THE FARM LAND 67 



other agricultural acts which followed it, down to the basic 

 idea, you come to this fact. The attempts of government to 

 control the use of farm land were all designed to establish a 

 balance. In the first chapter of this book we discussed the bal- 

 ance of nature. The new farm acts were an attempt to balance 

 agriculture so that it would fit in not only with the economic 

 balance but with the balance of nature as well. 



When you understand that, you will have a clear idea of 

 just what is going on in the minds of those people who are 

 struggling with the problems of land use today. 



EXPANDING LAND USE 



This is an important shift in point of view about land use. 

 That shift can be expressed in this way. For generations the 

 key word in land use was expansion. From the point of view 

 of the farmer, expansion meant cultivating more land, growing 

 larger crops. To help this expansion the Department of Agri 

 culture has developed many bureaus. For instance, there are 

 the Bureaus of Plant Industry and Animal Industry, which 

 develop new types of plants and study profitable methods of 

 raising livestock. The Bureau of Agricultural Chemistry and 

 Engineering devises machinery and methods of farming best 

 suited to particular soil types. The Bureau of Entomology and 

 Plant Quarantine concentrates on diseases of plants and ani 

 mals, and administers the laws which restrict the shipment of 

 certain plants and animals because of the diseases they may 

 carry. 



In addition to these there are the many activities of the 

 Department in the states. The Extension Service, for instance, 

 has 9,277 extension workers in the various states and terri 

 tories of the United States to help the farmers grow more and 

 better crops. 66 State agricultural experiment stations coop- 



ee Chart: Dumber of Extension Workers, United States Department of Agri' 

 culture. Extension Service, Division of Cooperative Extension, June, 1938. 



