The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-19
PROMOTING INTERESTS ,,s OF AGRICULTURE

The farmer who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before may be a good agronomist, but if he can't sell his two blades at profit he lis a poor farmer. Upon this funaaz mental agricultural fact hangs a revo- .1ution that has been worked in the aims and activities of the United States Department of Agriculture in the past three years.
 first time in its/ history, the Depart ,ment has had at it's head a man who was chosen for the post of Secre- tafy largely because of his ability as an economist. For the past eighteen months t has had also an assistant ~secreatry who is both an economist and a farmer Thus the Houston regime has a distinctly economic bias -and thus the Department has at last come to the serious consideration of the economic status of the second blade of grass.
 Hitherto the stress has been alto- gether upon production-upon agron- omy, upon the science of growing the extra blade. Now the Department is concerned in equal measure with the problem of what to sdo with it when it is grown In a word, the De- pertinent has come to recognize that the art of growing crops is but one phase of farming. and that the busi- nessNof selling crops advantageously is another phase of equally vital con- cern to the farmer. To that end. the bias of the Department as whole has been more or less changed, SC that there is scarcely a bureau in the -Department which. has not in some measiife reflected in it's activities this new economic viewpoint
 Tn rural credits. in the Cotton Flu lures Act, in the grain and warehouse bills in demonstration work, the farm CTS true interests have advanced as under no other administration.
 The offices of Market and Rural Organization. Farm Information, and thetEtateS Helhtiops sService are. the burSAts that have pushed most viz orously the important work of facili- Mating profitable distribution and by admirable team work have afforded the farmer benefits that formerly through red tape and circumlocutior methods, he has long been denied These bureaus are helping the farmer to realize that the vital question he must answer in actual practice is no' 'how much can grow to the sacre, but ffhows much can I most prof1tably growftN theI acrs,jTIJiJ etg
 Big crops and prosperity are not al ways synonomous. It frequently ha. z Happened that a comparatively smal crop has brought more money to tht farmer than large one.
 In 1912, for instance, the country ! produced nearly 700,000, ,000 nor, E bushels of corn than in 1913 and. ye the farmers received s171 ,63S, 1000 les for it than they did the followins year. Obviously, it is not enough t, just produce; the farmers must pro duce that for which profitable mar ket can be found.
 To enable the farmer to find such { market is the chief purpose of the of flee of Markets and Rural Organiza ton, which was added to the Depart ment in 1913. The working out O z more economical and efficient way of bringing farm and food product to the consumer will stabilize prices minimize waste and increase con ], sumption. Increased production wil then be advisable in practice as it nov is in theory.
 In this connection, a study of ou agricultural exports before and afte the outbreak of the war is interesting For the fve-year period ending Jun 30, 1914, the annual value of the ami malls, cereals and other food stuffs tina left our shores averaged $401, ,0O0, ,0OO During the next twelve months end ing June 90, 1915, these export announced to sacO, 900, 900. Thi x practically is s10 a piece for ever man. woman and child in the Unite, Stateh Without causing any scare :ty in tf1is country we shipped t
 Europe more than double the usua supply of food.
 In this vast field of erdeavor. a
 mapped out by the present admins trntion of the Department. one of tn
 most Complicated problems was tha of the cotton grower, who heretofor 3 has been practically at the mercy no only of the local buyer. but also of tn