I 



19171 EURAL ECONOMICS. 289 



California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minne- 

 sota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, 

 Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. A de- 

 scription is also given of the systems of road administration, fiscal management, 

 and other factors affecting road improvement in each State. 



Public road mileag'e and revenues in the United States, 1914: A sumiuary 

 (U. S. Dcpt. Agr. Bui. S90 (1917), pp. 11, fig. i).— This is a summary, prepared 

 jointly by the Office of Public Roads and Rural Engineering and State collabo- 

 rators and baseil upon Bulletins 386, 387, 388, and 389, showing for each State 

 the total and surfaced mileage of public roads at the close of 1914, revenues 

 for roads and bridges in 1914, State and local road and bridge bonds outstand- 

 ing January 1, 1915, and other related data. 



Maine State Highway Commission ([Augusta, Me.: State, 1915], pp. 

 6^+20). — This pamphlet gives the texts of the laws of Maine relating to the 

 laying out, construction, and maintenance of liighways under the supervision 

 of the State highway commission, Including the law of the road. A section is 

 appended on an act to establish a State highway commission and to provide 

 for an issue of State highway bonds. 



Building a farm poultry house in northwestern Minnesota, C. E. Brown 

 (ilinncsota Sta., Rpt. Crookston Substa., 1910-1916, pp. 97-102, figs. 6).— Tliis 

 Is a brief outline of the essentials of poultry-house con.struction for northern 

 latitudes, including plans showing certain structural details. 



Poultry management (Minnesota Sta. Rpt. 1916, pp. 78, 79). — A study of 

 tlie comparative values of glass and muslin screening in poultry-house construc- 

 tion sho\ve<l that the average temperature was lower for the muslin front 

 than for the glass front at 7 a. m., 1 p. m., and 7 p. m. Observations were made 

 from January 12 to March 31, inclusive. 



RURAL ECONOMICS. 



Pood supply of the United States, D. F. Houston (U. 8. Dept. Agr. Rpts. 

 1916, pp. 10-13).— It is pointed out that within the perioil 1889-1915, in- 

 clusive, the population of the Nation has increased 26,000,000, or 33 per cent, 

 but that, notwithstanding this very rapid increase in population, the per capita 

 pnxiuction of fish, cereals, potatoes, and vegetables has remained approximately 

 the same, or has increased slightly. The per capita production of meat and 

 dairy products, which constituted 37 i^er cent of the average diet, has not kept 

 poce with the increase in population. The activities of the Department have 

 taken two important directions to increase the supply, that is, by checking 

 and eliminating disease and parasites, ^ind by increasing and improving stock 

 raising by extending the industry where conditions are favorable and by point- 

 ing out the way to better breeding and feeding. With all the agencies now 

 available for improving agriculture, there is said to be reason for optimism 

 as to the ability of the Nation, not only to supply itself with food, hut in- 

 creasingly to meet the neetls of the world. 



Some fundamental considerations affecting the food supply of the United 

 States, T. F. Hunt (California Sta. Circ. 163 (1917), pp. S-13, fig. i).— On this 

 memorandum prepared for the committee on resources and food supply of the 

 State Council of Defense, the author points out that the Nation can not be 

 starved as long as there is an abundance of corn and cotton. It is not deemed 

 advisable to attempt to control food production by legal or military means, nor 

 is admonition necessary to the farmer to grow materials so long as he under- 

 stands which are likely, in the long run, to bring him the best returns for his 



