REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 27 



work, especially in an emergency like this. The net result was a 

 marked increase in the planting of corn, soy beans, velvet beans, cow- 

 peas, peanuts, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, and other food crops. 

 The corn crop in the 15 Southern States was 964,504,000 bushels, or 

 more than a fourth of the whole crop of the United States. 



FALL PLANTING. 



Realizing the importance of continued efforts to promote the pro- 

 duction of staple commodities and of making plans promptly for the 

 immediate future, in June I appointed a committee of experts of the 

 Department to make suggestions for future action, especially with 

 reference to winter-wheat planting. The committee considered 

 the problem from every angle and reached the conclusion that a 

 strenuous effort should be made to secure the planting of an area that 

 would, under favorable conditions, produce a billion bushels of wheat 

 in 1918—880,000,000 bushels through the winter crop and the 

 remainder through increased spring planting. The committee also 

 recommended that steps be taken to encourage the production of over 

 83,000,000 bushels of rye and that the production of winter oats in 

 the South should be increased to the extent that seed was available. 

 This program called for the planting of 44,634,000 acres of winter 

 wheat and 5,522,000 acres of rye, and was submitted by telegraph to 

 the leading agricultural authorities of various States concerned. As 

 a result of their suggestions it was finally determined to propose the 

 planting of 47,337,000 acres of winter wheat and 5,131,000 acres 

 of rye. 



In announcing the program it seemed desirable to place particular 

 emphasis on the crops seeded in the fall and to make no specific sug- 

 gestion as to the spring crops, such as com, spring oats, rice, the 

 grain sorghums, and buckwheat until the acreages successfully sown 

 to winter cereals could be determined. Similarly, action with regard 

 to beans, soy beans, cowpeas, peanuts, and various other legumes, and 

 the spring-planted forage crops, was left for final consideration until 

 more complete data as to the 1917 harvest are available. It was 

 suggested, however, that the acreages of fall-seeded hay crops should 

 at least equal those of the present season. The need of husbanding 

 seed supplies was pointed out, and the machinery of the Depart- 

 ment's committee on seed stocks was set in motion to bring about an 



