APRtt 11, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



351 



The provisions of the law are rigorous. No 

 one shall take or molest the birds, nest-s or 

 eggs, nor carry a gun or otlier hunting gear 

 within a mile of the sites indicated, either by 

 land or water, under severe penalty of fine or 

 imprisonment; and if a boat is used in vio- 

 lation of this law it is liable to confiscation. 

 The law is made so broad as to include all 

 migratory game, non-game and insectivorous 

 birds as specified under the international 

 treaty for the protection of such bird.*. 



The extraordinary character of this law now 

 in force is that it affords protection to a class 

 of water-fowl which are eoninionly regarded as 

 having little to do with the economic interests 

 of mankind, and it specifically takes cog- 

 nizance of the fact that these creatures are 

 entitled to protection because of their natural 

 beauty, their scientific interest and the part 

 that they play in the scheme of nature. There 

 could be no better indication of the liberal and 

 high-minded sentiment of the Province of 

 Quebec than this enactment which was in- 

 itiated in the Parliament by the Honorable 

 Honore Mercier, Minister of Fisheries, in re- 

 sponse to the labors and urgent representa- 

 tions of those who have had the interests of 

 these colonies at heart. The Province of- 

 Quebec has thus created one of the largest bird 

 reserves in the western continent and has 

 erected a monument whicli is greatly to the 

 credit of its own high-minded sentiment. 



' John M. Clarke 



reorganization of farm management 



OFFICE 



Reoroanizatiox and expansion of the Office 

 of Farm Management of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture is recommended by 

 the committee of farm management leaders 

 and others appointed some time ago by Secre- 

 tary Houston to study the work of farm man- 

 agement and outline projects for more exten- 

 sive studies. 



The committee is made up of the following 

 economists and students of farm crops: H. C. 

 Taylor, agricultural economics. University of 

 Wisconsin; George F. Warren, farm manage- 

 ment, Cornell University; Andrew Boss, agron- 



omy and farm management, University of 

 Minnesota ; J. A. Foord, agriculture and farm 

 management, Massachusetts Agricultural Col- 

 lege; J. I. Falconer, rural economies, Ohio 

 State University; Jl. L. Adams, farm manage- 

 ment, University of California; G. I. Christie, 

 assistant Secretary of Agriculture, and repre- 

 sentatives of the Bureau of Crop Estimates, 

 the Bureau of Markets and the Office of Farm 

 Management of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture. 



The basic recommendation of the committee 

 is that the office be expanded to include both 

 farm management and farm economies and 

 that it be established as a bureau under the 

 name of Bureau of Farm Management and 

 Farm Economics. This, the committee states, 

 it recommends " in recognition of the work al- 

 ready accomplished in farm economics along 

 with the investigational work in farm manage- 

 ment and in view of the great need for still 

 further studies of the farming business." 



Practically all of the changes recommended 

 are in the nature of expansion and improve- 

 ment rather than of creation. The system 

 recommended for studies in cost of production 

 is much more comprehensive than that here- 

 tofore used. " We have reviewed the projects 

 now under way," the committee says, " and 

 wish to commend their continuance and de- 

 velopment." Some projects, it is thought, 

 should be continued under other names. Some 

 that are related to agronomy and some to other 

 subjects, says the committee, " should perhaps 

 be transferred to some other bureau of the de- 

 partment, securing the information or data de- 

 sired on these lines through cooperative rela- 

 tions rather than independent action." In the 

 projects underway, a great deal of work has 

 been found that, the committee thinks, could 

 be more profitably included under the term 

 " Farm economics." 



The work of the bureau, in the opinion of 

 the committee, should be grouped around the 

 following projects : Cost of production, includ- 

 ing financial records, enterprise records, com- 

 plete cost records, price relations and basic 

 unit factors; farm organization, including 

 farm business analysis, farm practise, effective 



