REPOET OP THE SECEETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 7 



The cotton crop will be a short one, estimated at less than 

 11,000,000 bales, compared with a production of 16,135,000 bales 

 last year and with an average yearly production in the preceding 

 five years of 13,033,000 bales. This decrease will result from the reduc- 

 tion of about 15 per cent in the cotton acreage and a 20 per cent poorer 

 yield. The quantity of cotton carried over from the 1914 crop 

 will be considerably larger than usual, but, with the smaller pro- 

 duction for the year and the larger domestic demand for cotton 

 for manufacture, the amount exported will decrease unless a decided 

 change in foreign prices occurs. 



PRODUCTION. 



IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH. 



The obvious need of adequate and effective machinery to make 

 available to the farmer the large body of useful information accumu- 

 lated through the research work of the department, the State experi- 

 ment stations, and other agencies sharply engaged the attention of 

 the Congress and the country for several years. The result was 

 the passage of the cooperative agricultural extension law in May, 

 1914. The plans in operation under this act undoubtedly will go 

 far toward accomplishing the desired end. 



Farm marketing and finance have demanded and still require the 

 attention of those interested in the welfare of all classes of the Ameri- 

 can people. A beginning in this field has been made by the establish- 

 ment of the Office of Markets and Eural Organization, which is at 

 work upon many important problems. 



The fact that special emphasis has been placed upon the improve- 

 ment of methods of disseminating agricultural information and of 

 marketing farm products does not indicate that all the important 

 problems of production have been solved or that the need for agri- 

 cultural research is being adequately met. This is indeed far from 

 the case. It is increasingly apparent that as the development of 

 our agriculture brings into use other regions, includes new crops, 

 and makes readjustments necessary to meet changing economic con- 

 ditions, new and vital problems in research continually are coming to 

 light. 



Many investigations, while more or less successful from the stand- 

 point of the scientist, have not progressed far enough to yield re- 

 sults which can be applied safely to improve agricultural practice. 



