392 EXPEKIMENT STATION EECORD. 



Wholesale prices in Canada, S. F. Culver (Daily Cons, and Trade Rpts. 

 iU. S.'], 15 (1912), No. 115, pp. 618, 619).— This report brings out the fact that 

 wholesale prices in Canada reached during 1911 a general level higher than in 

 any previous year within the present generation. The prices of grains and 

 fodder increased 5.8 per cent over 1910, fish 1..5 per cent, and other foods 11.8 

 per cent, although the prices of animals and meats decreased 10.2 per cent 

 and dairy products 0.9 per cent. This decline is attributed to feed shortage. 

 Imported foods, including sugar, were decidedly higher. Potatoes sold at $1.24 

 a bushel, compared with 58.3 cents in 1910. Prices of flour and apples were 

 lower while peaches and pears were higher than in 1910. 



Prices and wages in India {Prues and Wages India, gS (1911), pp. VI-{- 

 230). — Tabular statements giving details as to average annual retail prices of 

 the leading crops and the prices of staple articles of import and export in 1873 

 and from 1886 to 1911 in British ludia, together with statements as to average 

 monthly wages of skilled and unskilled labor at the end of 1873 and of each 

 year since 1886. 



Crop Reporter (JJ. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Statls. Crop Reporter, 14 (1912), No. 5, 

 pp. SS-J/O, figs. 2). — Tables and notes are given showing cotton acreage and 

 yield per «cre in 1911, by States; crop conditions May 1, 1912, with comparisons; 

 the mean dates when the planting of specified crops begins, is most general, and 

 ends, by States; farm value of important products on particular dates, by 

 States; production, marketings, variation in prices of eggs, and averages paid 

 to producers in the United States; causes and extent of cotton damage, 1909- 

 1911; mileage operated by railroads making organized efiiorts to promote agri- 

 culture ; iponthly receipts and stocks of eggs and poultry in the United States ; 

 range of prices of agricultural products at important marl^ets; condition in 

 terms of prospective yield per acre of a number of crops, based upon averages 

 for the five years, 1906-1910; and temperature and precipitation statistics. 



It is noted that 30 per cent of the farmers of the corn area of the United 

 States tested their seed corn with an average germination of 85.2 per cent. 



AGRICTILTTJRAL EDUCATION. 



How the States may aid their farmers, A. C. True (Country Gent., 77 

 (1912), No. 18, p. 6). — The varied functions performed by state departments of 

 agriculture are briefly mentioned, and their functions under an ideal system of 

 state government are discussed. According to this system state departments 

 of agriculture would be considered as branches of state governments the funda- 

 mental l)usiness of which would be the execution of the laws relating to agri- 

 culture, involving, for example, the control of fertilizers, feeding stuffs, plant 

 and animal diseases, injurious insects, management of state forests, fa^rs, etc. 

 It should also be their business to provide a method for the regular collection 

 and dissemination of economic data relating to agriculture and rural com- 

 munities, by thoroughly trained statisticians and economists. They should be 

 relieved of resiwnsibility for farmers' institutes and other forms of educa- 

 tional extension, as well as for research work, which are lines of work more 

 properly belonging to the agricultural colleges and experiment stations, and, 

 in turn, these latter institutions should be freed from police duties and other 

 administrative functions. "The great lines of cleavage for the experiment 

 stations, agricultural colleges, and state departments of agriculture are indi- 

 cated by the terms research, education, and administration," but in each State 

 there should be worked out a system of coordination and cooperation among all 

 public agencies for the advancement of agriculture. 



[Agricultural instruction in general, and its adaptation, particularly of 

 rural primary instniction, to the agricultural population of the country]. 



