134 



Minnesota Unfavorable. ■ 



Mississippi No reply. 



Missouri Favor;il)le; some in-ogress in federating alrcjuly niado. 



Montana May iittempt federation the coming winter. 



Nebraska No dclinite report. 



Nevada Impossible for a year or two. 



New IIami)sliire__Unf:iV()rable at outset, but showing signs of a chiuige of atti- 

 tude. 



New Mexico No reply. 



North Carolina Action in concert, but no ollicial federation at present. 



North Dakota No farmers" organizations, hut favoralilc to fedcratinu. 



Ohio Favoralilc. 



Oklahoma A practical though not oliicial federation at present. 



Oregon Federation not needed at present. 



South Carolina Indelinite resiujnse. 



South Dakota P^avorable. 



Tennessee Matter under investigation. 



Utah No reply. 



Vermont Nothing has been done as yet. 



Virginia Being organized at present. 



Washington Federation under way at present. 



Wisconsin Need not felt at present. 



Wyoming No organizations to federate. 



While your committee can not report great success in its work, it is evident 

 that a fair amount has been accomplished already in the past year, and that if 

 followed up persistently most of the States may perhaps lie led to establish 

 federations. 



H. J. Wheeler, 

 Chas. D. Woods, 

 H. J. Patterson, 



Committee. 

 The report was accepted and the committee continued. 



Soil Fertiijty in liEL.vnox to Permanent Agriculture. 

 C. G. Hopkins, of Illinois, read the following paper upon this subject: 



If the combined efforts of the I'Uited States Department of Agriculture and 

 the various State experiment stations result in the discovery, and the ultimate 

 adoption by farmers and landowners, of iirotitable systems of permanent agri- 

 culture, it must forever stnnd as the greatest achievement in American industry 

 and as the surest guaranty of permanent n.ational lu-osperity. 



Several soil experiment fields are being conducted on the various types of soil 

 in the different sections of Illinois by the Illinois State Experiment Station. 

 At a recent conference of the farmers and landowners upon whose farms the'-e 

 experiment lields are located, the statement was made by one of the gentlemen 

 present that when he was Ixirn 11ier(> was not a mile of railroad in the United 

 States. He was l)orn only twenty-five years after Washington died. These 

 statements help us to realize that America, as a nation, is very young. 



This same gentleman. Col. N. P.. Morrison, of southern Illinois, stated that he 

 had not only seen the development of the entire American railroad system, but 

 that he had also seen the essential ruin of agricultural lands by regions in these 

 United States. 



Are there tracts of land in this new country whose productive capacity has 

 been reduced V 



Are there fields in Virginia \vhi(h once grew great crops of corn and tobacco 

 but which are now ab.-mdoiied ;ind disowned, so th.-it no man pays taxes upon 

 them ? 



Are there farms in the famous Mohawk Valley which can now be purchased 

 for less than the farm buildings (nice cost? 



Are there agricultural lands in the Western Reserve which were sold half a 

 centurv ago for more than .*<1(M> an acre, and which can now be bought for less 

 than .$.">(>•.' 



Are there farms in Indian.i and in southern Illinois whose cash value is less 

 to-day than thirty years agoV 



