be kept at the lowest possible figure. The force engaged in the work has never been sufficiently large to cope adequately with the disease and the reduction of funds has aggravated the situation.

The eradication of the cattle tick in the South continues to progress, the results in the different sections depending largely upon. State, county, and local support. Fifty thousand five hundred and fifty-five square miles have been released this year from Federal quarantine, making a total of 509,080 square miles since the work was begun in 1906.

FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE.

In addition to the task of suppressing animal diseases in this country, the department is responsible for the protection of the livestock industry against the introduction of nearly a score of serious foreign live-stock diseases. One of the most infectious and dangerous of these is foot-and-mouth disease, which exists nowhere in the United States at the present time, but is a constant menace because of the facility with which it may be carried by animals, hides, and various live-stock products. The importance of prompt action in eliminating any centers of infection whenever they develop emphasizes the necessity of providing an adequate "insurance" fund, available for immediate use. Such a fund, to be used only in case of actual outbreaks, has been carried in the Agricultural appropriation act for several years. The appropriation was reduced by $950,000 at the last session of Congress, leaving an amount which is entirely inadequate to cope with serious outbreaks. While, through good fortune, no outbreak has thus far occurred during the current fiscal year, it would certainly be the part of wisdom to make liberal provision for dealing with this dangerous disease whenever it appears, and the department, therefore, has recommended in its estimates for the fiscal year 1922 that the appropriation be restored to its former figure.

IMPROVEMENT OF CROP AND LIVE-STOCK PRODUCTION.

The elimination or control of insects and diseases affecting both plants and animals, as well as of other limiting factors, is highly essential if we are to maintain our present agricultural production. But to increase the efficiency of our farms still further requires, among other things, the development of superior plants, the improvement of cultural methods and practices, and the breeding of better animals.

The development of improved crop plants, through breeding, selection, and in other ways, has almost limitless possibilities and has received a great deal of attention both from the Department of Agriculture and the State experiment stations. It is exceedingly difficult to state accurately, in terms of dollars and cents, the value of funda

mental work of this sort, but unquestionably it is tremendous. The efforts to develop improved varieties of corn, which have been under way for 20 years or more, have probably increased production by one-fourth. Improved wheats have added greatly to the wheat yield, and it is only necessary to mention Marquis, Kanred, Early Baart, and the new wheats of the Washington Experiment Station to realize their importance. Better potatoes have been a great factor in the production of the crop, and new varieties at present under test indicate that they mark a notable advance. The development of early velvet beans multiplied the acreage tenfold in three years, and high-yielding superior lint cottons, such as Meade, Acala, Durango, Trice, and Columbia, are of inestimable value. The recently developed Victor cowpea is far superior to any previously known. Similar, but perhaps less striking, results have been secured with most of our important crop plants, and illustrate clearly what will, without doubt, continue to be a fruitful field of activity for a large corps of investigators.

VALUABLE NEW PLANTS INTRODUCED.

A somewhat similar line of work is the search for and introduction, acclimatization, and adaptation of new crop plants. Some of the results in this field are spectacular, indeed almost romantic. Alfalfa, a native of Central Asia, brought into the Western States in about 1854, has become in a generation almost the basic crop of the West. The sorghums are the basis of the great agricultural development of the semiarid Southwest. Japanese rices, secured in 1899, were the foundation of the great rice industry of Louisiana and Texas. The Washington Navel orange, introduced from Brazil in 1872, makes up the bulk of the California orange industry, producing a crop valued at approximately $16,000,000 a year. Durum wheat, introduced in 1899 from Russia, now produces a crop worth $50,000,000 annually. Egyptian cotton, brought in by scientists of the department in 1901, has become the basis of a long-staple cotton industry in the Southwest valued at $6,000,000 in 1917, $11,000,000 in 1918, and $20,000,000 in 1919. The culture of dates in California and Arizona is already a thriving business, which is expanding rapidly and will, in the near future, have impressive value. Sudan grass, introduced in 1909 from Egypt, is now worth over $10,000,000 annually. Feterita, secured in 1906 from Egypt, produced in 1918 a crop valued at $16,000,000. Over 1,000 varieties of soy beans have been introduced from China and other parts of the Orient. From these the experts of the department have, after careful tests, selected eight of the best varieties, which are now largely cultivated and are an important element in the very rapid increase in soy bean production. Peruvian alfalfa, introduced in 1899, is by far the most productive and valuable variety for the Southwest.

THE SEARCH FOR GRASSES.

Scientists are convinced that there are still great possibilities in the search for new crops, especially for plants that are cultivated little, if at all, in their native countries. Perhaps this is most strikingly exhibited in grasses, many of which have been introduced accidentally. Thus bluegrass, white clover, redtop, timothy, and many others which came originally from Europe make up nearly all the grass lands of the north; and Bermuda grass from India, carpet grass from the West Indies, Dallis grass from Argentina, and lespedeza from Asia have performed a similar rôle in the South. California's pastures consist mainly of species from the Mediterranean region, such as alfilaria, bur clover, wild oats, wild barley, and numerous others. There are undoubtedly in Central Asia many species which, if properly selected and introduced, will add greatly to the carrying capacity of the western ranges, aside from what can be accomplished by rational range management. From this region came alfalfa and sweet clover, both important in the West. There is every reason to believe, also, that good grasses and legumes can be found for the cutover lands of the South, and thus prepare the way for the further development of the live-stock industry in that section. It is impossible to bring in new grasses or other valuable crop plants from remote and almost inaccessible parts of the world without sending properly trained explorers, and larger funds for this work are needed.

IMPROVED CULTURAL METHODS AND PRACTICES.

Better tillage and rotations, more rational irrigation, judicious fertilizing, the greater use of legumes, and proper attention to farm layout, distribution of labor, choice and care of farm machinery, and timeliness of operations, all these make for larger yields and consequently reduced costs of production. Our scientific understanding of these matters is far from adequate. Recently it has been discovered that prompt plowing under of the wheat stubble will completely destroy the Hessian fly and the joint-worm, both serious enemies of wheat. This points to the desirability of a radical change in the ordinary corn-belt rotations. On the other hand, until a rotation that is as good or better can be developed by field investigations, it is manifestly unwise to urge a change. The best rotations are organized around one or more legume crops. It is altogether likely that the failure to secure the full benefits of improved varieties of corn in the corn belt, in spite of increased use of fertilizers, is associated with the steady decline of the acreage of red clover. The restoration of red clover to its former acreage, or the finding of some other satisfactory legume, is of outstanding importance to the Middle West. Unfortunately, the facilities of the department for carrying

out these long and costly investigations to develop better rotations are wholly inadequate.

EFFECT OF DAYLIGHT ON PLANT GROWTH.

A striking and important discovery, made recently by the department, is that plants are remarkably sensitive to changes in the duration of the daylight period, even when all other factors are kept constant. It now seems probable that all regular periodic changes in plants, such as time of blooming, fall of the leaf, the resting period, etc., are naturally regulated by the duration of daily light. This discovery explains many plant reactions that have long puzzled investigators, such as the totally different behavior of a plant in widely different latitudes. Thus, by regulating the length of daily illumination, violets can be made everblooming and poinsettias can be forced to bloom in midsummer. The discovery undoubtedly will be of much value in greenhouse culture, and furnishes the explanation of a number of plant reactions that occur in the field. Hereafter, it must be taken into account in all accurate experimentation with plants.

IMPROVED TYPES OF LIVE STOCK.

The breeding and development of improved types of animals offers possibilities at least equal to those involved in the breeding and selection of better crop plants. The campaign now under way for "Better Sires Better Stock" is producing excellent results. Its purpose is to bring about the elimination of scrub stock from our herds, thus increasing their producing capacity. It costs as much to raise a poor animal as it does a good one, and more to keep it, so that better live stock makes for increased production and greater profits. The improvement which can be made in a herd with a pure-bred male is startling. If a pure-bred sire is kept throughout, the first generation would be one-half pure blood, the second three-fourths, the third seven-eighths, the fourth fifteen-sixteenths, and the fifth thirty-one thirty-seconds, or practically pure bred.

A concrete example of the importance of quality may readily be estimated from the slaughter records of animals. In converting cattle into beef, for example, the present average dressing percentage is 53. Poor breeding, without doubt, is a prime cause of this low percentage. Suppose our efforts to improve cattle should, within a reasonable time, raise the general dressing average only 1 per cent—that is, to 55 per cent-what would be the resulting increase in beef? On the basis of a total annual production of 7,000,000,000 pounds, which is the average dressed-beef production for the last two years, the increase would be 200,000,000 pounds a year. This is far from being a negligible quantity; in fact, it just equals our average

annual exports of beef products for the last 10 years, including, of course, the war period.

BUILD UP OUR DAIRY HERDS.

Pure-bred or grade dairy cows frequently earn for their owners from 25 to 100 per cent more than the returns received from scrubs. In a typical case, heifers sired by pure-bred bulls surpassed their dams, which were ordinary cows, by 64 per cent in milk production and 52 per cent in butter fat. The second generation produced more than twice as much butter fat and milk as the original animals. The United States holds sixth place among 14 prominent countries in the average yield of milk per dairy cow, being excelled by the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, and Canada. Our ability to produce scores of cows which yield more than 20,000 pounds of milk a year is ample proof that our national production of less than 4,000 pounds per year per animal is, in the last analysis, a reflection of inattention and average lack of applied skill. The dairy cow is a good example-probably the best-because her production is so readily measured and because there is so much uniform evidence in various countries. But the same principle and similar facts apply with equal force to horses, hogs, sheep, poultry, and other farm .animals.

The experimental and other work of the department, having for its purpose the development and improvement of our live stock, covers a wide range, including dairy farming, hog raising, horse breeding, beef production, sheep raising, poultry production, methods of feeding under regional conditions, and the general principles of breeding and heredity. This work is of fundamental importance and should be further developed.

UTILIZATION OF SURPLUS AND WASTE PRODUCTS.

Along with the work of controlling diseases and insect pests, of introducing and developing better plants, of working out improved cultural methods and practices, it is essential that processes be worked -out for converting perishable farm products into commodities which can be carried from the season of plenty to the season when they are actually needed. The fact that they can not now be so carried frequently results in the marketing at one time of larger quantities than can be disposed of profitably, and demoralization of the market follows, with consequent loss to the farmers. Industries founded upon the utilization of surplus farm products would be of tremendous value in meeting this problem.

The Bureau of Chemistry has accomplished some important results along this line in recent years. On the basis of its investigations, for example, there has been developed a citrus by-products in