture is different from
other producing industries in three essential respects:

First: The unit is exceedingly small and the turnover slow as
compared with the managerial ability required and the capital invested.

Second: To the individual and his family, farming is a mode
of life as well as a business, because the home is intimately involved
with the producing plant.

Third: In general, the occupancy of the land changes about once
every twenty years and much more rapidly than the ownership. That
is to say, the life of the farmer is much shorter than the life of the
citizen, and this involves difficult questions of ownership.

Because these things are so, an agriculture may be very prosperous
to the country at large while very unprosperous, even oppressive, to
a very large share of the citizens engaged in actual production. This
is what has given rise to the recent demands for better credit systems,

182 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

by which is meant systems which individual farmers can use; and it
requires no prophet’s vision to predict that one of the chief concerns
of a thinking public in this country is to provide ways for retaining
upon the land the largest possible proportion of home-owning and
home-building citizens.

This is a task never yet successfully performed by any country;
and it is the chief problem concerning a self-governing people, because
agriculture is about the only remaining industry engaging the atten-
tion of large numbers of people in which the individual is necessarily
an enterpriser and in which all the family can take part: which is only
another way of saying that it is the only occupation involving large
numbers, which, by its nature, breeds resourcefulness and individual
independence. ‘These matters must all enter into and characterize
the coming task of the College and Station.

The greatest immediate menace to agricultural welfare and to
the proper development of any state is a growing degree of irresponsi-
ble tenantry in which the owner and the tenant conspire to operate
the farm for immediate results at the expense both of fertility and of
typical American country life. ‘This is the impending danger to the
future of Illinois, and adequate plans for transferring ownership of
farm homes from one generation to the next by a proper system of
long-term credits is one of the chief problems of the commonwealth.
This, too, calls for scientific investigation and treatment.

The fact must not be overlooked, at a time like this, that a great
struggle is developing the world over between the country and the
town. ‘This struggle arises from the fact that while the farmer works
for what the economist calls ‘‘goods,’”—corn, wheat, horses, cattle,
hogs,—the city works for money, the capitalist for profit, and the
laborer for what he calls a living. One consequence is to unduly
exalt capital in city enterprise, and another is to lead the laborer to
abandon ideas of thrift and to adopt instead measures designed to
secure the best living obtainable with the least exertion possible, often
without regard to consequences. ‘This false economy is pushed often
to the point of systematic reduction of the results of labor in order
to compel the work to provide as much employment as possible.
Because of these conditions and because of a prevailing confusion
as between money and goods, the whole machinery of city enterprise
operates to inordinately increase the cost of standard necessary com-
modities, not only to the world at large but also and necessarily to the
laborer himself. ‘This is one prime cause of the gulf that is forming
between the country and the town. Such a system is of course bound

SOME NEXT STEPS 183

to break down some time, because the world lives upon goods and
not upon money. It has already broken down in unhappy Russia,
and we have before us there a concrete example of the way in which
such a system will finally return its people to the land for the means
of bare subsistence.

Now to a people in this desperate condition it would be good
bolshevism to nationalize the land and regard it solely as a means
of producing the cheapest possible food, regardless of the home life
it might and ought to support. We even had a beginning of this idea
in our own country lately when a bill was proposed in Congress for
taxing the land for the relief of unemployment. Any movement in
this direction will not only destroy agriculture as a home-making
occupation but it will remove from the people the highest incentive
to labor. A man will work for nothing as he will work for a home
to shelter his wife and little ones. He will work for this as he will
not work even for life itself, and the home-building incentive in this
country must be preserved to the utmost if we would remain a free
and prosperous people. It is to matters of such far-reaching import
as these that our economic studies in colleges and experiment stations
must be directed, as well as to the problems of the individual farmer.

Another cause of the gulf that is forming between the country
and the town lies in the field of credit, and it arises from the fact
that many capitalists fail to appreciate the financial side of farming.
The New York Journal of Commerce, for example, opposes all plans
for long-term credit to farmers upon the ground of its undue absorp-
tion of capital. Under date of December 30, this Journal expresses
itself editorially as follows:

“The credit supply of this country is not something to be dis-
tributed by ‘sections’ or ‘interests.’ . . . It is the joint possession of
the community to be cautiously and soundly used for the benefit and
the assistance of all and to be distributed to those who are in position
not only to employ it for sound and economic purposes but to return
it intact when they agree to do so. ‘This pledge cannot be complied
with by those who wish to use their borrowings for making long-
time investments, or in the carrying of agricultural products on
speculation.”

Repeatedly since that date this journal has given voice in one
form or another to the same contention, entirely ignoring the fact
that upon other pages of the same issue appear advertisements for
and records of transactions in municipal and industrial bonds running
to periods as remote as 1998 and all possible dates between. Agri-

184 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

culture has never asked for long-time credit beyond a period of
thirty-three years, but New York City bonds are handled in the mar-
kets today as gilt-edged securities and with entire approval tho ab-
sorbing credit for more than seventy-five years ahead.

Of course the individual farmer is unable to negotiate a paper
that is bankable and convertible into liquid credit. “The same is true
of the individual citizen of New York or any other city. But col-
lectively both parties are able to execute securities which are easily
marketable, as experience shows, to equal advantage. “The bonds of
the Land Bank are now selling in open market at 102, I believe, and
it does not appear that either these or long-term bonds of any kind
absorb capital in the sense of destroying its usefulness.

The contention of our foremost commercial journal is manifestly
unsound in this matter, not only as to the facts of the case but also
as to the equities; for every intelligent man who is fully informed
knows that agriculture has done its full share in producing the capital
of the country upon which credit rests, and every fair-minded man
will agree that it is entitled in equal proportion to the enjoyment of
its credit needs. From every point of view, the city man has much
to do in closing up the gap between the country and the town, both
in the field of production and in the handling of capital; and he can-
not relegate to himself either the standards of production or the ex-
clusive use of the capital which everybody has helped to produce.

It is contentions like those quoted from the foremost commercial
journal that tend powerfully to the creation of an agricultural bloc,
not only in Congress but among thinking farmers everywhere, con-
siderable numbers of whom are coming to have not a little knowledge
of the principles governing the business activities of a civilized people.
For the good of all, this gulf between the country and the town must
be filled up or bridged over; and the farmer, the business man, and
the laborer must each do his share in so necessary a service.

From every point of view here in the exploration of a field
hitherto considered as exclusively commercial, lies great work for our
agricultural cclleges, not only for the further enlightenment of farm-
ing but for the enlightenment of other professions as well.

THE OUTLOOK

We are to have a new agriculture, if not indeed a new civiliza-
tion, in the Middle West. In the immediate future Chicago will be
an ocean port. We shall not always ship our coal and our wool and

SOME NEXT STEPS 185

our cotton to the extreme northeast corner of the United States for
manufacture, then ship the product back again to the center of popula-
tion, which even now is just across the Indiana line. The Middle
West will not always buy its steel at ‘Pittsburgh plus” when most of
the ore comes from Minnesota and down the lakes to Gary and Joliet.

Dr. Burrill of blessed memory used to speak of Illinois as an
imperial state. And such it is, for it lies at the very center of the
greatest agricultural region of the earth, when land and climate and
people and possibilities are all considered.

She has a people unexcelled ; she has a soil capable of supporting
an immense population, with coal everywhere just under the feet. A
rolling surface presents no obstacles to land transportation; and with
open waterways both to the Atlantic and to the western coast of
South America, the advantages of these natural conditions are obvious.
A boat sailing from Chicago is halfway across the Atlantic when
it emerges from the mouth of the St. Lawrence. ‘The line is almost
direct from Chicago and St. Louis through the Panama Canal to
the west coast of South America, a continent which lies almost
entirely east of Buffalo. If the upper Mississippi valley, therefore,
is at all alive to its possibilities, we shall see in the immediate future
a new agriculture, if not a new civilization, centering in Illinois,
which will then become not only the agricultural but also possibly
the industrial and commercial center of the world. It does not re-
quire the vision of a prophet to foresee in the upper Mississippi Val-
ley a teeming population given to manufacture and trade and sup-
ported and fed by an intelligent and a prosperous farming constituency.

The first steps have been taken in finding ways to make our
agriculture permanent and also comfortable. To make it profitable
we must prosecute assiduously our scientific and economic studies, in
order to furnish the facts upon which our leaders must depend for
successful practise. ‘To make agriculture comfortable we must as
soon as possible enter upon an era of building permanent farm homes,
equipping them with modern conveniences, and surrounding them with
every feasible form of outdoor beauty—real homes where typical
American children can be born and nourished, drinking in with every
breath the spirit of a free and a prosperous, self-governing and self-
directing civilization.

In all this development the University can be especially helpful,
particularly because of the fact that the separate units are in general
too small to engage the interest of professional architects and landscape
gardeners. It can do much by way of inventing and disseminating

186 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

appropriate designs for the farmstead and its plantings and for the
treatment of our rapidly improving highways, and then in arousing
public interest in outdoor art. Illinois must be something besides an
endless stretch of fields bare and brown for a third or a half of the
year; it must develop into an harmonious landscape busy in produc-
tion but restful to the eye and inspiring to the soul. Her highways
must be something more than stone speedways; they can be, indeed
must be, avenues of beauty connecting counties and leading to great
population centers by parks of pleasantness.

Yes, we are to have a new agriculture in the Mississippi Valley.
Shall it be better or worse than the one our pioneer fathers ham-
mered out from the wilderness and slowly evolved from the prairie
and the slough? That is for us to say, for what this new agriculture
shall be like and what shall be the character of the civilization of
which it will be a part will depend very much indeed upon the vision
possessed by our farmers now and in the immediate future. It will
depend also upon the degree of understanding and of cooperation
which can be maintained between thinking citizens, who must take
the lead, and the University, which is the public agent for investigat-
ing the knotty problems continually arising in a rapidly developing
civilization.

The great question is: Shall a state like Illinois drift into its
new development, accepting what the accidental fates deal out, or
shall we, by taking thought, control and direct this development to
some definite ends? By taking thought early and constantly, the citi-
zens can make this development almost what they will. What we
shall be later on will be the result, not of revolution, but of evolution
from what we now are to what we then shall be. ‘The future of
Illinois is in her own hands and there is no limit to what may be
achieved, provided only that she will support, as she has begun to
support, generously the agencies for progress, and provided the Uni-
versity will remember, as it always has remembered, that in all real
development it is the thinking citizen and not his institutions that
must take the lead.

THE PROGRAM
OF THE CONFERENCE

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PROGRAM

Agricultural Conference

University of Illinois

JANUARY 26-27
1922

URBANA, ILLINOIS

HE agriculture of the state is not standing still.

Without intelligent direction, it will drift and
her people become the sport of circumstance.
With early foresight and reasonable attention to
desirable ends, we may with confidence look for-
ward to an agricultural development that will add
enormously to the wealth of the state and to the
welfare of her people.

Any program of development must be based
upon an appreciation of what has been already
accomplished and a vision of possibilities that lie
just ahead. It is to encourage interest in such a
program that this first Agricultural Conference at
the University has been called.

190

Thursday Morning
Fanuary 20
8:30

A QUARTER-CENTURY OF AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS
IN ILLINOIS: A REVIEW OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Mr. FRANK I. Mann, President of the Illinois Farmers’ Institute, presiding.

Greeting

EucENE Davenport, Dean of College of Agriculture

A System of Permanent Agriculture

RautpeH A.Luen, Delavan

Developments in the Dairy Industry

N. W. Hepsurn, Peoria

Developments in Horticulture

J. C. Biatr, Professor of Horticulture

The Work of the Agricultural Experiment Station
L. H. Smiru, Chief in Charge of Publications of the Soil Survey

The Work of the College of Agriculture

Frep H. RANKIN, Superintendent Agricultural College Extension

191

Thursday Afternoon
I:30

NEWER PHASES OF AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS

Honoras_e B. M. Davison, Director State Department of
Agriculture, presiding

Newer Problems in Soil Treatment

FRANK I. MANN, Gilman

Business Aspects of Farming

CuHar.es A. Ewinec, Decatur

The Farm Bureau
E. T. Ropsins, Farm Adviser DeWitt County

The Illinois Agricultural Association

D. O. THompson, Secretary, Chicago

An International Crop Reporting Service

H. J. Sconce, U. S. Delegate to the International Institute of
Agriculture at Rome, Sidell

Financing Farming

J. D. Putturres, Chairman of the Special Committee on Farm Finance,
State Division American Bankers Association, Green Valley

Thursday Evening
Fos0

AGRICULTURE IN ITS RELATION TO OTHER
INTERESTS

DEAN EuGENE DAVENPORT, presiding

The Business of Farming in Some of Its Larger Aspects

Dr. THoMAS NrIxon Carver, Harvard University

The University and the Farm

Dr. Davin KINLEY, President of the University of Illinois

193

Friday Morning

January 27
8:30

NEXT STEPS IN AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN
ILLINOIS: A PROGRAM FOR A BETTER BAL-
ANCED AGRICULTURE

Mr. Cuartes A. Ewin, Decatur, presiding

The Introduction of New Crops

C. L. Menarry, Aftica, Indiana

Farm Forestry in Illinois
A. N. Assott, Morrison

Can Illinois Come Back as a Stock Breeding Ground?
W. S. Corsa, White Hall

The Outlook for Live Stock in Illinois Agriculture

H. W. Mumrorp, Professor of Animal Husbandry, and Director of
Live Stock Marketing, Illinois Agricultural Association

Roadside Improvement
W. N. Rupp, Blue Island

The Country Home
J. V. STEVENSON, Streator

Discussion

194

Friday Afternoon
1:30

THE PLACE OF THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE AND
EXPERIMENT STATION IN AN ILLINOIS PRO-
GRAM FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

Dr. Davin KINLEY, President University of Illinois, presiding

Physiological Bases of Crop Production
W. L. Buruison, Professor of Crop Production

Economic Phases of Farming

W. F. HanpscuHin, Professor of Farm Organization and Management

The Agricultural Extension Service

M. L. Mosuer, President National Association of Farm Advisers, Eureka

Some Next Steps in the Work of the Agricultural College and Ex-
periment Station

EUGENE DAVENPORT

Discussion

195

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

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