132 ANNUAL. REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



with regard to this coiulition failed to establish any cause for alarm. 

 On the contrary, it is evident that this country has been passing 

 through phases of agriculture in which declines in production per acre 

 are the result of exploiting new land and in which recuperation fol- 

 lows with a pace greater than that of increase of population. 



Just prior to the close of the fiscal year two investigations were 

 begun relating to the development of agriculture as influenced by 

 transportation companies, one with special reference to such topics as 

 the movement of agricultural population and the occupation of rail- 

 road lands, and the other to the changes in the cost of distributing 

 perishable farm products. 



COST OF farmers' SUPPLIES. 



From an extensive inquiry made among retail dealers doing busi- 

 ness with farmers it appears that most articles purchased by farmers 

 cost more in 1910 than in 1909, the average increase being about 

 1.5 per cent. The purchasing power of produce of 1 acre in 1910 

 was 7.3 per cent less than in 1909, but still about 44.1 per cent more 

 than in 1899. 



SEEDTIME AND HARVEST. 



An unusually large undertaking of the pioneer sort was the work 

 in the investigation of the dates of planting and harvesting in the 

 United States and foreign countries, which has been continued and 

 is so far advanced that the report on cereal crops, flax, cotton, and 

 tobacco is now in press, and there is prospect of completing the 

 reports on forage crops, truck crops, and seedtime and harvest in 

 foreign countries during the fiscal year 1912. The plans of the 

 work have been original, and in the processes of treating the primary 

 materials for the deduction of conclusions there have been many 

 practical problems to solve. 



LIBRARY. 



The accessions to the department Library during the past year, 

 exclusive of current periodicals, exceeded those of any previous year 

 and amounted to 8,816, bringing the total number of books and pam- 

 phlets on July 1, 1911, to 115,653. More than half of these acces- 

 sions were received by gift or in exchange for department publica- 

 tions. In addition to the accessions noted above the Library received 

 currently nearly 2,000 periodicals. 



During the year the Library completed the first volume of its 

 Monthly Bulletin, for which an author index was issued, thus ren- 

 dering the Bulletin more useful for reference than was the case with 

 the former list of accessions. 



