128 



CONSERVATION 



ed their fields against the devastation 

 of wild beasts." Simply to drive away 

 a herd of deer or wild boars destroying 

 his harvest was to bring upon the head 

 of the rustic swift and certain ven- 

 geance. 



Further, the tools and implements of 

 husbandry have, till yesterday, been of 

 the rudest and crudest sort. In fact, 

 in Oriental lands they are to-day sub- 

 stantially the same as those with which 

 the reapers of Boaz harvested his bar- 

 ley, or the peasants of the Nile pro- 

 duced the crops wdiich Joseph gathered 

 into Pharaoh's corn-cribs ; while fam- 

 ines still claim their millions. 



Not only so, but from every item of 

 the paltry crop produced in such cir- 

 cumstances, a heavy tribute was ruth- 

 lessly exacted. While the widow of 

 whom Carlyle wrote has been gather- 

 ing nettles for her children's din- 

 ner, the perfumed seignior, delicately 

 lounging in the Oeil de Boeuf, has 

 been devising an alchemy whereby he 

 might extract from her the third nettle 

 and call it "rent." 



Little wonder agriculture has lagged 

 and languished ! 



But look at it in the United States ! 

 In 1904 our crops equaled five times 

 the total output of our mines, including 

 those of gold, coal and iron. In 1907 

 they had increased by twenty per cent., 

 and amounted to the sum of $7,412,- 

 000,000. Estimating our population at 

 80,000,000, and grouping these into 

 families of five, this would mean a vol- 

 ume of agricultural produce alone 

 amounting to $463.25 for every family 

 in the United States. 



For machinery, farmers of this coun- 

 try paid in 1904 as much as Jefiferson 

 paid for Louisiana and, in addition, 

 laid aside several hundred millions 

 more than the gold reserve maintained 

 by the National treasury. 



For many, agricultural life in 

 America is still hard ; yet, beside that 

 of our Colonial forefathers, to say noth- 

 ing of that of Old World delvers, it is 

 well-nigh ideal. Good roads and trol- 

 ley lines are connecting the farmer with 

 his local market. The telephone, rural 



free mail delivery and daily paper keep 

 him in touch with the world. In many 

 instances he has a piano and library, 

 keeps a bank account, rides in an auto- 

 mobile and puts his sons and daughters 

 not only through the public schools, 

 but through the Agricultural College or 

 State University. Western bankers 

 complain that farmers compete with 

 them as money-lenders. 



For this astounding progress credit 

 is, in no small measure, due to James 

 Wilson, Secretary of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture. Assuming 

 charge, twelve years ago, of a depart- 

 ment whose faintest possibilities had 

 barely been dreamed of, he set to work 

 to make that department an engine for 

 the practical uplift of the rural popula- 

 tion — an agency whereby the farmer 

 might be enabled more effectively to 

 help himself. In contrast with the 

 "scientific" pedant, who cannot see the 

 woods of actual life and crying human 

 needs for the trees of his books and 

 apparatus, and who scorns the practical 

 as "unprofessional," Secretary Wilson 

 was a breeze from the ocean in August. 

 To a bureau chief he said, on assuming 

 charge : "Don't tell inc nozv about your 

 laboratories. Tell me zvhat you are 

 doing for the man at the plozv, out in 

 the fields zvith his coat off!" There, in 

 little, we see a giant entering upon a 

 giant's work. 



What is the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture? Let him who 

 would know its alphabet at least study 

 its Year-Book. Then, if practicable, 

 let him see the department itself ; its 

 multitudinous ofiices scattered over 

 blocks of territory, and its majestic 

 new building gradually taking shape. 

 Then he should see some of the other 

 agricultural institutions of the country, 

 which more or less closely co-operate 

 with the department at Washington ; 

 the fifty-nine agricultural experiment 

 stations distributed among all the 

 States and Territories ; the sixty-five 

 agricultural colleges, one or more in 

 every State, and in every Territory 

 save three, with their 66,193 students 

 and their 6,243 salaried workers ; the 



