134 Rural Conditions in the United States, [may, 



(a) The investigation of agricultural conditions on a com- 

 prehensive plan, organised under Government leadership, 

 with a view to "an exhaustive study or survey of all the 

 conditions that surround the business of farming and the 

 people who live in the country, in order to take stock of our 

 resources and to supply the farmer with local knowledge." 



(b) The general dissemination of information by agricul- 

 tural colleges, by such means as lectures, bulletins, reading 

 courses, correspondence courses, demonstration work, &c, 

 with a view of reaching the people on their farms. This 

 work, the Commission observes, "should be designed to 

 forward not only the business of agriculture, but sanitation, 

 education, home-making, and all interests of country life." 



(c) The holding of conferences on rural life with a view 

 to uniting the institutions, organisations, and individuals 

 having interests in country life. 



Among the difficulties which were brought to the notice 

 of the Commission, the lessening productiveness of the land 

 owing to soil exhaustion may be mentioned as being of 

 interest to English farmers. The practice of cultivating the 

 virgin soil until it begins to yield with difficulty, and then 

 moving to new areas, is now greatly checked because most 

 of the available lands have been occupied. In many parts 

 no change of system has followed the depletion of the natural 

 fertility, so that extremely poor yields are obtained. It is 

 stated that a really scientific and self-perpetuating agricul- 

 ture is only beginning to appear here and there, mostly in 

 the long-settled regions ; while a certain class of the popula- 

 tion is forced to the poor lands, thus becoming a handicap 

 to the community and constituting a very difficult social 

 problem. 



The great agricultural need of the open country is a system 

 of diversified and rotation farming, carefully adapted to the 

 particular district. The wastage of soil resources is, the 

 Commission observes, "a general feature of our agriculture, 

 due to a lack of appreciation of our responsibility to society 

 to protect and save the land. Although we have reason 

 to be proud of our agricultural achievements, we must not 

 close our eyes to the fact that our soil resources are still being 

 lost through poor farming. This lessening of soil fertility 



