BEPOBT OP THE SECEETAEY OP AQEICULTUBB. 19 



\ efforts, which will be continued on an enlarged scale during the 



coming year. 



NATIONAL FOREST RANGES. 



A verf material increase was brought about in the production of 

 meat and wool on the forest ranges. Careful observation of range 

 conditions and study of the methods which would secure the most 

 complete utilization of the forage disclosed that a very considerable 

 increase in the number of animals was possible without overgrazing 

 the forests. The number of cattle under permit for the 1918 season 

 was nearly 2,140,000, and of sheep more than 8,450,000. In two years 

 there were placed on the forests approximately 1,000,000 additional 

 head of live stock, representing about 25,000,000 pounds of beef, 

 16,000,000 of mutton, and 4,000,000 of wool. 



The season of 1918 strikingly illustrated the advantages which 

 the National Forest ranges offer to the western live-stock industry. 

 Throughout the West the ranges outside the forests were generally 

 in bad shape on account of drouth conditions. The live-stock busi- 

 ness is becoming precarious for owners who are dependent upon the 

 open public range; many are closing out, and the number of range 

 stock is being reduced. On the other hand, the use of the National 

 Forest ranges is increasing and their productivity is rising under the 

 system of regulation. Never was the wisdom of Government control 

 of these ranges more manifest than at the present time. 



DAIRY PRODUCTS. 



The Department endeavored to bring about an increase in the out- 

 put of dairy products by means of more and better cows, improved 

 methods and practices, and the extension of dairying in sections 

 where the industry had not been fully developed. Continued encour- 

 agement was given to the development of the dairy industry in South- 

 ern and Western States, to the organization and operation of cheese 

 factories in the mountainous regions of the South, and to the building 

 of silos as a means of providing winter feed. 



The food value of dairy products was brought to the attention of 

 the consuming public and their economical use advocated. An exten- 

 sive campaign was waged to encourage the production and con- 

 sumption of cottage cheese as a means of utilizing for human food 

 skim milk and buttermilk, large quantities of which ordinarily are 



