144 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



must be changed in different sections. The expense of produc- 

 tion, quality of product, shrinkage in storage and market results 

 known only by accounting determine what crops should be 

 continued and what avoided. 



It is sad to learn how lightly accounts are regarded, when 

 often the apparently unimportant detail, lost to memory, deter- 

 mines the success or failure of a whole season. 



In commercial lines we can try experiments fast, — our re- 

 sults are soon determined. In agriculture, however, work is by 

 season, often permitting but one experiment a year, and extended 

 over a period where accounts and records are absolutely essential. 



The farmer's attitude is not surprising, for he has been born 

 and bred to depend upon himself. His own personal judgment 

 determines his crop, its planting and cultivation, harvesting, 

 packing, as well as when, where and through whom to market. 



These conditions not only convince us that organization is 

 needed, but with other facts, now to be mentioned, prove this 

 an opportune time to present in some sections, in some degree, 

 a concrete plan. 



Our natural resources are quite, if not entirely, used or ex- 

 hausted. Our soils have lost their virgin richness. The hun- 

 dreds of saw and grist mills operated by water power along our 

 streams, and which, because of their number and distribution 

 were no small factor upon which the farmer could depend, have 

 now been starved by exhausted raw material, or crushed in the 

 battle of competition with other great forces. No one is justi- 

 fied in producing what he can buy cheaper than he can raise. 



The farmer feels his lack of business training and experience 

 as never before. Observation and the printing press have 

 opened his eyes to what is being done in special lines. The 

 farmer feel^ his responsibility and opportunity to feed our peo- 

 ple, who are becoming yearly more and more helpless to feed 

 themselves. People are crowding into cities with no oppor- 

 tunity to produce. The first generation soon forgets, while fol- 

 lowing generations never acquire the knowledge to use the soils. 

 A larger percentage of our people are annually becoming workers 

 in factories and distributing agencies, living under conditions 

 which preclude storing a surplus food supply. The squirrel lays 

 by his winter stores, but man individually depends with almost 



