108 PRINCIPLES OF RURAL ECONOMICS 



advantage to grow the corn and the bacon necessary for his 

 sustenance, the storekeeper tended to discourage this because 

 it would make the farmer less dependent upon the store. Corn 

 and bacon were the articles which were sold to the farmers in 

 largest quantities. "The raising of corn would not only give a 

 less marketable crop into the hands of the merchant, but it would 

 eventually lose him his customers, for the raising of his own 

 supplies would release the farmer from the necessity of doing 

 business on a credit basis." l 



4. The Period of Reorganization** 



About the year 1888 began a series of changes which pro- 

 duced a profound reaction on the whole agricultural situation in 

 the United States, though the results did not begin to be visible 

 until almost a decade later. This date is chosen as the begin- 

 ning of the new period because of the fundamental importance 

 of these changes. In the preceding year Congress passed the 

 famous Hatch Act or Experiment Station Act. In the year 

 1888 began the enlarged organization of the teaching of agricul- 

 ture under the stimulus of this act. This was the beginning of a 

 more comprehensive and systematic application of the principles 

 of experimental science to agriculture than had ever been at- 

 tempted before. There had been experiment stations before this 

 time, not only in European countries but in some of the eastern 

 states as well ; but under this act they were organized on a more 

 extensive scale and their work coordinated more effectively than 

 ever before. Prior to 1888 there had been 20 experiment 

 stations in the country, but in that year alone 26 new ones 

 were established. Again, the pioneering period in American 



1 Hammond, " The Cotton Industry," Publications of the American Eco- 

 nomic Association (New Series), 1899, Vol. I, p. 151. 



2 See also Bailey's Cyclopedia of American Agriculture (New York, 1909), 

 Vol. IV, pp. 68 ff. The Macmillan Company. 



