8 CIRCULAK NO. 116, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 



sands of people are engaged and which furnishes subsistence for 

 millions of human beings. Without any question, the wild relatives 

 of our cultivated crop plants are destined to receive a most thorough 

 overhauling. Even the most obscure of them must be secured, studied, 

 put under culture, and made available for the student of this new 

 botany and for the crop physiologist. 



AGRICULTURAL EFFICIENCY THROUGH SOCIAL PRESSURE. 



Thus far Ave have considered the problem of the improvement of 

 our crop plants from the standpoint of the plants themselves, with 

 tJie object of placing in each locality the types of plants best adapted 

 to the climate and soil of the region. There is another equally, if 

 not more important principle to be considered, namely, that of the 

 proper education of the men who are to grow these plants. It is be- 

 coming increasingly evident that the problems of modern agriculture 

 require the education not merely of the individual farmer, but of 

 the whole community. The most efficient crop cultures are those car- 

 ried on by communities where many people are interested in crop 

 problems and where there is what might be called a social pressure 

 tending to maintain a high standard of excellence on the part of the 

 workmen, as well as of the owners themselves. This may be illus- 

 trated by the problem of orange or apple culture or any other highly 

 developed fruit industry. If a man with only a general knowledge 

 of the subject buys an orchard in the region where these cultures 

 are being carried on in an extensive way, he finds it very easy to catch 

 the spirit of the work and to develop critical judgment and high 

 efficiency. Even more, the very workmen themselves are' permeated 

 with the spirit and are kept up to a high standard for fear of ridicule 

 on the part of the other workmen in the community. In other words, 

 the whole community acts as a unit, and new workmen as well as new 

 proprietors are rapidly whipped into line and taught the elemental 

 lessons of efficiency. How different the condition where a man at- 

 tempts to maintain a highly developed fruit industry in some back- 

 ward eastern community, for instance, where he is looked upon by the 

 old settlers as a man with new-fangled ideas and meets with the 

 silent contempt and stubborn resistance of his workmen, who are 

 persuaded that the old-fashioned methods to which they are accus- 

 tomed are better than his new and perhaps more effective ones. It 

 is very difficult for such a man to maintain a high degree of efficiency 

 and to secure and keep capable workmen. 



Organized community action has long been recognized as essential 

 in the proper marketing of agricultural products, and its advantages 

 are very obvious in the purchase of fertilizers and machinery and in 

 the organization and maintenance of irrigation districts and other 



[Cir. 116] 



