1912-13] AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT 41 



Many reasons might be cited which, in a large measure, have 

 been responsible for this great awakening. Time limits us to 

 but a few. I am of the opinion that the splendid work of Dr. 

 S. A. Knapp, in the South, has contributed largely toward a 

 more progressive idea of farm life. Dr. Knapp organized the 

 forces of Agricultural improvement in the South in such a way 

 that thousands of men, who were living from hand to mouth on 

 almost $175 a year, have been able to grow twice the crops 

 that they grew before, to buy their own homes and educate 

 their children. The surprising thing is, that the boys of the 

 South grew the largest crops of corn that were grown in the 

 entire United States, the average of the ten highest prize win- 

 ners being 375 bushels per acre. This seems incredible, but the 

 matter has been most carefully investigated and found abso- 

 lutely correct. Dr. Knapp's operations have not been confined 

 alone to the belt of the South infested with the cotton boll 

 weevil. The General Board of Education of New York, realiz- 

 ing the need of the same kind of work all over the entire South 

 asked Dr. Knapp, as an official of the Department of Agriculture, 

 to expend over a hundred thousand dollars — contributed by 

 the Board — in similar co-operative movements all over the 

 South. The net result has been that, according to the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, the South, which heretofore grew 

 comparatively littb corn, last year grew one-third of the corn 

 of the United States. These remarkable achievements, un- 

 doubtedly, have had a gr^at effect in educating oar people 

 concerning the possibilities of the soil. The great Agricultural 

 development of the Northwest, the large acreage made possible 

 through methods of dry farming, the work of our Agricultural 

 coUeges have all contributed their share. Finally, the New 

 York Laad Show, our Boston Fruit Show, and our New Eng- 

 land Corn Show have been a means of stimulating the interest 

 of millions in an appreciation of the wonderful opportunities 

 and undiscovered resources of the soil. 



Obviously, there is a dire naed for this awakening which 

 augurs for a more rapid agricultural development. National 

 problems of grave issue are dependent for their solution upon 



