NATURE 



?6i 



THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1910. 



AN 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL 

 CYCLOPEDIA. 



Cyclopedia of American Agriculture. A Popular Sur- 

 vey of .igricultural Conditions, Practices, and Ideals 

 in the United States and Canada. Edited by L. H. 

 Bailey. Vol. IV. Farm and Community. Pp. xiv 

 +650. (New York : The Macmillan Company ; 

 London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1909.) Price 215. 

 net. 



DR. B.\ILEY is surely the most energetic of the 

 agricultural editors of to-day. Besides writing 

 a dozen or more books himself, he has edited a long 

 series of text-books, a great Cyclopedia of American 

 Horticulture, and has now completed the companion 

 Cyclopedia of American Agriculture. So much has he 

 found this task ^o his liking that he tells us he 

 " would like to make another. It is much satis- 

 faction to assemble the opinions of the best men and 

 women in a particular field, and to work them out 

 into a harmonious arrangement." 



The subject-matter is not set out under headings in 

 alphabetical order, but is grouped in four great divi- 

 sions ; the first volume dealt with the laying out and 

 organisation of a farm, the second w-ith the crops, the 

 third with the animal products, and in this fourth and 

 last volume we come to 



"the larger question of the relation of the farmer to 

 his fellow men, and of the farm to the other assets 

 of the commonwealth." 



This volume, reviewing as it does all those 

 economic, social, and political aspects of rural life 

 which are of never-failing interest, will therefore ap- 

 peal to a much larger circle of readers than did the 

 others. Most people will be surprised at the magni- 

 tude of agricultural industries in the United States. 

 They employ more capital than do all the manufac- 

 tures put together, and more than one-third of the 

 entire working population, as compared with one- 

 fourteenth in Great Britain. The agricultural exports 

 are larger than any others, whilst the imports form 

 nearly one-half the total imports. Maize is the 

 most important crop, exceeding in annual value any 

 other two combined; further, it is the largest single 

 American product of any kind, agricultural, mineral, 

 or manufactured. .\ considerable section of the volume 

 is devoted to the history of North American agricul- 

 ture from Indian times to the present day. Maize has 

 always been the chief cultivated food plant. Jacques 

 Cartier found large fields of it growing in 1534 where 

 Montreal now stands. Champlain in 1604 found it 

 cultivated almost everywhere from Nova Scotia to 

 points far up the Ottawa river. Much was eaten 

 green, generally after it had been roasted or boiled; 

 indeed we may trace not a few of the characteristic 

 American and Canadian dishes to an Indian origin. 

 Beans, pumpkins, squashes, and tobacco were raised 

 by the Indians; fruit was preserved in wild honey; 

 sugar was made from the juice of the maple. An 

 account of this operation can be found in the Phil- 

 osophical Transactions of the Royal Society for 

 NO. 2100, VOL. 82] 



16S4-5 (p. 156), while the Indian maize culture is de- 

 scribed in the preceding volume, p. 466. This paper 

 is, as usual, overlooked, probably because it was some- 

 how omitted from the index to the volume. The 

 Indians kept meat in cold storage, i.e. in snow, they 

 cured tobacco by heat, they practised irrigation in the 

 dry districts, they cultivated cotton, preserved fruit 

 berries and vegetables by sun and air drying, and they 

 preserved vegetables from rotting by burying them in 

 the ground — the idea of the modern silo. 



Coming to historic times, five main periods can be 

 noticed. In the colonial period, 1607-1783. the 

 settlers were adapting and improving on the Indian 

 methods. Next follows the time of the western expan- 

 sion. From 1830 an enormous change arose in con- 

 sequence of the introduction of railroads, the repeal of 

 the English corn laws, and the wars and other events 

 in Europe which created a demand for American food 

 products. Lastly, American agriculture has been 

 largely reorganised since 1887, when the Experiment 

 Station Act (Hatch Act) was passed by Congress. 

 Since this time there has been developed that wonder- 

 ful system of experiment stations and agricultural 

 colleges that is without equal in the whole world. 

 Irrigation and drainage are also attracting attention. 

 It is estimated that there are still eighty million acres 

 of swamp land, not only practically valueless, but a 

 hindrance to travel and a menace to health, which, if 

 properly drained and cultivated, could probably sup- 

 port a population of 10,000,000 people. Variou^s 

 chapters in these historic movements are worked out 

 in considerable detail; we have, for instance, what has 

 probably never been attempted before, a chapter on 

 historic farm animals. Much space is devoted to the 

 present position of agriculture. Various means of 

 checking the rural exodus are suggested, among 

 others that the country schools should teach the love 

 of country life and train for life in the country. Mr. 

 Booker Washington brings out the interesting point 

 that while negroes constitute less than one-twelfth of 

 the population of the United States, they conduct 

 13 per cent, of the farms, and raise s'4 per cent, of the 

 total farm products. 



Natural resources, especially forestry, receive a good 

 deal of attention. It is shown, too, that the agricul- 

 tural labourer is very efficient ; 9,000,000 hands in the 

 United States raise nearly half as much grain as 

 66,000,000 in Europe, where, however, far fewer horses 

 are employed. Business organisation, book-keeping, 

 costs, cooperation, and credit are next discussed, while 

 a section is given to the amenities of rural life, the 

 church, travelling libraries and travelling pictures, 

 social organisations, the rural landscape, and "the 

 farm beautiful." 



Dr. Bailey himself writes on agricultural education. 

 We notice that the American colleges are subjected to 

 criticism just as are our own, because many of their 

 best students do not become farmers. The answer is, 

 of course, obvious ; they are needed to provide the 

 enormous staff of experts maintained by the colleges 

 and experiment stations. The American educational 

 system is more complete than ours in that it aims at 

 giving systematic instruction to the men actually farm- 

 ing. The means adopted include courses at the col- 



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