154 THE FUTURE OF OUR AGRICULTURE. 



worth living. More wealth has been invested in improving the 

 farm-house and in the current expenses of farm life. With better 

 houses, filled with modern conveniences, the family life has devel- 

 oped in strength and in enjoyable living. . . . Child life on the 

 farm is entering upon a realm of favouring conditions in the 

 home, at school, and in farming ; and home-making apprentice- 

 ship is rising to a higher level." 



There are numbers of particulars given referring to 

 improvement in seed breeding, in research, in marketing, 

 and so on. Referring specifically to Education, the Report 

 says : 



" The students at our Agricultural Colleges, in 1897, were 

 4,000 ; they are now (in igo8) 10,000 (in 1914 there were sixty- 

 nine Colleges with 6,370 instructors, and 69,132 students) ; one 

 Agricultural High School existed in 1897 ; there are now fifty- 

 five ; not one normal school taught Agriculture in 1897, but 

 now 115 do so, besides many privately endowed schools (practi- 

 cally all elementary rural schools teach it now) ; abouthalf of the 

 Agricultural Colleges now give training courses for teachers in 

 Agriculture ; forty- four states and territories give some instruc- 

 tion in elementary principles of Agriculture in the lower schools ; 

 the number of sessions of Farmers' Institutes held in 1908 was 

 14,000, with an attendance of about 2,000,000 persons ; in 1897 

 the number of publications issued by the Department was 

 424, of which 6,541,200 copies were distributed ; in 1908 the 

 1,522 publications issued by the Department were distributed to 

 the number of 16,875,516 (in 1914 the Office of Information 

 communicated with the public by 250,000,000 printed papers 

 monthty). In respect of production per acre of the principal 

 crops, there has been an increase in the last ten years (notwith- 

 standing much backward farming not yet affected) in the yield 

 of cotton by about 20 per cent. ; the yield of wheat has increased 

 by 14-5 to 45-9 per cent. ; of corn (maize) by 17-5 per cent. ; of 

 barley by 13-5 per cent. ; of rye by 4-4 per cent. ; of buckwheat by 

 147 per cent, to 21-9 per cent. ; of potatoes by 22-1 to 39-1 per 

 cent. ; of hay by 19-5 to 30-8 per cent. " The percentage of 

 increase," so adds Mr. Wilson, " now has a new significance — no 

 one need fear that the farmer of this country will ever be 

 unable to provide for the population." 



That last-named object is that which we now have most at 

 heart : provide the population with food. And the road by 

 which such goal may be reached is perfectly plain — Mr. 



