CXIV REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



up machines and implements but little thought of in this connection, 

 it will be seen that the changes wrought in the past twenty years have 

 been little less than revolutionary, and have been an important factor 

 in maintaining our commercial supremacy. The invention of the disk 

 harrow to supplement the types formerly used, the invention of the 

 disk plow to compete with the types in use for centuries, the still more 

 recent invention of corn-harvesting machinery, all serve to show the 

 rapidity and radical character of the evolution which is now going on. 



These facts, in connection with the increasing demand for efficient 

 labor-saving devices resulting from the growing scarcity of farm 

 labor and the organization and development in foreign countries 

 of institutions for the sj'stematic study and improvement of farm 

 machinery, renders it important that we should not longer neglect 

 this field of inquiry. There is an excellent opportunity for the Depart- 

 ment to do an important service in promoting the continuance of our 

 agricultural supremacy through the use of farm machinery by inves- 

 tigations regarding the fundamental principles on which the further 

 improvement of such machinery must depend. 



At present the Department is not in a position to answer the numer- 

 ous requests for information on these subjects, and these demands will 

 undoubtedly increase with the growing application of new forms of 

 power to farm work and the development of new kinds of labor-sav- 

 ing machinery. The agricultural colleges and experiment stations 

 throughout the country are beginning to realize the need of such 

 studies, but they find great difficulty in establishing the work on an 

 efficient basis owing to the lack of definite information in available 

 form. It is believed that this Department should undertake to collate 

 and publish such information, as well as to institute investigations 

 ■which will keep the farmers and manufacturers of the country informed 

 of the progress being made and show them the lines in which it may 

 be extended. 



Investigations in agricultural engineering should also include prob- 

 lems relating to the laying out of farms, such as the arrangement of 

 buildings, drains, water supply, and disposal of sewage. The character 

 of the agriculture of the twentieth century has made farm buildings as 

 •complex in design and varied in use as factories, and there is a wide 

 field of study for improvement in design and for determination of the 

 best material to be used in their construction. 



The breeders of high-bred and valuable live stock need to give 

 almost as much attention to stable sanitation as is given to house sani- 

 tation, but the data on which to plan efficient sj'stems of ventilation 

 are of the most limited character. It is believed that careful studies 

 of the designing of farm buildings will be a benefit to agriculture, not 

 only in saving large sums of money in the selection and combination 

 of material used, but in the adoption of more convenient and effective 

 plans. 



