478 ANNUAL EEPORTS OF DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



gether the various tractor agencies and determining the real place of 

 a tractor on the farm. Attention has also been given to time studies 

 with reference to certain hand operations, with a view to determining 

 the most efficient methods of performing such work. 



SPECIFIC ORGANIZATION PROBLEMS. 



Farm organization studies with reference to specific problems in 

 the various districts have been greatly influenced by the present war 

 emergeiic}'. Many of the workers have been detailed to other duties, 

 so that several projects which were well under way and which would 

 have been completed this season have been temporarilj^ laid aside. 

 Although thel'e have been several lines of work carried on in each of 

 the agricultural districts, only a few of the outstanding features will 

 be mentioned here. 



Northeastern and Northern Dairy Region. — The two prominent 

 problems in this area are : First, providing an adequate supply of 

 concentrated feeds for live stock ; second, the farm labor question. 



Within the past year the prices of all concentrated grains have 

 risen almost to unprecedented levels, until at present corn meal is 

 selling at $96 per ton in some of the rural districts in these States. 

 This region, being mainly one of dairying and other intensive agri- 

 culture, purchases a very large proportion of the concentrated grains 

 fed. Such practice of depending upon purchased concentrated feeds 

 permits the farm operator to maintain a herd of dairy cattle the size 

 of which depends upon the extent to which he can grow roughage 

 for the winter feeding and provide pasture during the summer. 

 The specific farm management problem is to devise systems of farm- 

 ing which will provide as much of these protein feeds as possible in 

 the form of corn silage, alfalfa hay, soy beans, oats and peas, and 

 grains wherever practicable. 



The second problem is that of obtaining a sufficient amount of 

 labor. This is rendered more difficult by reason of the proximity 

 of large industrial centers, where workmen are employed at much 

 higher wages than the farmer is able to pay. Again, the type of 

 farming in the northern and eastern States is such that considerable 

 hand labor is needed in the production of potatoes, truck crops, 

 small fruits, etc. Machinery can not be used to take the place of 

 this labor and, if the shortage continues, many of these intensively 

 worked farms will eventually be reorganized on a less intensive basis. 



Middle Atlantic region. — The Middle Atlantic region embraces 

 large areas where crop jdelds have declined to a very low level and 

 where an effective system of building up the farms to a profitable 

 condition is the first consideration. Splendid results have been ob- 

 tained with reference to the farm practices followed by successful 

 farmers in building up rundown lands. Such information, when 

 intelligently applied, will be of inestimable value to the farmers of 

 the States along the middle and southern Atlantic coast. 



Equally valuable work has been conducted in the more remote and 

 mountain districts of the Middle Atlantic States with reference to 

 systems of farming that are profitable under adverse conditions. 

 Much information with respect to the costs and returns of these farms 

 has been collected and compiled and several bulletins concerning the 

 same issued. 



Cotton helt. — The outstanding farm-management prol)lcm of the 

 cotton belt is to maintain yields of cotton and corn, the two leading 



