New Britain herald., 1916-07-18

the outbreak of the war is interesting. For the five-year period ending June 5O, 1914, the annual value of the anil mals, cereals and other food stuffs that left our shores averaged $4O1,- OOO,O00. During the next twelve months ending June 30, 1915, these exports amounted to $960, 900, 900. This practically is $10 apiece for every man, woman and child in the United States. Without causing any scarcity in this country we shipped to Europe more than double the usual supply of food.
 Cotton Grower Protected. Tn this vast field of endeavor, as mapped out by the present admins tration of the department, one of the ! most complicated problems was that of the cotton grower, who hereto fore has been practically at the mercy of the local buyer, but also of the big operators who gambIed in futures and at their will boost or depress the market. But under the protection given the planters by the cotton fu- lures act, they have derived, with the l assistance of the office of Market and Rural Organization, incalculable re- turns.
 u0 O1llCIdl Sldnudfu grades pro- mulgated under the provisions of this act have been adopted by the ] leading spot markets and affords the l department through it's supervision | over these markets an opportunity l to assist the farmer in securing fair 1 quotations on which a large part of l the crop is sold.
 The bureau is now furthering of- l ficial grades for commercial corn | with noticeable reslts, as the desire to l obtain the price for the highest 1 grade is proving a strong inducement 1 to the farmer to exercise more care l in handling his product. The general use of official standards will facilitate l also warehouse legislation for which there is serious need. The department l recommends uniform state laws and a federal statute which will enable 1 it to license bonded warehouses. | Warehouse receipts will be acceptable collateral for loans and contribute ef- fectively toward the solution of the problem of rural credits. In addition to it's many other activities the Office of Markets also acts as an interme- diary in the exchange of information between the producing sections and the large consuming centers.
  veloped and has already demonstrat- ed it's usefulness in preventing the gIutting of markets and in 1essening the number of cars that have to be diverted in transit from their origin al destinations.
 Farm Management.
 While the office of markets and rural organization is thus endeavor- ing to smooth the farmers road to market, the office of farm manage ment is devoting itself to determin- ing what 1t is he can take there most advantageously. This office was created in 1905 as a part of the bu- reau of plant industry With the re- organization of the department in the office of the secretary and it's functions were more strictly defined. Its one purpose now is to assist the farmer in making his farm pay.
 To this end the scope of the work of the office of experiment stations has been greatly enlarged, so that, as reorganized as the states relations service, that bureau now has the ad- ministration of the great fund pro- vided by the Smith-Lever bill for ag- ricultural education extension work particularly among county agents. The bill which became law on May 8, 1914, gives the farmer the benefit of the agricultural knowledge which the department has been storing up for half a century.
 "Reservoiring" in the words of Ambassador Page, an enormous mass of information collected with the peoples money which the people are entitled to get,
 Teaching the Farmer.
 "It is certain" remarked Secretary Houston in discussing this matter, that if the average farmer could be induced to apply what the experts now know or what the best farmers practice, a revolution could be brought about in the agriculture of the na- tion." The Smith-Lever act revolu- tionizes the conditions under which the work of agricultural education on the farm is conducted It's one great aim is to bring to every farmer and farmers wife in the country the agricultural and household knowledge in the possession of the federal de- partnent and the state colleges AL together a total of nearly five million dollars will be spent in this under taking during the fiscal year of 1915- 19l6. A great part of the Smith, Lever funds are used in the support of more than one thousand country agents, each one of whom is really a deputy secretary of agriculture. There is nothing about a farm from | account books to drainage and from | disease serum to cattle breeding that he is not competent to discuss. He not only instructs and advises, but frequently lends his as- s<stance to cooperative movements and in the construction of improve 1 ments. The county agent as devel- cped under the Wilson administration | Is the best welcomed individual a