Evening star., 1917-04-15
THE DEPARTMENT OF
AGRICULTURE.
1.-The Job and the
Machine.
BY Frederic J. Haskin.
By Frederic J. Haskin.

| This war will be won in the wheat
! fields.
| 1t will take man power and money
! power in full measure. Blood and
| treasure are the price of victory; the
| greatest of wars does not fail to call
| for its sacrifice. But behind the men
| who risk their lives. behind the guns
| that burn up treasure. there must be
| the mammoth. ceaseless flow of food
for workers and fighters.
To see that the river of food flows in
| flood. to assure that there is enough
for America. and a lavish surplus for
Americas allies - that is one of the
greatest problems that face the ma
tion. The endless miles of rich farm
land in this country and the efficiency
| of American farmers give good guar
antee that the problem will be solved
But the quicker and the better the
solution. the sooner the victory. Every
extra bushel of grain that the nation
can raise, every pound of meat the ma
tion can save from waste, means
shortening of the struggle and saw
ing of life. There is no task more i'm
| portant today than the production and
saving of food. Every man. woman
and child in America has share and
duty in il.
In the warning nations of Europe
there is government supervision of
1000 raising, food buying and food
| cooking. Each nation has an elab-
srately organized government depart
ment to look after the larder. We are
a long way from needing Il food die
tator in America. but are in honor
bound TO a hungry world to raise and
eat our food on war basis. More
over. we already have our government
department. elaborately organized. to
a - not tr nf
to point out how it can be most eco
| nomically distributed and eaten. That
department is the federal Department
| of Agriculture.
In the Department of Agriculture.
with the state colleges and workers
who cooperate with it, the United
States has an establishment for the
working out of agricultural problems
which means food problems-greater
| than that of any other three nations in
| the world combined.
The department today stands con-
fronted by an immense task. In
the next few
Department an Asset months it will
to All U. S. Allies. part @ IN the life
OF the nation than ever before.
1t is far better fitted to play
such a part than the vast majority of
Americans realize. 1t has been growing
and extending its activities at such a
rate in the last few years that the
public has hardly kept up with 1t. As
the common center OF organized Ameri-
can agriculture. the department is an
asset not only to America, but to
France. England, Belgium and the
other nations who look to US for food,
whose value can hardly be overestimat-
ed. This is a time for every American
to understand just what the depart
ment Is, what it Is doing and what it
can do; so that he will give due weight
TO its advice. and by intelligent CO.
operation help to solve the nations
problem In the most effective way
The department is the largest scien-
tifc establishment in the world In
the last ten years its working force
has shot up from 5000 men and women
to 1900. The work IT does in plant
and animal Investigations is not sur
passed anywhere. The effectiveness of
that work is reflected in the eficiency
OF the average American farmer. We
hear great deal about the remarkable
, efficiency of farmers in Belgium and
Japan where intensive cultivation is
| carried to high degree, and the yield
acre is not the test Of efficiency in this
country, where We have many acres
and few farmers. The American farmer
cannot AFFORD to go in for intensive
cultivation. His problem is TO get the
greatest possible yield. not per acre
but per man. Measured by this test.
ne fs actually from two to six times as
emcient as any other farmer in the
world.
This efficiency, which is going to he
taxed to the limit in the next year, is
the result of several things-the amount
OF land at our disposal. the intelligence
or american farmers as a class. the
lavish use of labor-sa wing machinery.
and not least to the scientific methods
Oh cultivation worked out by the DEPART
ment The department has not only in
creased the yield of almost every staple
crop. but 1t has sent out exploring
parties and introduced from foreign
lands crops fitted for American culti-
vauon. 1t has worked out methods for
ul1nS and marketing such crops On the
list are such well known names as Du
rum wheat, navel oranges, Sudan grass.
kanr corn and dozen others The
total annual value of these plants in
troouced from foreign lands Is estimat-
ed at S265, 900, 900.
In getting the results of its worl, be-
fore the people. the department con-
tinually faces a CO.
Educational Work los9al task. 1t is
~, , JYo,x c.-1 an ADVISER with an
900. In a single year it has distributed
as many as $4,000, 900 publications. Tn
der the recently enacted Smith-Lever
act, which provides for actual demon
stration work on the farm by state and
government agents, the department be-
came at a stroke the largest single edu-
cational establishment in the world This
extension of education, this nationwide
school whose students are men, women
and children going about their work. is
| unique. There is nothing else like il
anywhere. Already 300 counties out of
| the 1850 counties in the United States
are getting the benefit of it.
| One OF the biggest problems which
face American agriculture is the an
nual loss through diseases, both plant
and animal. This annual loss is big
enough to challenge the best efforts OF
the biggest agricultural department in
the world According to latest esti-
| mates. the losses in eros and animals
| mates. the losses in crops and animals
due to different diseases amount To
F.n u