1918.1 PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 19a 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL 

 ECONOMICS. 



ALEXANDER E. CANCE. 



The work of the department this year has been prosecuted 

 along two lines, — first, the regular research projects, and 

 second, war emergency projects requiring immediate attention 

 and less thorough inv^estigation. 



Regular Projects. 

 The investigation into methods and cost of tobacco market- 

 ing has been continued by Mr. S. H. DeVault, research assist- 

 ant, and is being rounded into shape. As an incident of this 

 investigation he has been asked by groups of farmers to present 

 plans for some marketing organization of farmers, by means of 

 which the production and market distribution of the tobacco of 

 the Connecticut Valley may be conducted more economically. 



Emergency Projects. 



(a) Census of Agricultural Production. — The department 

 holds that any intelligent program of farm production must be 

 based on a knowledge of the agricultural resources, — land and 

 equipment, — labor and previous farm practices. There are no 

 such facts available by towns later than 1905. For this reason 

 the department initiated and directed such a census in Hamp- 

 shire, Franklin, Berkshire and Worcester counties, beginning 

 early in April, 1917. The data were tabulated at the college, 

 and copies sent to the county farm bureaus and the public 

 safety committees of the counties and of each town. 



(6) Consumption Survey. — A survey of the food and feed 

 consumption of every town and city in Hampshire County of 

 5,000 or over population, and 15 towns and cities in Hampden 

 County, was undertaken by Mr. DeVault and assistants last 

 spring. The purpose was to ascertain the food and feed needs 



