March 2S, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



475 



cattle, sheep and swine plainly decreased dur- 

 ing the decade.) 



THE TRUTH ABOUT COTTON 



The cotton crop showed a substantial in- 

 crease of 11.7 per cent, in total production, 

 and, furthermore, 1909 seems not to have been 

 a favorable season for cotton ; but, on the other 

 hand, the acreage in cotton increased by 32 

 per cent, from 1899 to 1909; and the com- 

 bined reports of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture (on acreage) and of the Bureau of Cen- 

 sus (on production) reveal the fact that the 

 yield per acre of cotton was not only less in 

 1909 than in 1899, but the average yield per 

 acre for the four years 1907, 1908, 1910 and 

 1911, was also less than the average for the 

 four years 1897, 1898, 1900 and 1901. This 

 notwithstanding the boasted influence of 

 the hundreds of " best southern farmers 

 in their counties," who accepted appointments 

 on the Department's pay roll as " field 

 agents " ; and it is a question of exceeding im- 

 portance whether the " farm demonstrators " 

 of either the south or the north should be ap- 

 pointed by the secretary of agriculture. 

 Should they not rather be appointed by the 

 agricultural colleges of the respective states, 

 in order that they may be selected because of 

 their thorough training in the scientific prin- 

 ciples which must constitute the foundation 

 of truly permanent systems of agriculture, as 

 well as for their knowledge and experience in 

 the science and practise of agriculture in their 

 own state, and be held directly responsible to 

 their home people? There is the gravest 

 danger that a federal appointee in every 

 county will often exert more influence polit- 

 ically than agriculturally. 



POTATOES INCREASE 



The reports of the Bureau of Census show 

 that the only important increase in crops of 

 large significance for food is in potatoes, a 

 crop that is grown to a considerable extent on 

 the market gardens enriched by heavy appli- 

 cations of animal fertilizers from the city, 

 produced, of course, at the expense of the 

 farms which supply the cities with hay and 

 grain. 



DECREASE IN EXPORTATIONS 



When we consider the facts revealed by the 

 Bureau of Census, it is not strange that, in 

 order to feed our increasing population, we 

 were compelled to decrease our exportation of 

 wheat for making bread, and of corn for ma- 

 king meat. As an average of the first four 

 years of Secretary Wilson's administration 

 (1897 to 1900), compared with the average for 

 1907 to 1910, our annual exportations de- 

 creased from 210 million to 108 million bush- 

 els of wheat, and from 196 million to only 49 

 million bushels of com. (These are not esti- 

 mates, but facts.) In percentage of total 

 " estimated " production, the corn exports de- 

 creased from 10 per cent, to 2 per cent., and 

 wheat exports decreased from 37 per cent, of 

 our production for 1897 to 1900, to only 16 

 per cent, of the production for 1907 to 1910. 



THE GREATEST DECEPTION 



And yet, if we ignore the census facts, and 

 accept only the " estimates " of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, a comparison of aver- 

 ages of the " statistics " for these two four- 

 year periods would show that, after deducting 

 the actual exportations, our average annual 

 supply for domestic consumption increased 

 during the decade from 359 million to 575 

 million bushels of wheat, and from 1,806 mil- 

 lion to 2,741 million bushels of com; or, in 

 other figures, these four-year averages would 

 show that our supply of wheat for bread in- 

 creased during the decade by 60 per cent., and 

 that our domestic supply of corn for the pro- 

 duction of meat, etc., increased by 52 per cent. ; 

 whereas, our population increased by only 21 

 per cent, during the same decade. 



Thus the only real basis for the common 

 complaint of the people regarding the food 

 supply is that they can not live on " statis- 

 tical " fiction. 



In his annual report for 1912, Secretary 

 Wilson makes the following generous state- 

 ment: 



The great and growing movement carried on by 

 the department for agricultural betterment has 

 not been sustained solely by one man. 



It must also be recognized that the faults 



