THE AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS
_The purpose of this chapter is to show the large part which
agriculture plays in the life of the country and to discuss briefly
some of the problems of agriculture today._
=Importance of American Agriculture.=—Agriculture has always been the
most important single industry in the United States. [Sidenote: The
crops in earlier days.] It was at one time practically the sole
occupation of the people; even today it directly or indirectly engages
the attention of more than half the adult male workers of the country.
In colonial days the chief task of the people was to raise a food supply
sufficient for themselves. Corn was their principal crop, the colonists
having learned from the Indians the methods of cultivating it. Corn had
the advantage of being well suited to the soil and climate; besides it
grows well even in partially cleared land. But in colonial days and even
for a time after the Revolution the country did not produce much grain
beyond its own needs. The production of large quantities for export came
with the opening up of the great agricultural areas of the West.
[Sidenote: 1. Mixed farming.]
=Types of Agricultural Activity.=—American agriculture has developed,
during the past three hundred years, in five or six different
directions. The earliest settlers in the northern colonies devoted
themselves to general or mixed farming, in other words to the raising of
grain, hay, and cattle on the same tract of land. This was because the
environment and needs of the northern region alike favored this method.
Mixed farming has continued to be the mainstay of agriculture east of
the Alleghenies; in some measure it has spread to other parts of the
country as well.
[Sidenote: 2. Staple or plantation farming.]
A second type of agriculture, almost from the very outset, made progress
in the South. This involved the raising of certain staple products, such
as rice, tobacco, sugar, and cotton on large plantations. The soil,
climate, and general environment of the southern colonies all lent
themselves to this type of agriculture and it eventually spread itself
over the whole region. Cotton in time out-stripped the other staples and
became king of the whole South. This was largely because the invention
of the cotton gin, an appliance for removing the seeds from the fibre,
greatly reduced the cost of preparing cotton for the market. The
scarcity of free labor to work these great plantations led to the
importation of negro slaves and the institution of slavery had a
profound effect upon the subsequent course of American history. Since
the emancipation of the negroes, the plantation system has remained
although many of the larger tracts have been broken up into small
holdings.
[Sidenote: 3. Cereal growing.]
The opening of the Middle West and Mississippi Valley brought in a third
form of agricultural activity, namely, the production of cereals (such
as corn, wheat, oats, rye, and barley) on great tracts of prairie land.
This form of agricultural production received a great impetus from the
invention of labor-saving machinery, notably the power-reaper. The
region of extensive cereal production today includes the Middle West,
the Northwest, and the Mississippi Valley, making the richest
grain-growing area in the world.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
_LAND REGIONS
OF THE
UNITED STATES._
]
LAND REGIONS OF THE UNITED STATES
The great geographical regions of the United States
are indicated by this map. Starting from the East we
have the Atlantic Plains and, just behind them, the
Eastern Plateaus running north and south. Then
come the Appalachian Mountains and the Allegheny
Plateaus, followed, still further westward, by the
Lake Plains, the Prairie Plains, and the Great
Plains. Southward, fringing the Gulf of Mexico, are
the Gulf Plains. To the far west are three great
land regions, namely, the Rocky Mountain area, the
Western Plateaus, and the Pacific Slope.
This map should be used in connection with Question
1 (page 354).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Sidenote: 4. Cattle raising.]
As the frontier rolled westward to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains
a fourth type of agriculture—using the term in its wider sense—began to
make rapid strides. This was the stock-raising industry, the production
of horned cattle and sheep on large tracts of grazing land or ranches.
This branch of agricultural activity has made its greatest progress in
the Middle Southwest and upon the upland states just east of the Rockies
(Montana, Wyoming, etc.). Cattle are raised on the ranches, then shipped
to the corn belt where they are fattened before being sent to the
abattoirs at St. Louis and Chicago.[156]
[Sidenote: Miscellaneous activities.]
Other branches of agriculture which have developed largely within the
past half century are dairying, market gardening, and fruit growing.
These activities are not confined to any one section of the country but
to a considerable extent are carried on everywhere. Dairying and market
gardening have made most progress within convenient distance of the
large cities, although improved transportation facilities in the way of
air-cooled and refrigerator cars now permit the shipment of dairy and
garden produce over long distances.
From all this it can be seen that when one speaks of the interests of
agriculture a great many different things are included. The agriculture
of the United States is diversified to an extent that is found in no
other country.
[Sidenote: Size of the various crops.]
=The Value of American Agricultural Products.=—The largest cereal crop
produced in the United states is corn; the total in some years runs as
high as three billion bushels. This is more than twice the amount of
corn grown in all the rest of the world. Oats come next, with about one
and one-half billion bushels in the best years, and wheat third, with a
round billion or thereabouts. Cotton is the largest staple crop, with an
annual yield of from ten to fifteen billion bales, each bale containing
five hundred pounds. Of this nearly half is exported. More than twelve
million cattle are received each year at the great abattoirs, besides an
equal number of sheep and twice as many hogs.
The value of this enormous agricultural production, if stated in dollars
and cents, would be misleading because prices change from year to year;
the fluctuations are often considerable within a very short period of
time.[157] But in any case the contribution which agriculture makes to
the yearly income of the nation is enormous. Upon it the national
prosperity depends in a very great measure.
[Sidenote: How the war stimulated American food production.]
=American Agriculture and the War.=—American agriculture had a very
important part in winning the World War. As this great struggle
progressed the task of providing food for the Allied armies and for the
civilian populations became month by month more difficult. Men were
drawn off the farms of Europe to fight and the fields went uncultivated;
practically the whole of Belgium and a considerable part of France were
in the hands of the enemy; no supplies could be drawn from remote parts
of the world such as Australia, South America, or the Far East because
the available ships were needed to carry troops and munitions; so the
American farmer had to speed up production in order to save the
situation. When America entered the war the Allies had practically
reached the end of their resources in foodstuffs; their populations were
living under a rigid system of food rationing. Under the stimulation of
this great emergency American agriculture rose to the occasion and the
increased production of foodstuffs, together with the savings which were
made through the observance of “wheatless” and “meatless” days enabled
the United States not only to maintain an army of two million soldiers
in France but to contribute largely to the food supplies of the Allied
armies and civilian populations as well. The supply trains which fed the
American army in France (and never on a single day did they fail to
reach the front), started from Kansas City and Chicago, not from Brest
or Havre. The American farmer was the great factor in this service of
supply.
[Sidenote: An example of _increasing returns_.]
=A Peculiarity of Agricultural Production—The Law of Diminishing
Returns.=—There is one fundamental feature in which agriculture differs
from industry. In industry, as a rule, the more labor and capital you
apply the greater the amount of the produce. Many industries, indeed,
are so constituted that by applying additional capital and labor you
obtain more than proportionate returns. Take the book-binding industry,
for example. A small shop, employing three men, might bind and stamp two
hundred books per day at a cost of twenty cents per book. But a large
establishment, employing a hundred workers with modern machinery can
easily put through many thousand books at half the cost per volume. A
manufacturer, if he is wise, finds out what branches of his business are
most profitable. Then he applies more capital and labor in that
direction so as to increase his earnings, and devotes less attention to
the things which cannot be made so profitably. This is known as
production under the _law of increasing returns_.
But in agriculture the situation is quite different. Any farmer or
ranchman will tell you, if you ask him, that some of his land is better
than the rest and yields him greater profit for the capital and labor
applied to it. But if you thereupon suggest to him that he should devote
all his attention to this particular piece of land, and neglect the
rest, he would think very poorly of your intelligence. [Sidenote: An
illustration of _decreasing returns_.] And rightly so, for if he applied
more labor and capital to his best land, he would not be sure of getting
a crop-increase in proportion; on the contrary, he would be quite safe
in saying that, after a certain point, his extra labor and capital would
bring him _less_ than proportionate returns. An investment of ten
dollars per acre may result in a crop of fifteen bushels per acre. It is
very doubtful whether by applying twenty dollars worth of capital and
labor to the land this yield could be doubled and it is quite certain
that it could not be trebled by spending thirty dollars per acre on the
land. In other words, agriculture is carried on, for the most part,
under the _law of diminishing returns_, which may be briefly defined by
saying that, “if at any given time, the amount of labor and capital
applied to agricultural land is increased beyond a certain point, the
increased investment will yield less than proportionate returns”. If
this were not the case, no one would ever cultivate the poorer lands. We
would raise our entire crops from the most fertile tracts. The point at
which the returns will begin to diminish can never be exactly fixed, for
improvements in the methods of agriculture may place it further ahead.
These improved methods also bring into cultivation lands which otherwise
would not be utilized.
=Another Peculiarity of Agriculture—Limitations on Division of
Labor.=—In one other fundamental feature there is a difference between
agriculture and industry. In industry, as will be seen presently, the
individual worker confines his attention to one operation in the process
of production. He does not make a shoe, but only part of a shoe. But in
agriculture, this division of labor cannot be carried so far. [Sidenote:
Why division of labor does not apply to agriculture.] The workers
engaged in agriculture cannot be ploughmen, sowers, reapers, or
threshers only; they must take a hand at all these things when the time
comes. This is because the tasks connected with agriculture change with
the seasons. Agricultural labor must, therefore, be much more versatile
than labor employed in large-scale industry. Most industries, moreover,
are able to run along at an even pace throughout the year, affording
steady employment to a fixed number of workers. But in most forms of
agriculture, the amount of labor required is much greater at some
seasons of the year than at others, thus giving the farmer a labor
problem of great difficulty to contend with.
[Sidenote: The chemical elements in soil.]
=The Exhaustion of the Soil.=—The agricultural production of the country
depends upon the fertility of the soil. Agricultural soil contains
various chemical properties which are exhausted by long-continued
cropping, particularly if only one type of produce is grown. These
chemical elements are, more particularly, nitrogen, phosphorus, and
potash. Some crops draw chiefly upon one of these chemical elements and
some upon the others. Wheat and corn take large amounts of nitrogen from
the soil, while potatoes draw a larger proportion of potash. The
exhaustion of the soil is prevented in two ways, first by rotation of
crops and, second, by the use of fertilizers. Rotation of crops involves
the growing of different products in successive years, such as wheat,
potatoes, and hay. It is not always practicable. [Sidenote:
Fertilization.] Fertilization involves the putting of chemical elements
back into the soil. It may be effected by the use of natural manure or
artificial fertilizers or by ploughing under the soil a green cover
crop. Land retains its fertility to the degree that chemical elements
are conserved in it.
=The Effects of Agricultural Improvements.=—During the past half century
great progress has been made in all the processes of agriculture. The
methods of treating the soil, the types of grain and other produce
grown, the machinery available for use in agriculture, and the general
intelligence with which the lands are cultivated—all have vastly
improved since our grandfathers’ day. [Sidenote: The increased yield of
the soil.] The results are apparent in an increased production. At the
time of the Civil War the yield of wheat throughout the United States
averaged only nine to ten bushels per acre; today it is nearly double
that figure. Good farms and good farmers are now producing twenty-five
bushels of wheat to the acre, sixty bushels of corn, or six hundred
pounds of cotton. Similar progress has been made in the raising of
cattle and in dairying. This has been accomplished by the selection and
breeding of improved stock.
Year by year this improvement continues and it is certain that we have
not yet nearly reached the limit of possibilities. On the highly
fertilized lands of some European countries the wheat yield is as high
as thirty or even forty bushels to the acre. In the case of root crops,
fertilization of the land is an extremely important factor in
production. [Sidenote: Our future possibilities.] One of the great
present-day needs of American agriculture is a better and cheaper supply
of nitrates for fertilizing the land and this has directed attention to
the possibility of manufacturing nitrates in this country instead of
importing them from abroad.[158]
=The United States Department of Agriculture.=—To assist the
agricultural interests of the country a Commissioner [Sidenote: How the
national government helps the farmer.]of Agriculture was appointed by
the national government in 1862, and seven years later this office was
expanded into a Department of Agriculture, with a member of the cabinet
at its head. The work of this department at the present day covers a
wide range. Its more important activities, carried on through various
bureaus, may be summarized as follows: The Bureau of Plant Industry
studies new agricultural methods, endeavors to find improved varieties
of grain and plants, conducts research work on soil fertility, and
devises measures for the extermination of noxious weeds. It has combed
the whole world for new grains and plants likely to thrive in this
country. Its agents go about the country giving talks and demonstrations
to the farmers with a view to educating them in all these matters. The
Bureau of Animal Industry makes investigations into improved methods of
breeding and raising live stock; it studies the problem of preventing
communicable diseases among animals, and has charge of federal meat
inspection. The Bureau of Entomology gathers and publishes information
concerning insects which do harm to crops and cattle. It suggests
methods of exterminating each form of insect pest. In this it has a
giant task, for the ravages of insects like the gypsy moth and orange
thrip are still costing the country millions of dollars per year. The
work of the United States Forest Service, which is in this department,
has already been mentioned. The Weather Bureau’s work is also well
known. It gathers information concerning the weather in all sections of
the country and sends out timely forecasts of probable storms,
heat-waves, frosts, and rainfall for the benefit of agriculture and
navigation. Other bureaus make chemical analyses of soil, water, and
foods, and compile all manner of agricultural statistics. The Department
of Agriculture also maintains, in different parts of the country, sixty
experiment stations, at which new methods are fully tried out before
being recommended.
It will be seen that by far the greater portion of the department’s work
is scientific and educational. Its educational work is carried on not
only by speakers and demonstrators who go about the country, but by the
issue of bulletins and an annual volume known as the department’s Year
Book. This volume, which may be had free of cost, contains more useful
information on agricultural topics than any other book of its sort.
[Sidenote: How the state governments help the farmer.]
=State Encouragement of Agriculture.=—The encouragement of agriculture
has not been left entirely to the national authorities. Most of the
states also maintain departments of agriculture in charge of boards or
commissioners. In most of the states, moreover, state colleges of
agriculture have been established, and these may be attended, usually
without the payment of tuition fees, by any qualified resident of the
state. Short courses of instruction are given in various branches of
agriculture for those who can spend but a few weeks or months at these
agricultural colleges; extension work is carried on and scientific
investigations made. This work has been, to some extent, assisted by
grants of land and money from the national government. The chief
individual factor in bringing both the federal and state agricultural
authorities into touch with the farmers and cattle raisers is the county
agent. He addresses them at their meetings, advises them on all
agricultural matters, and helps them to form agricultural clubs.
=The Problem of Agricultural Credits.=—In agriculture, as in industry
and commerce, a considerable amount of capital is needed. It takes
capital to buy land, to improve it, to obtain machinery and live stock,
to purchase seed, and to pay expenses during the period between seedtime
and harvest. Until recently the agriculturist has been at a
disadvantage, as compared with the manufacturer, in securing this
capital. The banking system of the country was organized mainly to
assist the operations of industry and commerce; there were no special
banks to assist agriculture. [Sidenote: The Federal Farm Loan Banks.] In
1916, however, a system of Farm Loan Banks was established. There are
now twelve such banks situated in as many regions of the country. Their
function is to loan money on the security of agricultural or grazing
land at reasonable rates of interest, the loans to be repaid in
installments over a term of years. This has placed agriculture on an
equality with all other forms of production as regards loans based on
the security of land; but for loans upon the security of cattle, crops,
and other personal property, the agriculturist must still depend upon
the regular banking institutions.
[Sidenote: “Seasonal” character of agriculture.]
=The Problem of Agricultural Labor.=—Mention has already been made of
the fact that agriculture is a “seasonal” occupation to a very large
extent. It is an occupation, moreover, in which the workers cannot at
all times call eight hours a full day’s work. At the busy seasons of
seedtime and harvest the day of the farmer and his helpers is from
before sunrise until after sunset. As a result of these features the
securing of a sufficient labor force at the busy seasons is an
agricultural problem of great and constantly-recurring difficulty. Time
and again it has happened that valuable crops have gone to waste because
men could not be hired to harvest them. During the war years the
scarcity of labor was especially acute and the wages of farm workers
went up very rapidly. It is believed that this problem of getting
sufficient labor might be solved by some organized action such as the
United States government took during 1917-1918, recruiting labor in the
cities, moving them from section to section in accordance with the
demand, and effecting a more even distribution of the available workers.
=Farmers’ Organizations.=—It is harder for farmers to organize than for
men in most other occupations. They live apart from one another; they
are not dependent upon one another to the same extent that townsmen are;
and their manner of life tends to make them individually self-reliant.
In organizing they have, therefore, been much less active than workers
in industry and commerce. Nevertheless there are many farmers’
associations in the United States at the present time and their
membership is steadily increasing. Some of them are co-operative bodies,
organized for the buying, selling, or manufacture of products. Others
are agricultural societies formed for the purpose of holding fairs and
meetings.
[Sidenote: The Grange and the Farmers’ Alliance.]
Two farmers’ organizations of a fraternal and social nature have spread
all over the country. The first is the Patrons of Husbandry, more
commonly known as the Grange. The other is the National Farmers’
Alliance. Between them these two organizations include several million
members. Their main purpose is to promote the social and economic
interests of the agricultural population, but they are also, on some
occasions, active in politics. Farmers’ Institutes, which are being held
under the joint auspices of the national and state agricultural
departments in all sections of the country have also contributed to the
facilities for popular education and recreation. These institutes are
attended by more than two million persons per year.
[Sidenote: The agricultural “bloc.”]
=The Farmer in Politics.=—While the farmers of the United States do not
possess a political organization of their own they are able through the
various bodies mentioned in the preceding paragraph and through other
associations to exercise a very important influence upon the action of
the government. Many senators and representatives come from sections of
the country where the farmers constitute an important element among the
voters and on matters affecting the interests of agriculture these
legislators usually stand together. In recent years this group of
congressmen from the agricultural areas has been commonly known as the
“agricultural bloc”; they do not form an actual majority in Congress,
but they have usually had enough strength to get what they want. At the
session of 1921 they obtained a tariff duty on wheat, which is in effect
a tax on bread, and any political organization which can put a tax on
bread must be powerful indeed. The farmers’ lobby at Washington is
exceedingly strong.
Attempts have been made to unite the farmers in the rural districts with
the workers in the cities into a regular political party. At the
presidential election of 1920 a so-termed Farmer-Labor ticket was placed
in the field, but it did not muster much strength. A combination of
these two elements, if it could be effective, would be all-powerful. It
is very doubtful, however, if any such political combination can be
really made. The interests of the two elements are too far apart. The
farmers are producers of food; the city workers are consumers. One wants
prices to stay high; the other wants them to come down. It will be
difficult to get two such groups to come together and to stay together.
[Sidenote: The rural exodus.]
=The Special Problems of Rural Communities.=—One of the chief problems
of every rural community is to keep its young men and women from
migrating to the cities and towns. In many parts of the country the
agricultural population is steadily declining by reason of the constant
exodus to the towns, and wherever population decreases there is usually
a fall in the value of land.[159] Thereupon the community ceases to move
forward; the lands are neglected; methods of agriculture fail to keep
pace with the times, and the whole region takes on a shabby appearance.
Now the chief reason why young men and women leave the rural districts
for the cities is to be found in the outward attractiveness of city
life. This attractiveness is really not so great as it appears to be;
but it is the appearances that often count. Rural comforts and
conveniences have been all too few in the past; the hours of labor have
been long and the work often disagreeable; the dearth of social
recreations has also been a factor in making rural life seem monotonous
to youth. These drawbacks, however, are not essential and permanent
features of rural life. The balance of advantage which towns and cities
have heretofore possessed is in fact being steadily reduced by the
advent of things which greatly enhance the attractiveness of life in
rural communities. [Sidenote: The increasing attractions of rural life.]
The motor car, the paved roads, the parcels post and rural mail
delivery, the extension of telephone service and electric lighting into
the country, the tractor and other labor-saving devices, the
organization of societies and clubs among the young people of the rural
areas, the improvement and centralization of rural schools—all these are
having influence. The application of scientific principles to
agriculture, moreover, has made it a skilled occupation, not a common
industry. Routine farming by rule-of-thumb methods is not very
interesting and not very profitable; but scientific farming is both. For
these various reasons the exodus from the farms is not likely to be as
great in the future as it has been in the past. This is a fortunate
circumstance for, as President Roosevelt once declared, our whole
civilization rests upon the attractiveness as well as the prosperity of
rural life.
General References
H. R. BURCH, _American Economic Life_, pp. 209-232;
H. C. TAYLOR, _Agricultural Economics_, pp. 13-30;
G. F. WARREN, _Elements of Agriculture_, pp. 372-398;
SIR HORACE PLUNKETT, _The Rural Life Problem of the United States_, pp.
59-82;
JOHN PHELAN, _Readings in Rural Sociology_, pp. 162-183;
K. L. BUTTERFIELD, _The Farmer and the New Day_, pp. 1-29;
E. G. NOURSE, _Agricultural Economics_, pp. 210-223;
A. H. BENSON and G. H. BETTS, _Agriculture and the Farming Business_,
pp. 1-12;
S. J. BUCK, _The Agrarian Crusade_, pp. 111-141.
Group Problems
=1. How the national and state departments of agriculture help the
farmer in your state.= =References=: J. E. BOYLE, _Agricultural
Economics_, pp. 312-327; L. H. BAILEY, _The State and the Farmer_, pp.
89-111; E. G. NOURSE, _Agricultural Economics_, pp. 553-565.
=2. Making country life more attractive.= =References=: C. J. GALPIN,
_Rural Life_, pp. 212-260; J. M. GILLETTE, _Constructive Rural
Sociology_, pp. 168-199; L. H. BAILEY, _The Country Life Movement_;
University of Virginia, Alumni Bulletins, _Rural Life Conferences_,
_passim_; _Report of the Country Life Commission_.
=3. The farmer in politics.= =References=: S. J. BUCK, _The Granger
Movement_, pp. 34-39; 80-122; F. L. MCVEY, _The Populist Movement_, in
American Economic Association, Economic Studies, Vol. I, No. 3 (August,
1896), pp. 131-209.
=4. Who owns the farms in the United States?= =References=: H. C.
TAYLOR, _Agricultural Economics_, pp. 238-269; P. L. VOGT, _Introduction
to Rural Sociology_, pp. 61-100; T. N. CARVER, _Selected Readings in
Rural Economics_, pp. 498-546; E. G. NOURSE, _Agricultural Economics_,
pp. 665-673; WILLIAM KENT, _Land Tenure and Public Policy_, pp. 213-225.
Short Studies
1. =The farm population of the United States.= P. L. VOGT, _Introduction
to Rural Sociology_, pp. 120-145; L. H. BAILEY, _The Country Life
Movement_, pp. 31-60.
2. =The rural school and the rural community.= IRVING KING, _Education
for Social Efficiency_, pp. 21-42; E. P. CUBBERLEY, _Rural Life and
Education_, pp. 163-176; 226-255; MABEL CARNEY, _Country Life and the
Country School_, pp. 133-148.
3. =The grange.= S. J. BUCK, _The Granger Movement_, pp. 279-301; MABEL
CARNEY, _Country Life and the Country School_, pp. 72-89.
4. =The non-partisan league.= ANDREW A. BRUCE, _The Non-Partisan
League_, _passim_; HERBERT GASTON, _The Non-Partisan League_, pp.
269-283.
5. =Community life in the country.= C. J. GALPIN, _Rural Life_, pp.
176-211; L. H. BAILEY, _The Country Life Movement_, pp. 97-133; T. N.
CARVER, _Rural Economics_, pp. 334-382.
6. =The farmer of the Middle West.= JOHN PHELAN, _Readings in Rural
Sociology_, pp. 27-44.
7. =The South and the negro farmer.= _Ibid._, pp. 46-72.
8. =The New England farmer.= _Ibid._, pp. 1-25.
9. =The farmer of the Rocky Mountain states.= W. E. SMYTHE, _The
Conquest of Arid America_, pp. 19-30; 150-163; F. I. ANDERSON, _The
Farmer of Tomorrow_, pp. 98-140.
10. =Marketing farm products.= E. G. NOURSE, _Agricultural Economics_,
pp. 524-540; F. W. CARD, _Farm Management_, pp. 109-138; T. N. CARVER,
_Selected Readings in Rural Economics_, pp. 769-782; H. C. TAYLOR,
_Agricultural Economics_, pp. 352-365.
11. =Women’s place on the farm.= C. J. GALPIN, _Rural Life_, pp.
101-117; JOHN PHELAN, _Readings in Rural Sociology_, pp. 313-324; P.
DEVUYST, _Woman’s Place in Rural Economy_, pp. 23-42.
12. =Rural credits.= J. B. MORMAN, _The Place of Agriculture in
Reconstruction_, pp. 310-347; E. G. NOURSE, _Agricultural Economics_,
pp. 712-723; 789-795; M. T. HERRICK, _Rural Credits_, pp. 439-455.
13. =Agriculture and reconstruction.= J. B. MORMAN, _The Place of
Agriculture in Reconstruction_, pp. 146-180.
Questions
1. Name the various types of agricultural activity and indicate on the
map where they are chiefly carried on.
2. Place the following agricultural products in the order of their
relative annual value (referring to the _World Almanac_ for such
information as is not given in the text); wood, cotton, rice, wheat,
cattle, corn, sheep, sugar, tobacco.
3. Explain fully the law of diminishing returns as applied to
agricultural land. Name some of its effects.
4. What are the chief chemical elements in agricultural soil? How are
they saved from exhaustion? What is the order of crop-rotation practiced
in your district and why is this order chosen? Explain how the
“cover-crop” system helps the soil.
5. List, in what seems to you to be their order of importance, the
services rendered by the National Department of Agriculture.
6. How are Farm Loan Banks financed? What functions do they perform?
7. Find out how a Grange is organized, what officers it has, and what
members do at their meetings.
8. The government assures to the owners of the railroads a minimum
return on their invested capital (see p. 367). Should it guarantee the
farmer a minimum price for his products?
9. Do you believe that the farmers are justified in organizing a “bloc”
in Congress to promote their own interests? If the industrial workers,
the shopkeepers, the manufacturers and so forth were to do likewise, how
would this affect the party system?
10. Explain how the attractiveness of rural life has been increased in
recent years.
Topics for Debate
1. The national government should (_a_) directly engage in improved
road-building for the benefit of agricultural areas; or (_b_) assist the
states by grants of money for this purpose; or (_c_) leave the matter
entirely to the states and communities.
2. Farmers and cattlemen should be permitted to form organizations in
order to prevent competition and keep up the prices of their products,
although such agreements among manufacturers are forbidden.