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31is.s(/nri Aijriciill iiral U< [xirL 



MISSOURI FARM FACTS AND RURAL PROBLEMS. 



(By W. L. Nelson, Assistant Secretary Board of Agriculture.) 



INTRODUCTORY. . 



A number of months ago the autlior mailed a 

 list of some seventy questions, dealing with coun- 

 try life conditions, to the six hundred correspond- 

 ents of the ]\Iissouri State Board of Agriculture. 

 The replies cover the 114 counties of the State 

 and give a valuable insight into farming from the 

 farmer's viewpoint. 



It is very gratifying to note that the answers 

 received are not those of ranting demagogues or 

 w. L. NELSON. chronic fault-finders, but of thoughtful, intelli- 



gent men, who see many remedies within their own reach, men who 

 have more to say of the need of crop rotation, soil conservation, better 

 seed and M^ell-bred stock, than of trusts, combines and monopolies. True, 

 the need of country co-operation is frequently mentioned, just as is the 

 importance of a from-country-to-customer trade with its promise of 

 doing away with so many middlemen, who are said to be responsible 

 for more than fifty per cent, of the cost of farm products to the consumer. 

 Considering the general character of the replies, it may be said that 

 ranting has given place to reason ; the talker, to the thinker ; the doubter, 

 to the doer. 



GREATEST FARM NEED OR PROBLEM. 



One question submitted was, "What, in your opinion, is the greatest 

 need of the farmer of today, or the greatest problem with which he must 

 contend V 



Of 440 correspondents who replied to this question, 286 seem to 

 have considered the need, while 154 evidently had in mind the problem. 

 It is, of course, impossible to divide the replies with exactness. 



Of the replies received. 111, practically one-fourth of the entire 

 number, or almost 40 per cent, of those who answered the question from 

 the problem viewpoint, answered, "Hired help." Sixty-two correspond- 

 ents, or 14 per cent, of the entire number, believe that the maintenance 

 and improvement of soil fertility is the greatest problem with which 

 the farmer must contend. Good roads, according to 47 correspondents, 



