20 ANNUAL. REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



of products which can be disposed of at a profit. There will be farmers 

 enough if the business of farming is made profitable and if rural life 

 is made attractive and healthful. The consumers must be willing to 

 pay prices for farm products which will enable farmers to produce 

 them and to maintain a satisfactory standard of individual and com- 

 munity life. The Nation also must be prepared to omit nothing to 

 improve the countryside. It is of the first importance that satisfac- 

 tory schools, with courses of study related to the problems of rural 

 life, be provided, that good roads be constructed, and that adequate 

 provision be made to give rural communities the requisite sanitary 

 and medical services, including hospital facilities. When these re- 

 quirements are met, we shall not have to concern ourselves as to the 

 number of farmers and the adequacy of our agricultural production. 

 There will then be no difficulty in retaining in the rural districts a 

 sufficient number of contented and efficient people. What we need is 

 not a "back to the land" propaganda, but an acceleration of the 

 movement for the improvement of the countryside which will render 

 the abandonment of farms unnecessary and the expansion of farming 

 inevitable. 



There is reason to believe that a considerable expansion in farm- 

 land area occurred during the war. The acreage devoted to the 19 

 principal crops increased 10.1 per cent from 1914 to 1918. Accord- 

 ingly, the crop area per capita increased from 3.22 acres in 1914 to 

 3.33 in 1918, or 3.4 per cent. This expansion probably resulted in 

 part from the use for crops of land normally devoted to other pur- 

 poses, especially to pasture. However, it seems to indicate that the 

 farming industry has more than held its own during the period. 

 This conclusion is confirmed by an increase not only in the per capita 

 production of nearly all the important crops, but also, according to 

 a recent report, in the number of cattle and swine per capita. More- 

 over, estimates for milk, eggs, and poultry indicate an increase in 

 per capita production during the war. In view of these facts, it 

 probably would be unwise to stimulate a large increase in the per 

 capita farm acreage at the present time, especially where such an 

 increase would have to be effected by utilizing land which is inferior 

 or which would be made available at a heavy outlay for drainage, 

 irrigation, or clearing. Apparently, therefore, American agriculture 

 should consolidate the gains already made; prepare for the period 

 of competition which is to be expected with the return of normal 



