RURAL ECONOMICS. 



895 



other industries. Large scale farming is also handicapped in that section of 

 Alaska, because of the small areas of arable land, the expense of clearing land, 

 and the prevalence of chickweed. Grasses are thought to offer the greatest 

 agricultural possibilities and stock raising is considered the most promising 

 line of farming. 



Agriculture (Statis. Jahrb. Schiceiz, 19 (1910), pp. //0-6-J).— Tables taken 

 from results of the industrial census in Switzerland August, 1905, are given, 

 .■showing (1) the total number of persons engaged in agriculture according to 

 sex, class, size of farm, age, and nationality, (2) the legal relation as to owner- 

 ship of farms, (3) the kind of farming as indicated by the size and extent of 

 farms, and the number of persons engaged, (4) itinerant farm laborers, (5) the 

 acreage devoted to different farm purposes, and (6) the utilization of machinery 

 and other tools on farms. 



Out of 763,915, the total number engaged in agriculture, 56.6 per cent were 

 males ; 14.6 per cent were over 14 and under 20 years of age ; 71.7 per cent over 

 20 and under 60 years of age. and 13.7 per cent 60 years and over ; 97.2 per cent 

 were Swiss, and the remainder Germans, Austro-Hungarians, Italians, and 

 French. 



[Agricultural machinery, live stock, etc.] (Statis. Jahrb. Deut. Reich, 52 

 {1911), pp. Sl-42). — Tables and statistics collected by the German Government 

 showing the use of farm machinery in different kinds of agricultural work, 

 an inventory of live stock, and data as to agricultural enterprises conducted 

 on farms of varying sizes in the several states of Germany, are presented. 



The following table shows the kind and number of implements used in the 

 Empire on 5 sizes of farms: 



Number of farm machines in use on German farms. 



Total. 



Number of farms 



Steam plows 



Drills and seed distributors 



Mowers 



Cultivators 



Steam threshers 



Other threshers 



Potato planters 



Potato diggers 



Meat grinders 



Milk separators 



1,497,975 



2,995 



290, 039 



301,325 



14, 412 



488, 867 



947,003 



2.660 



11,004 



29,332 



336,906 



Agriculture (Dvplo. and Cons. Rpts. [London], Ann. Ser., 1911, No. JtlSl, pp. 

 57-59). — With respect to agriculture this report points out that the future 

 outlook of the Russian peasant is to an extent encouraging, as the government 

 and public institutions are now giving him effective help in several ways. " By 

 being freed from the village community he gains the incentive of private owner- 

 ship of his land; the Peasants' Agrarian Bank helps him to purchase land to 

 be worked as independent small farmsteads ; the cooperative and credit associa- 

 tions give him the credit necessary to purchase seed, cattle, and implements." 



The Zemstvos are reported as aiding the peasants materially through their 

 test farms where the peasants see the concrete results of better farming. 

 Through lectures and demonstrations they also teach the peasants how to in- 

 crease the yield of their farms and show them the advantage of longer rota- 

 tions of crops, the use of better types of farm implements, and the proper 

 cultural methods. 



