EEPOET OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 27 



Very satisfactory headway has been made and results of much value 

 have been secured. 



It perhaps would conduce to clearness of thinking to realize that 

 neither specific legislation affecting either marketing or rural finance 

 nor direct attack on specific problems of marketing and rural 

 credits by special investigators, even if the results of the studies 

 were sound and convincing and received concrete application, can 

 furnish a full solution of all the difficulties. It is not generally 

 appreciated to what extent marketing troubles have their origin in 

 irregularity of production or in lack of a stable and balanced agri- 

 culture ; neither is it recognized that the difficulties which some expect 

 to remove by rural credits legislation can be obviated only by im- 

 provement in conditions governing the conduct of farm operations, 

 the trading in farm products, and the ownership and exchange of 

 farm lands. 



Irregularity in production in some instances arises from conditions 

 over which there is no easy control. In y-ears when a destructive dis- 

 ease prevails the yield from an acreage normally sufficient to supply 

 consuming requirements is insufficient to meet the demand, and high 

 prices follow. High prices also may result from reduced acreage, 

 caused by low prices at planting time. High prices one year stimu- 

 late heavy planting the next. A solution for evils of this sort lies 

 in stabilization of production. This can be brought about in part by 

 the acquisition of fuller information as to the relation of acreage to 

 consumption demands and to local marketing possibilities, the 

 regional and local adaptation of crops and crop varieties, including 

 the breeding and introduction of resistant varieties, and the control 

 of crop pests. 



In some sections, especially those which are new and developing, 

 the difficulty is enhanced by the activities of real-estate promoters 

 who succeed in directing farmers into localities, frequently remote 

 from markets, where they successfully produce crops to the disposal 

 of which they have given no consideration. In most instances dis- 

 aster follows. Whether the States or the localities might not develop 

 responsible agencies for the intelligent guidance of farmers in these 

 directions is a matter for serious consideration. 



One of the first questions that should be asked by a farmer who is 

 considering a readjustment of his plans or who is undertaking tasks 

 for the first time is whether the scale of his operations is such as to 



