AGRICULTURE 



anyway," said John. Mary expressed a similar 

 idea, and both asked their father to tell them 

 about those common articles of food which we 

 all eat without giving a thought to the source 

 from which they come, or the labor required 

 to prepare them for our use. 



During the next few days Mr. Adams took 

 the children on a number of imaginary jour- 

 neys. With him they visited in fancy the 

 great wheat fields of the Dakotas and Canada, 

 the corn belt in Illinois and Iowa, the cattle 

 ranches of Texas and Montana, the fruit or- 

 chards of the Pacific states, the dairy farms 

 and creameries of Wisconsin, the sugar plan- 

 tations of Louisiana, the beet farms of Mich- 

 igan and Colorado and the poultry farms ne"ar 

 some of our great cities. Then he took them 

 to far-off lands to the coffee plantations of 

 Brazil, the tea gardens of Formosa, the rice 

 plantations of China and the spice groves of 

 India. 



Before these imaginary excursions were 

 ended John and Mary learned that everything 

 they ate, except salt, came from a farm in 

 some part of the world and that agriculture 

 was carried on in every country. But Mr. 

 Adams did not stop here. In the same delight- 

 ful way he led the children to the study of 

 cotton, flax, wool and silk, so that they were 

 convinced that we depend upon the farm for 

 what we wear as well as for what we eat. 

 In their minds the farmer at once became a 

 very important individual. 



Progress of Agriculture. Agriculture began 

 when the first man selected plants for his 

 food. His next step was to scratch the ground 

 with a stick and plant seed. Then he took a 

 forked stick and made a plow with it. Two 

 or more men hauled this plow while another 

 held it in position. But tliis labor was too 

 hard, so man tamed the ox and the ass and 

 made them do the hauling and the carrying of 

 his burdens,, as well. From these simple be- 

 ginnings, agriculture has advanced through the 

 centuries until to-day traction engines haul over 

 our great wheat fields gang plows that turn 

 more than fifty furrows at a time. Later 

 these same engines haul over the fields of 

 ripened grain a machine which at one operation 

 harvests, thrashes and sacks the grain ready 

 for market does everything, one humorist 

 says, except to cash the check for the crop. 



Such has been the progress in agriculture 

 since the middle of the last century that the 

 labor of producing a bushel of wheat with 

 the most modern appliances has been reduced 



94 AGRICULTURE 



from a little over three hours to about ten 

 minutes, and the cost from 17% cents to 3 Ms 

 cents. Formerly it required four and one-half 

 hours' labor to produce a bushel of corn; now 



50 100 150 200 



DECREASING SIZE OF FARMS 

 Average size, in acres, in the United States, 

 from 1850 to 1910. 



it requires less than forty minutes. Then, it 

 cost 35% cents to produce the bushel; now it 

 costs less than ten cents. , Then, it took thirty- 

 five and one-half hours' labor to grow a ton 

 of hay, at a cost of $3.06; now, it takes eleven 

 hours and thirty-four minutes at a cost of 

 $1.29. But this is not all. Production has been 

 increased many fold; new and better varieties 

 of grains, vegetables, fruits and live stock are 

 being constantly produced; the use of agri- 

 cultural machinery has enabled the farmer to 

 give more attention to the business side of his 

 affairs, and the best farms are now operated 

 on a systematic plan which includes both the 

 fields and the home. 



Causes of Progress. While the progress of 

 agriculture may seem to have been slow, it has 

 advanced about as rapidly as other arts. The 

 more rapid advance of recent times is due 

 chiefly to the following causes: 



Transportation. It is of no advantage to the 

 farmer to raise crops that he cannot market, 

 therefore good roads form one of the most 

 essential conditions to his success. Of these 

 the country has far too few, but railways have 

 become so numerous that most farms are now 

 within a few miles of a station if not directly 

 on the railway itself. Increased facilities for 

 marketing his crop have greatly increased the 

 farmers' production. 



Machinery. The machines which have done 

 most towards the progress of agriculture are 

 the harvester, or reaping machine, the gang 

 plow, the seeder and the horse hoe. What 

 these have accomplished in reducing the cost 

 of production is told in the preceding para- 

 graph. Without these inventions cultivation 

 of the large farms in the Prairie states and the 

 Canadian provinces of the Northwest would 

 be impossible. Many other machines have also 

 contributed their share. Among these are the 

 steam thrasher, the traction engine, the gaso- 



