THE PRO GEE SS OF SCIENCE 



287 



for the Department of Agriculture, it is 

 only one six-hundredth of the value of 

 the agricultural products of the coun- 

 try, and there is every reason to sup- 

 pose that it is a good investment. 

 The figures of our agricultural wealth 

 as given in the last report of the 

 Secretary of Agriculture are so vast 

 as to be difficult to grasp. Thus the 

 corn crop alone is valued at $1,210,- 

 000,000. Hay, cotton, wheat, butter 

 and milk and poultry and eggs each 

 produced products worth over $500,000,- 

 000. Farm products of the value of 

 $827,000,000 were exported. Thanks 

 to such exports the balance of trade 

 in favor of this country in the course 

 of the past sixteen years amounts to 

 over $5,000,000,000. The farms of the 

 United States are said to have in- 

 creased in value to the amount of 

 $0,131,000,000 in the course of the 

 past five years. 



The Secretary of Agriculture awards 

 mainly to the department credit for the 

 great advances in the prosperity of the , 

 farmer in recent years. In concluding 

 his report he says: ''The gratifying- 

 evidences of well-being in our farming 

 community, the extraordinary progress l 

 made in the past few years, and the 

 rapidly enlarging recognition of the 

 true position of the farming industry 

 in the economic life of this country are 

 mainly the result of this continued and 

 combined effort on the part of these 

 agencies to add to the sum of the farm- 

 er's knowledge, and must be regarded 

 as the triumph of intelligence in the 

 application of scientific knowledge to 

 the tillage of the soil. This is so 

 obviously true that it would seem 

 superfluous to urge the generous main- 

 tenance of the department in its grand 

 work. Great as has been the work 

 undertaken and accomplished, gratify- 

 ing as have been the results, as shown 

 in the first few pages of this report, 

 be it remembered that we are still at 

 the threshold of agricultural develop- 

 ment, and that the educational work 

 which has led to such grand results has 

 only been extended as yet to a portion 



of our agricultural population. There 

 if not an intelligent, patriotic citizen 

 in the Union who will not say with his 

 whole heart, ' Let the good work go 



on. 



THE ^YILL OF ALFRED BEIT. 



Mr. Alfred Beit, who accumulated 

 a vast fortune in South Africa and died 

 on July 10, has by his will given large 

 sums for public purposes. The most 

 notable bequest is $0,000,000 to his 

 partners to constitute a fund, the in- 

 come of which is to be devoted to the 

 construction, equipment or furtherance 

 of any such methods of communication 

 or transportation in Rhodesia, Portu- 

 guese Southeast Africa or the German 

 possessions, and any parts of Africa 

 that may be traversed by the Cape-to- 

 Cairo Railway. The trustees are to 

 have absolute discretion, and if two 

 thirds decide that the fund is no longer 

 required for furthering the work of 

 communication or transportation, they 

 can apply the proceeds to educational, 

 charitable or other public purposes in 

 Rhodesia. 



One million dollars is left to the 

 University of Johannesburg to build 

 and equip buildings on the land pre- 

 viously given by Mr. Beit; one million 

 dollars for educational or charitable 

 purposes in Rhodesia and other terri- 

 tories within the field of the British 

 South Africa Company; $125,000 to 

 the Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 

 Cape Colony; $100,000 for educational 

 or charitable purposes in the Trans- 

 vaal, and $75,000 for similar purposes 

 in Kimberley and in Cape Colony. To 

 the College of Technology, London Uni- 

 versity, the sum of $250,000 and 1,000 

 shares in the DeBeers Company are 

 bequeathed, and to the research fund 

 of London University $125,000. Two 

 hundred thousand dollars is to be dis- 

 tributed equally in London and Ham- 

 burg for educational or charitable pur- 

 poses. To King's Hospital and Guy's 

 Hospital, London, the sum of $100,000 

 each is given. Mr. Beit's property 



