454 AjStnual, reports of department of agriculture. 



tion farms range from 40 to 75 per cent higher than those of adjoin- 

 ing farms where ordinary methods were used. 



Some of the misceHa neons work accomplished through the negro 

 men agents, as shown in their reports, was as follows : Four thousand 

 one hundred and thirty-one home orchards inspected, 2,456 home 

 orchards pruned, 1,253 home orchards sprayed, 643 new home or- 

 chards with a total of 3,193 trees were set out, 2,553 farmers were 

 induced to terrace land, 3,459^farmers grew grazing crops for hogs 

 for the first time, 18,509 home gardens were planted, 5,315 farmers 

 planted cover crops for improving their soil. The agents made 

 92,094 visits, traveled 453,506 miles, and had 23,694 calls at their 

 homes or offices from negro farmers asking for instruction and ad- 

 vice on various subjects. 



The men and women agents combined efforts in establishing 2,492 

 poultry demonstrations and placing 2,320 i:)urebred flocks ; influenced 

 the buying of 1,379 family cows; assisted in improving and remodel- 

 ing 5,059 dwellings ; screened 11,548 and improved the sanitary con- 

 ditions in 7,945 homes. More than 10,000 home grounds were im- 

 proved and beautified by the planting of trees, shrubs, flowers, and 

 vines. 



OFFICE OF HOME ECONOMICS. 



C. F. Langworthy, Chief. 



In the science and practice of agriculture the problems of produc- 

 tion can never be wholly separated from those of distribution and 

 consumption, and many of the latter are best studied in connection 

 with home life. The greater part of all the materials raised on 

 farms find their way into homes where they are used either as food or 

 as the materials for clothing or shelter. Through homes, therefore, 

 must come much of the needed improvement in the methods by which 

 farm products are prepared for human use. In the case of the farm 

 home, too, there is a direct and very important connection between 

 the health and comfort of the members of the family and the pros- 

 perity and productiveness of the farm considered as a business enter- 

 prise. Homes offer also very favorable opportunities for studying 

 the material needs of the people, which in the long run are the only 

 safe guide to the amounts and relative proportions of the various 

 farm products that should be raised. For these reasons the Office 

 of Home Economics is concerned with collecting and distributing in- 

 formation about the best ways of preparing and using farm products 

 and is at the same time seeking to contribute to that important and 

 slowly increasing body of knowledge which concerns the relation 

 of food, clothing, and shelter to body needs. To this end it is study- 

 ing by means of the respiration calorimeter the amount of energy 

 expended and the amount of body fuel required under various cir- 

 cumstances, is collecting facts with reference to the normal food con- 

 sumption of healthy people and the actual standards of living in farm 

 homes, and is in other ways investigating the. final use of agricultural 

 products for food,, clothing, and other purposes in the home. 



The work carried on during the past year in the office laboratories 

 is shown in the following summary : 



