RURAL ECONOMICS. 689 



area of 0.267 acre per head. Japan is a country of small hoklinjis. Farms 

 below 2 acres formed r>5 per cent, those between 2 and 3J acres 30 per cent, and 

 tho.*^e abtive 33 acres 15 per cent, the average for the country at large being 2..") 

 acres. 



Information is also given regarding Japanese niannrlal practices, the jjrcpani- 

 tion of composts, the governmental organization of agricultural education and 

 research, experiment station work, and agricultural associations. Probably 

 in no other country in the world are the latter so general and so well organized 

 as in Japan. liecentJy there were in existence 58.547 associations in 47 prefect- 

 ures, 03S counties, and 13.509 towns and villages. The extensive work imder- 

 taken by the village associations is also described. 



Agriculture in Japan, F. A. Nicholson {Jour. Jamaica Agr. Soc, 12 {lOOS), 

 Xo. JO, III). .S2f>-3.li). — A summary of the above. 



Cooperative farming, W. Bul.strode {London, 1908, pp. 23). — This pamphlet 

 outlines a plan of cooperative farming on a large scale which if put into practice 

 it is believed would ofler a solution of the pi'oblem of rural depopulation in 

 England and be of far-reaching and lasting benefit to national i)rosperity. 



The economic and social significance of agricultural cooperative associa- 

 tions in Germany, M. Gkabein ( Wirti^cliaftlichc und sozialc Bedeutung der 

 lUndlichcii (Jcnosscnschaften in Deutschland. Tilbingen, 1908, pp. VIII+196). — 

 This is a history of the different kinds of agricultural cooperative associations 

 iu Germany from their origin to the year 1907. 



Land and agricultural banks in European countries, A. K. Eckerbom {K. 

 Landthr. Akad. Jlmidl. och Tidskr., J,7 (JU08), Xo. J, pp. lJ.3-].',5). 



The farm help problem, B. W. Potter {Agr. of Mass., 1907, pp. 139-163).— 

 This is a paper read at the public winter meeting of the Massachusetts State 

 Board of Agriculture held at Boston, December 3-5, 1907. 



The speaker discusses the causes of the scarcity of farm help in Massachu- 

 setts, chief of which he believes is found in the unprosperous condition of agri- 

 culture in the State. Among the remedies suggested are making life more 

 attractive for the laborer on the farm, such as providing plenty of good food, 

 comfortable sleeping rooms or separate homes, not more than ten hours of 

 labor, treating him well socially, and giving him employment the year aromul; 

 the use of more and better agricultural macliinery and the undertaking of those 

 branches of agriculture such as meat production which recpiire the emi)loyment 

 of less labor; the proper education of farmers' children to keep them on the 

 farms; the payment of wages commensurate with or superior to those paid in 

 factories and other town occupations; and the selling of products by farmers 

 directly to consumers, either individually or through cooperative associations. 



The paper is followed by a discussion. 



[Agricultural labor conditions in Germany] {Ztsclir. AgrarpoUtik, 6 

 {1908), Xo. 10, pp. 't28-'}'i.')). — Sunnuiiries of otiicial reports relating to agricul- 

 tural labor conditions in the difTerenl jtrovinces in 1907 and 190S are presented 

 in this article. 



How can the ever-increasing scarcity of German agricultural laborers be 

 prevented? Kayser {Deut. Landw. Prcssc, 35 (1908), Xo. 8}, pp. 882, 883).— 

 The author shows how the numl)er of rural families have decreased in (lermany 

 since 1S71 by endgration to America and other countries, removal to the cities, 

 employment on railroads and in the industries, and sinular ways, and enumer- 

 ates llie reasons for rural depoi)ulation. Tlu' only remedy in the autlior's opin- 

 ion i.s tlie payment of higher wages t<> farm hands and giving lliem l)etter home 

 Hurroimdings. To tliis end the autlior proposes to tax every farmer wlio employs 

 a foreign farm laborer 50 marks ;i year. Tliis tax it is estimated would yield 

 an Income of about 30,000,000 marks (about .'t;7,(»»t(».(i(Mt) wbich should be de- 



