396 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



population, the number of women employed in agriculture, the National Live- 

 stock Insurance Union, and the extent of the insurance of horses in Bavaria. 



In 1909, of a population of 6,800,000, 40 ]3er cent was engaged in agriculture 

 as compared with an average of 28.7 per cent for the empire. The census of 

 1907 showed 873,000 women as against 825,000 men engaged in agricultural pur- 

 suits, the number of non-independent women amounting to 63.3 per cent of the 

 total non-independent rural laborers. The conditions seem to demand an in- 

 creased force of female agriculturists for teaching women how to become more 

 efficient in the modern important and profitable ways of general farming, poultry 

 raising, fruit and vegetable growing, dairying, etc. The number of local live- 

 stock insurance unions affiliated with the national union was 1,689 in 1909, with 

 85,117 members, as compared with 1,646 societies and 83,982 members the pre- 

 ceding year, while the horse insurance societies on October 31, 1909, numbered 

 477 with 34,991 members insuring 80,811 horses valued at $13,007,967. 



Mortgage relations in Prussia from 1904 to 1908, F. Kuhnert {Landw. 

 Wchnhl. ScJiles. Hoist., 60 {1910), No. J,2, pp. 801-804).— The agricultural mort- 

 gage movement in Prussia is discussed, statistics being given for the period ex- 

 tending from April 1, 1886, to March 31, 1909, but more particularly for the 

 5-year period from 1904 to IDOS. During this time mortgages in rural dis- 

 tricts were registered to the amount of $1,397,752,580, and redeemed to the 

 amount of $795,077,080. The cancellation of mortgages under forced sale 

 amounted to $65,040,640, or about 8 per cent of the total amount of mortgage 

 cancellation. 



[Agricultural statistics and conditions in New South. Wales], J. B. Teivett 

 (Off. Yearbook N. S. Wales, 1908-9, pp. 20-38, lkO-119, 252-5i6).— Statistical 

 data are presented and discussed regarding the population, laud legislation and 

 settlement, rural settlement, agriculture, pastoral industry, and dairying in 

 New South Wales to 1909. 



Only about 31 per cent of the population resided in rural districts, and the 

 number of holdings of one acre and upward in extent acquired from the goA-- 

 ernment by grant or purchase has been 83,045, with a total area of 50,509,842 

 acres. Of this area only 2,713,971 acres was in crops and 807,924 acres in 

 grass. The number of live stock in 1908 was horses 591,045, cattle 2,955,934, 

 sheep 43,370,797, and pigs 215,822, while the number of dairy cows was 527,843. 

 The development of the province in the different lines of agi'icultural industry 

 is indicated by comparative figures covering a large number of years. 



Outlines of agriculture in Japan, C. Shimooka {Tokyo: Govt., 1910, pp. 

 IX-\-122, pis. 19, map 1). — Abridged and revised from a work previously noted 

 (E. S. R., 22, p. 91). 



The introduction of improvements into Indian agriculture, H. H. Mann 

 {Philippine Ayr. licv. [English Ed.], 3 {1910), No. 9, pp. 525-535).— This article 

 enumerates the difficulties, such as conservatism and lack of initiative on the 

 part of farmers in India, lack of capital, and annual interest rates ranging 

 from 25 to 75 per cent, which have to be met in efforts to improve agricultural 

 methods in India. During the past few years, however, the government has 

 made some progress in the introduction of improvements into Indian agricul- 

 ture, and this article summarizes the opinion of a committee appointed by the 

 board of agriculture in 1908 to consider methods of improvement and their 

 applicability in the future. 



Among the suggestions made are for careful experimenting and study as to the 

 adaptability of a given implement or crop to certain localities, the securing 

 of the confidence of the rural people, the formation of local associations of 

 agriculturists for cooperation and discussion in the vernacular, demonstration 

 farms among the cultivators themselves to show the value of crops and ma- 

 chinery, government assistance in furnishing large quantities of good seed, a 



