191 1.] Promotion of Agriculture in U.S.A. 497 



or forty minutes. Pamphlets on the subject are usually dis- 

 tributed free. 



The fifty-two trains employed in the year 1910 covered 

 40,771 miles and made 1,793 stops of from forty minutes to 

 two days each. The total cost of running the trains is esti- 

 mated at ;£ 19,000, and the total number of people attending 

 the lectures at 379,000. 



Experimental Farms. — Eight railway companies have es- 

 tablished thirteen demonstration farms to show the capabili- 

 ties of the soils and climate of the districts in which they are 

 situated. One farm is situated on marshy land, where 

 drainage was necessary before the soil could be utilised; 

 others have been established on sandy land generally re- 

 garded as worthless for agricultural purposes, on so-called 

 exhausted lands, and on semi-arid lands, the object being to 

 encourage settlement in these less desirable districts. 



Organisation of Agricultural Associations, — One company 

 has organised thirty-five associations, with an aggregate 

 membership of 5,000 persons. This company notifies the 

 associations promptly of changes in the demand for produce, 

 and gives advice as to the localities where profitable markets 

 exist. Another company in the southern United States, in 

 addition to keeping the associations and individual growers 

 informed daily during the season of the exact condition of 

 the markets, undertakes to divert consignments en route at 

 the direction of the consignor, e.g., the consignor, after 

 despatching his goods to a particular market, may be advised 

 of a glut in that market, and on his telegraphing to the rail- 

 way company the latter will divert the goods to another and 

 less congested market chosen by the consignor. 



Results Obtained. — All the railway companies say they 

 are satisfied with the results of their efforts. One case is men- 

 tioned where 3,500 waggon loads of fruit and vegetables are 

 now sent over the lines of a company, as compared with 

 practically nothing five or six years ago. In other cases not 

 only has there been a large increase in the production of 

 staple crops along the railway, but also an increase in fruit 

 and vegetable growing of fully 100 per cent, in the last five 

 years. In one locality adapted to the growth of strawberries, 

 a railway company agreed to furnish plants and to instruct 



