308 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



During the past year investigations of this character have been 

 considerably extended and it is contemplated to enlarge thorn as 

 rapidly as conditions will permit. An endeavor is also being made 

 to establish standards of farm work and to determine the duty of 

 different kinds of farm machinery. Methods have been worked out 

 during the year for the collection and tabulation of data relative to 

 the equipment on farms of various types, including the capital in- 

 vested, the interior and exterior arrangement of buildings, gross 

 income and cash expenditures, the daily duty of machinery, and the 

 depreciation of machinery. Active work has been started in collec- 

 ing this data in Virginia, New York, Missouri, Nebraska, and Minne- 

 sota. Several hundred farms have been inventoried and some 2,500 

 implements have been studied as to daily duty and depreciation. 



FARM PROBLEMS OR EXTENSION WORK. 



In order to bring home to the individual farmer and apply in a 

 practical way the results of the various lines of investigation and 

 study outlined, and in order, further, to assist the individual farmer 

 to solve the problems peculiar to his farm, important extension work 

 has been begun in a number of States. It is planned to enlarge this 

 work as rapidly as the funds at hand will permit, recognizing the 

 fact that it is the summation or bringing together in an applied prac- 

 tical way of the best available knowledge for the upbuilding of the 

 farm. The work is planned so as to conduct it in close cooperation 

 and full understanding with the experiment stations in the respective 

 States. 



At present the plan is to employ thoroughly trained men, prefer- 

 ably graduates of the agricultural college within the State where the 

 work is to be done, who are not only familiar with the agricultural 

 conditions within the State, but have sufficiently broad practical 

 knowledge to guide farmers in the application of the leading prin- 

 ciples involved. It is believed that one such leader will be needed 

 for about each 20,000 farms. It is believed further that these leaders 

 should be located at the State experiment stations. Under such men 

 it is planned to have other men who can follow the general instruc- 

 tions given by the leader and then through literature, institute meet- 

 ings, personal interviews, and demonstrations render direct aid to the 

 farmer. 



One of the difficulties encountered in this work is the large increase 

 in the number of tenant farmers who as a rule are not interested in 

 maintaining the fertility of the soil, their leases being usually made 

 for short terms. The more general adoption of lease systems that 

 will give the tenant an interest in maintaining the fertility of the 

 soil is advocated and an effort made to induce landlords to aid their 

 tenants in providing more live stock. 



SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS. 



Cactus investigations. — Investigations are being continued at 

 Chico, Cal., and at San Antonio and Brownsville, Tex., for the pur- 

 pose of studying varieties and species of cacti, comparing their 

 growth, using suitable ones for breeding purposes, and making 

 critical studies of the effect of different environments. Great dif- 

 ference has been found in the growth of the various varieties. 



