10 July, 191S.] Agriculture in America. 38Sf 



The Chicago Corn and Oat Pit is an interesting place. The " pit " 

 is about 30 feet in diameter, and during the sales is crowded with 

 brokers standing on tiers of steps yelling and signalling to one anotlier. 

 You would imagine you were at the finish of an exciting Cup Race at 

 Flemington, only the noise is sustained from 9.30 to 1.30 each day. 

 Through the courtesy of the President of the Board of Trade, I was 

 admitted to the "floor" of the" room, and became one of the surging 

 mass of humanity in the pit. The unit of trading is 5,000 bushels, 

 and hundreds of thousands of bushels change hands with a nod or a 

 sign. It is a fascinating sight, but not as exciting as the scenes formerly 

 witnessed in the " Wheat Pit." This latter has been closed since the 

 Government fixed the price of wheat. Each broker is his own auctioneer 

 — he merely stands in the centre of the pit and intimates he wishes to 

 buy or sell, say, 200,000 bushels, at a price, and he is bombarded with 

 quotations and quantities by his colleagues, and in a few seconds the 

 corn changes hands. An officer standing on an elevated platform sends 

 out the changes of the market every minute by means of an electrical 

 apparatus which records the prices of corn, oats, lard, &c., in a dozen 

 different parts of the building. Any one with a speculative spirit could 

 satisfy his desires in a Pit at Chicago. 



While at Chicago, I called at the International Harvester Company's 

 offices, and got in touch with Professor Holden, who is in charge of the 

 extension work of the International Harvester Company. This Exten- 

 sion Department does fine campaign work in the United States, and 

 sends lecturers and agents out all over America to do what a State 

 Department of Agriculture does in Australia. Dr. Holden is a live 

 wire, and has an army of specialists and lecturers to help in improving 

 agricultural practice by means of bulletins, lectures, farmers' institutes, 

 experimental plots, the whole cost of which is borne by the Harvester 

 Company. 



I append a few notes regarding the Colleges at Kansas and Iowa. 

 Both of these Colleges have been very successful, and are remarkably 

 well supported by the farmers and by the State. They have made 

 remarkable progress during the past ten years. The development has 

 arisen from the necessity for more intensive direction of the agricultural 

 industries. There has come to the community a recognition that the 

 land must be better worked and live stock more efficiently handled in 

 order to secure the highest returns from the rich soil of the middle west. 

 Land values increased considerably, and, with the rise in land values, a 

 system of live-stock farming and feeding, which had to adjust itself to 

 the newer range of values, became imperative. The Kansas and Iowa 

 Colleges seem to be regarded by the farmers as a kind of Mecca to which 

 they may go to have their problems solved. When farmers' courses are 

 advertised, the farmers attend in thousands. Most of the young men 

 at these Colleges come from the land. Approximately, half the graduates: 

 go back to the land after graduation. 



At both Colleges, the Animal Husbandry courses are particularly 

 strong. A fortnight ago, several hundred cattle breeders spent a week 

 at Iowa investigating the experimental feeding results of the Animal 

 Husbandry Department. 



