438 ANNUAL eeportf; of department of agriculture. 



tinnes, the largest berries having been found in the pine barrens of 

 New Jersey and in North Carolina. 



Tnvesligations in cooperation willi the Forest Sc'rvice to determine 

 the best means of maintaining the grazing lands in the national for- 

 ests in a condition of niaxinnim j^rodncliveness have been continued. 



Nearly 3,000 sj^ecimens luive been added to the economic herbarium. 

 The usefulness of this collection is constantly increasing. 



A manuscript containing descriptions of the native American 

 plums and a classification of their cultivated forms, by Mr. W. V. 

 Wight, has been completed. Botanical revisions of other groups of 

 horticultural ])lants are now in progress, as follows: (1) A study of 

 the custard apples and their allies, by Mr. W. E. SafFord; (2) the bur 

 clovers, by Mr. P. L. Ricker; and (3) Philadelphus and related 

 genera, by Mr. A. IT. Moore. 



The study of the grasses of California has been completed by Mr. 

 A. S. Hitchcock, and the lesults have been published. An investi- 

 gation of the grasses of Central America, necessary to the acquire- 

 ment of a proper knowledge of our tropical possessions, including 

 the Panama Canal Zone, has been begim. A preliminary report on 

 the grasses of ]\Iexico is nearly ready. 



FARM-MANAGEMENT INVESTIGATIONS. 



The organization of the OfTice of Farm Management has been 

 slightly rearranged, under the direction of Prof. W. J. Spiliman, to 

 meet the additional demonstration work that has been placed upon it. 



FARM ECONOMICS. 



Farm cost accounting. — In order to be able to give closer super- 

 vision to the work and thus secure greater accuracy in the cost of 

 each operation on the farm, the cooperating farms have been cen- 

 tralized, where practicable, into groups of 14 to 30 each, with a man 

 in charge of each group. Since the accuracy of an average mcreases 

 in direct proportion to the number of included items, other methods 

 of gathering cost data are being tested in order to acquire a maxi- 

 mum number of records at a minimum cost. Methods of farm book- 

 keeping have been w^orked out and published. 



Farm-management surveys. — The initial survey work covered all 

 the farms in four townships of southern New Hampshire. During 

 the past year similar surveys have been made elsewhere in New 

 Hampshire, in Maine, in Indiana, in Illinois, and in Iowa. A total 

 of 1,200 records was obtained, about half of which were from tenants 

 and the others from owners of farms. Analysis of the figures ob- 

 tained from the corn-belt States just mentioned shows that the ordi- 

 nary tenant farmer in the townships surveyed receives an income in 

 direct proportion to the capital invested and the area of land farmed, 

 and nearly twice as ^eat as that of the farm owner. The results 

 also show that those farms whose source of income is from live stock 

 afford much larger labor incomes than those whose main revenues 

 are from the sale of crops. 



History or farm manageivient. — A careful study of the literature 

 available relating to farm management during ancient and medieval 

 times is being made with a view to summarizing for publication such 

 of it as may be of use to modern farmers. 



