94 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



RURAL ECONOMICS. 



The business side of agriculture, A. G. L. Rogers (London: Methuen & Co., 

 1904, pp. UP).— This book is a study of the economic problems of the English farmer, 

 with especial reference to the methods of marketing farm products. 



The introductory chapter deals with the farmer and his markets. The fact is 

 especially emphasized that the English farmer is a business man, that he "seeks to 

 make money exactly as the manufacturer does." The reasons given for the English 

 farmers being so distinctively commercial agriculturists are that (1) they are practi- 

 cally all tenant farmers and invariably pay cash rent, and (2) they depend more 

 largely upon the market for the articles of every-day consumption than do the farm- 

 ers of most other countries; the bread supply, for example, is bought ready-baked. 

 These demands for money make it necessary for the farmer to center his thought 

 and energy upon the one problem of putting upon the market those products which 

 will best replenish his bank account. 



Chapters II and III are devoted to a discussion of the "traditional methods" of 

 marketing the various products of the farm, including cereals, hops, fruits, vegeta- 

 bles, live stock and live-stock products. Special attention is given to the methods 

 of marketing wheat in America and England. The great variety of weights and 

 measures which still remain in use in the rural districts and the different methods 

 of making the sales are described in considerable detail. 



To the English farmer the marketing of live stock and dairy products is more 

 important than the marketing of grain. "Barely one-seventh of the supply of wheat 

 consumed by the nation is grown in these islands, while more than one-half of the 

 meat eaten at home is home-bred." There are two methods commonly used in dis- 

 posing of live stock. The first is by direct sale; the second by auction. Where 

 the first method is used the custom is for the seller to seek his purchasers by adver- 

 tising widely in the agricultural and other newspapers. The most common method 

 of selling live stock, however, is by auction, and these auctions take place most com- 

 monly at the markets. "Nearly every large town has its market, some more than 

 one, while many quite insignificant villages have their sale yards; and other places 

 are known entirely by the great fairs held there once or more often every autumn 

 ( >r spring. There are about nine hundred such places in Great Britain." 



The fourth, which is also the last, chapter is devoted to a discussion of "some of 

 the schemes that have been devised in recent years by persons or organizations 

 interested in the prosperity of the agricultural classes to assist them to dispose of 

 their produce to better advantage." The principal organizations described are the 

 following: The National Poultry Organization Society; the Produce Supply Associa- 

 tion; the Agricultural Organization Society; the Irish Agricultural Organization 

 Society; the Irish Agricultural Wholesale Society; and the Irish Beekeepers' 

 Federation. 



The influence of farm machinery on production and labor, H. W. Quain- 

 tance ( Pubs. A, urr. Econ. Assoc, 3. ser., 5 (1904), No. 4, pp. 1-106). -^This monograph 

 contains a discussion of the course of agricultural production as contrasted with the 

 increase in population. It discusses the increase in cultivated area per farm worker 

 and the greater effectiveness of farm workers when aided by machinery, the cost of 

 production by hand and by machine methods, the wages of labor under hand and 

 under machine methods, the influence of machinery upon fluctuations in quantity 

 and quality of product, upon the size of farms, the life and general welfare of the 

 farmer, and upon the length of the working day. 



Largely owing to the introduction of new forms of machinery, the area of land 

 devoted to the crops in the production of which machinery has come to be generally 

 used has increased from 23.3 acres in 1880 to 31 acres per male worker in 1900. The 

 general conclusion is reached that the introduction of agricultural machinery during 



