lOL'(i) KURAT. ECONOMICS. 193 



»'(luc:\ti(iii, public lit'iiltli, and nir:il 7-<'li.i,'iiiiis life. SuKSf'stivc constitutinns and 

 l).v-Ia\vs are (iiitlined. 



A system of records for local farmers' mutual fire insurance companies, 

 V. N. Vai.(;rkn (U. S. Dipt. A(/r. Bui. SJ,0 (1<J20), pu. 2.1 fi(/f<. i2).— The suK- 

 jtested system is based on a policy iej,dster plan, tbc books <if which comprise a 

 policy rejrister, a bo(jk for increases and cancellations, a cash receipts book, a 

 cash (li.5l)ursements boolc, an index book or its equivalent in a set of index 

 cards, and two intended for the keeping of a historical summary of the com- 

 pany's business in condensed form. Each of these are described in technical 

 detail as to form and the making of entries. The making of an annual report is 

 also described. 



The standard day's work in central Illinois, H. R. Tolley and L. M. 

 Chukcii {U. *S. Dcpt. Af/r. Bui. 8I4 {1920), pp. 32, figs, ii).— Estimates taken 

 during the winter of 191S and 1919 from nearly 000 farmers in McClean County, 

 III., of the average number of acres cov(>red per day in different farm opera- 

 tions, including plowing, harrowing, planting, cultivating, cutting, and husking 

 corn ; seeding, harvesting, and unloading grain, haying, and hauling and spread- 

 ing manure, according to size of the implement or team or the average number 

 of minutes required per load in handling hay, ear corn, oats, and manure 

 ai-e tabulated separately and sunmiarized. llesults obtained in this inquiry are 

 compared with those previously noted (E. S. R., 35, p. 892), particularly as 

 regards plowing, harrowing, and disking; operations on the corn crop; seeding 

 and harvesting grain; and haying. 



Farm labor, D. D. Lescohikr (In The Labor Market. Neio York: The Mao- 

 miUan Co., 1919, pp. 276-306, figs. 3).— The chapter under this title in the 

 author's study of the labor market gives a survey of the farm labor demands 

 of a number of typical States or sections as dependent upon differences in tem- 

 perature, topography of the country, and type of crops raised. The points are 

 emphasized that employment agencies and agricultural organizations interested 

 in the fiirmers' supply of labor must study the local agriculture and adapt their 

 policies to the particular demands of the community, and that diversified 

 agriculture being the system which olfers steady demand for skilled workers is 

 therefore the only kind of agriculture which offers an economic inducement to 

 competent fai-m hands. It is said that steady employment, wages that will 

 support a family, houses for married men's families, and opportunities of 

 welfare equal to those in our city employments must be assured for the develop- 

 ment of a permanent class of reliable farm laborers. 



Will agricultural prices fall? E. G. Nottrse {Jour. Polit. Econ., 28 {1920), 

 No. S, pp. 189-218). — The author sketches the growing concern for and activity 

 of farmers' organizations in the maintenance of prices of agricultural products, 

 together with those factors tending to force prices down, such as the waning of 

 the European demand and of the inclination and ability of consumers at home 

 to pay high prices, and the increased facility of long-distance transportation, 

 which will almost inevitably bring cheaper products of new lands into competi- 

 tion with our home supply. It is maintained that the chief service and real 

 power of the farmers' organizations will hereafter lie in learning the effectiye 

 available demand for agricultural products and the sources and extent of rival 

 supplies. It is said that a most promising line of endeavor will be also in 

 protecting the farmers' net returii by making costs move down in conformity 

 with inevitable declines in selling prices, as well as in fostering productive 

 and marketing efficiency and checking advances In transportation charges. 



Monthly Crop Reporter {U. S. Dept. Ayr., Mo. Crop Rptr., 6 {1920), No. 4, 

 pp. SS-IfO, fig. 1). — The usual estimates, brief notes, and tabular data on 

 acreage condition, production, farm and market value, and prices received for 



I 



