REPOET OP THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 15 



indispensable skilled agricultural laborers. In like manner, through 

 the States Relations Service and the Bureaus of Soils, Roads, 

 Biology, and Entomology, the Department's services have been 

 freely extended to other branches of the Government. It would be 

 impossible in reasonable space to indicate its participation in all di- 

 rections, and reference must therefore be made to reports of the sev- 

 eral bureaus. 



MEAT SUPPLY. 



Farm animals and their products received a large share of the 

 Department's attention. Efforts were directed toward increasing 

 the output of meat, milk, butter, and other fats, cheese, poultry, 

 eggs, wool, and hides, first, by encouraging the live-stock raiser 

 to make a direct increase in his herds and flocks and their products 

 and, second, by assisting him to prevent loss from disease. 



The campaigns for increased production yielded especially fruit- 

 ful results in respect to pigs and poultry. Indications are that 

 the increase of 15 per cent in pork production this year over 1917, 

 asked for by the Food Administration, will be realized, at least in 

 weight if not in number of hogs. Poultry and eggs also show a 

 material increase, and enormous quantities of the latter were pre- 

 served by householders in the season of plenty for use in time of 

 scarcity. 



Steps were taken also to encourage the growing of cattle and 

 sheep, but results are naturally slower with these animals than 

 with pigs and poultry. Stockmen in all parts of the country were 

 urged to carr}^ sufficient numbers of cattle in order to make the fullest 

 possible use of pastures and feeds which otherwise would have been 

 wasted; cattle feeders were advised how to save certain grain for 

 human consumption by substituting other feeds for their stock, and 

 efforts were continued to bring about an increase in the number of 

 cattle in the areas freed from ticks. 



Through the joint action of the Bureaus of Animal Industry and 

 Markets and the States Relations Service valuable assistance was 

 rendered in the movement of cattle from the drouth-stricken areas 

 of Texas. The county agents in that State, cooperating with the 

 extension workers in Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, 

 Mississippi, Arkansas, and Florida, and with the agents of the 

 other bureaus mentioned, indicated to farmers in regions of heavy 



