that I already have made on the subject. In ''The 

 State and the Farmer," 1908, I made an appeal for 

 the collecting of complete local fact^ as follows : 



A thorough-going study of the exact agricultural 

 status of every State should now be made, and it 

 should be made by the State itself, working through 

 an agricultural college. Such an inquiry made care- 

 fully and without haste by men who are thoroughly 

 well prepared, and continuing over a series of years, 

 would give us the data for all future work with local 

 problems. We must have the geographical facts. 

 We are now lacking them. We talk largely at ran- 

 dom. We must discover the factors that determine 

 the production of crops and animals in the localities, 

 and the conditions that underlie and control the farm 

 life. Consideration of these conditions involves 

 study of local climate; knowledge of the kinds, classi- 

 fication and distribution of the soils and the relation 

 of place and altitude to production of crops and live- 

 stock; determination of the best drainage practices 

 on various soil types; consideration of the cultural 

 experience and manurial needs as adapted to the 

 types; inquiry into the practice with all leading crops 

 and products of the localities; study of the possibili- 

 ties for farm water-power; collation of community 

 experience. Such a study of a State should be broad 

 and general enough to consider the status of all the 

 agricultural industries in the State, and it should also 

 take full cognizance of educational and social condi- 

 tions. 



This constitutes the greatest need of practical 

 farming at the present day. The agricultural insti- 

 tutions are working out the principles, but they may 

 not be able to apply these principles to individual 

 farms because they do not know the exact local con- 

 ditions. The farmer himself may not know the prin- 

 ciples, nor even the local facts. The result is a lack of 

 articulation between the teaching and the practice. 



