368 Bird - Lore 



between the two, the southern planters would have realized handsome profits 

 instead of suffering financial distress." 



At the same time, in the North, in New York and Wisconsin, for example, 

 dairying, and especially cheese-making, were chiefly relied upon by farmers, 

 although the price of cheese was only eight or nine cents a pound, and a few 

 years earlier, even as low as four cents. Most of the same land which was 

 exclusively devoted to feeding stock for dairy purposes lay in the sugar-beet 

 belt and was also suitable for growing wheat and other paying crops. 



Today, owing to the requirements of war measures, a farmer must become 

 informed correctly as to what to plant and what not to plant, as well as to how 

 to plant, when to plant, and when to change crops. The Government furnishes 

 an almost endless amount of information with regard to these matters, besides 

 having established in every state a thoroughly equipped school of agriculture 

 in which some of the finest instructors anywhere are to be found. 



The United States Department of Agriculture, under the Division of 

 Biological Survey, does a work so invaluable that every scholar in every school 

 should at least know of its existence and have some idea of the benefits to be 

 derived from following its suggestions. 



Take a geography and look at a map of North America, one upon which 

 no states or territories are marked. What idea have you concerning the nature 

 of the soil, the amount of forested area as coritrasted with great plains or 

 cultivated land, the relative amount of rainfall or the extremes in temperature 

 at any point which this map represents? 



Perhaps you know the names of large cities, of important seaports or navi- 

 gable rivers, of mountain ranges and lakes of considerable size, but do you 

 know where wheat can be successfully grown, and, if so, what kind of wheat, 

 or where cattle can be raised to advantage, or the sugar-beet, fruits, cereals of 

 all kinds, and upon what conditions the nation's supply of fish and shell-fish 

 depends? 



These are questions of very great interest to every man, woman and child 

 today, and, as time goes on, they will become far more imperative because, as 

 people increase in numbers, here as well as all over the world, a food-supply 

 must be produced which will keep them strong and in constant health. At the 

 same time, this food-supply must be grown with such attention to its proper 

 distribution that the possibilities of each particular soil and climate be taken 

 advantage of to the utmost. In this way, all classes of people, wherever they 

 may live, will be able to get food of healthful quahty and in sufficient amount 

 to meet their necessities, and, particularly, by this means will the distressing 

 complications of transportation, which now cause hardship to many, be largely 

 avoided. 



The time and place for every boy and girl to make a start in this extremely 

 valuable kind of knowledge are in our pubHc schools. With an isothermal map 

 of North America and a handful of colored crayons at hand, a class can quickly 



