648 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



f)hnses of agriculture that are familiar to persons who are well in- 

 ornied, in which declines in production per acre are the result of 

 exploiting new land and in which recuperation follows with a pace 

 greater than that of increase of population. 



SEEDTIME AND HARVEST 



Work was continued in the investigation of the dates of planting 

 and harvesting in the United States and in foreign countries, with 

 the prospect of completion during the following fiscal year. This 

 group of projects has four subdivisions: (1 ) Cereal crops, flax, cotton, 

 and tobacco; (2) forage crops; (3) truck crops; and (4) seedtime 

 and harvest in foreign countries. This is an unusually large under- 

 taking, and is of the pioneer sort. The plans of work have been 

 original, and the processes of treating the primary materials for the 

 purpose of arriving at conclusions have had many practical problems 

 to solve. 



MARKETING ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 



The manuscript for a bulletin relating to marketing grain and live 

 stock in the Pacific coast region was completed and sent to press 

 before the close of the fiscal year. The chief object of this investiga- 

 tion was to show conditions affecting the cost of selling and delivering 

 grain and live stock from farm to consumer, and to make note of 

 changes which occurred in these conditions in the past 30 years. 



EGGS, POULTRY, AND APPLES. 



A comparative statement of monthly receipt of eggs and live 

 poultry has been compiled each month and published in the Crop 

 Keporter. This statement shows the relative increase or decrease 

 from month to month in the quantities received by large dealers who 

 buy from the country, and in the receipts at important markets. 



Preliminary work has been done toward compiling a statement of 

 the quantity of apples shipped from the principal producing regions 

 for the crop of 1911. If this attempt is successful, it is intended to 

 continue these statements from year to year. 



THE RAILROADS AND AGRICULTURE. 



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

 begun. One relates to the development of agriculture in the United 

 States, as influenced by transportation companies, with especial 

 reference to such topics as the movement of agricultural population 

 and the occupation of railroad lands. The other new investigation 

 relates to changes in the cost of distributing perishable farm products. 



COLD STORAGE AND PRICES. 



Work was begun in this division with regard to the effects of the 

 cold storage of foods on marketings and prices. The problems pre- 

 sented for examination were to ascertain the length of time in storage; 

 effects of storage on prices; whether storage tends to equalize prices 

 throughout the year; whether it raises the general level of prices; to 

 what extent it raises prices in seasons of plentiful production and 



