The epochal changes since 1890 have resulted in many maladjustments, giving rise even to alarm, and to a widespread discontent with the agricultural status. All this constitutes the "rural problem" of the present.

An early and significant aspect of the problem was the "abandoned farm." As early as 1840, but more widely about 1875, press and platform discussed the deserted farm, particularly in New England, but to some degree throughout the older States of the East. The double attraction of the cheap and rich Western lands, and the call of the rising industrial cities, combined with a difficult soil, and partly the disturbing influences of the Civil War, made the condition active and alarming. The State governments were moved to take action about 1889. Investigation showed no wholesale abandonment, although some 5,000,000 acres, mainly improved, had been from time to time abandoned; the causes were seen to be general, not local; that agriculture was not decadent except relatively with the profits of farming in other regions and other kinds of business; in general, that it was changing, but not declining. Later experience has shown the same phenomena in other parts, even in some of the newest and most prosperous farming regions, and the whole matter has come to be regarded as simply one of the many striking evidences of the sweeping and radical changes our agriculture and rural life is at present undergoing. The reoccupation of these lands is almost complete, and Eastern land values have arisen sharply, products increased with intensive agriculture, prosperity followed from the access to great urban markets, and every phase of rural social betterment, for example, the centralization and consolidation of schools; the new country church, social and federated; traveling libraries; the "good roads movement" and the Grange have been most active. The transformation of farming and farm life in the East gives promise of successful readjustment elsewhere. Above all it shows the necessity for. perspective in judging American agriculture.

In New England also the phenomena of rural depopulation first appeared, but like the abandonment of farms was soon seen to be symptomatic of the great "agricultural shift" of an expanding and developing country, that although it often had serious social consequences in the disruption of the farm family, the country school and country church, it always represented rather a movement from one farming region to another for the realization of better conditions and opportunity, and that it never was largely due to the superior attractiveness of industry and city life, for these called only the few often the élite, but also many undesirable elements -- and never the vast majority of shifting farmers. All parts, except the very newest States, have at some time, and in some degree, been affected thus, and the richest agricultural State, Iowa, actually suffered slight loss in total population due to rural decrease.

This agricultural shifting, so caused, is now over, however, and the new intensive agriculture, with the rising farm villages, will doubtless absorb the surplus farming population. The present opportunity on the farm is great, it calls for the freer use of labor, machinery, capital and the exercise of management, as well as for better social institutions, and politi

cal reorganization, and though difficult, offers attractions at least as great as those of industry and commerce.

These new conditions may also well lessen the movement of "retired farmers." This practice is distinctive of American farming, in contrast with the permanent agriculture of Europe; it has occurred in all parts of the country, but particularly in the Middle States, and mainly as the result of the doubling of land values in the last decade. This has enabled not only aged farmers to retire from the hardships of pioneer and homestead farming, but also the younger generation to go into town with a small fortune for investment. The retiring farmer has always largely entered the smaller cities, and though often inactive and unprogressive, has latterly usually entered into active business, and become the builder of our country towns. More and more they seek the business opportunity of the nearby town or village, less seldom sell the farm and more often rent it, thus furnishing a vital connecting link between town and country. Conditions are increasingly in favor of a relative cessation of the whole movement.

One noteworthy result of these phases of the agricultural shift has been the appearance of "tenancy." Its rise and rapid increase in a new country like the United States, which in 1880 showed three-fourths of the farmers owners, and to-day over one-third renters, naturally produced discussion and even alarm. It is most frequent in the South, where the presence of the negro occasions its prevalence. It was rare in Colonial days, and even in the pioneering of the first Western States, for the owners of large land holdings sold to small owners. About the time of the Civil War tenancy became a method of acquiring ownership as land values rose. It was regarded as a mere step, not as a status. The laborer or small investor could begin with enough to equip and pay some or all of the cheap, but rising, price. As these conditions were intensified tenancy increased at an accelerated rate; the retiring farmer grew increasingly common; "cash tenancy" became frequent; but latterly "landlordism" with "share tenancy" in some form (now twice as common as the cash system) infrequently the "manager plan," characterizes the system. Fortunately there are but a few very large "estates," and "absentee landlordism" has hardly appeared, the landlord seldom being outside the county, and often not farther than the nearest town. With free or cheap land practically gone, and rising values, the process of tenancy to ownership is increasingly difficult and long, but still many succeed and we have not yet reached the condition of some older countries where the laborer seldom attempts tenancy or the tenant ventures for ownership.

Inheritance has latterly become an important factor in the acquiring of land ownership. Farmers who are well-to-do usually assist their sons in acquiring land; often the family farm is added to, as the sons grow to maturity, and finally parceled out. The prevalence of partowned, part-rented farms is evidence of this process. The increase of this necessity and policy will give a new stability to the farm family and domestic relations, by giving marriage, birth and death, as well as general social relationships, an economic sanction,

A better perspective on these features of the present transition stage show that the repressive causes that tended to inertia, and even decadence, in agriculture, and virtually created a crisis, are already passing, and a new era to be safely entered upon. The year 1887 may be regarded as the beginning of this period of reorganization for it was characterized by the practical exhaustion of the public lands, the beginnings of a more intensive, agriculture in the East and Central States, a rapid rise in land values, the development of irrigation and drainage schemes, and increased activity along all lines of educational and governmental help for the farmer. Conditions during the last decade of the last century were still difficult, despite many steps in rural progress, and never was discussion and agitation more active. The comprehensive appraisement of farm life and conditions by the Roosevelt "Commission on Country Life" in 1908 made the report that though in a general way the American farmer was never more prosperous, yet that agriculture was "not economically so profitable as it is entitled to be for the labor and energy the farmer expends and the risks he assumes." The social disadvantages resulting were also indicated, and the three great needs were summarized as (1) effective co-operation to put the farmer on a level with the organized interests with which he has to deal, (2) schools which will prepare children for country life, and (3) better means of communication.

Consequently the lines along which improvement is being sought are (1) decreasing the isolation, and hence the unco-operative individualism of the farmer by the extension of rural free delivery of mail, adding parcels post, increase of rural telephones, the continued improvement of roads, and increasing availability of the automobile, (2) the redirection of agricultural education, to educate the boy and girl toward, rather than away from, the farm, and (3) efforts to increase agricultural credit facilities, and to organize farmers for mutual benefit in matters of labor and marketing especially.

A discussion of fundamentals in the economic and social life of the farmer was developed. It has been found that it is with reference to floating capital labor and creditthat agriculture meets other forms of business in fundamental competition. "Farm management" has found new farms utilized to their most profitable capacity, for constant and widespread lack of these two things. Throughout the history of American farming, labor has been lacking, partly due to the general scarcity of labor in a new and developing country, but also to the one-family, or one-man, farm tradition. The advent of machinery rather made possible Mid-West agriculture without a corresponding labor force, but did not lessen the need for it. During the years from 1880 to date the farm labor class has increased more than 40 per cent, while the proprietors increased only 35 per cent, and in the cereal States, where the machinery was most used, labor increased three-fold, as rapidly as the proprietors. The labor question is not peculiar to agriculture, but, although the data are incomplete, it would seem that so far as wage increase relative to cost of living is concerned, the farm laborer has not made equal progress with other branches of labor. The passage of slave labor,

and also of the traditional one-man farm, where the farmer's family constituted the labor force, has made the labor problem an imminent one, especially with the demands for increased production and the call to the various forms of intensive farming. The real solution is for the farmer to train farm artisans from the rising generation of farm youth not only of those at home but those from the landless generations of the older States, and many village youths. The farmer of the new agriculture cannot rely on the mere co-operation of neighbors, nor upon transient and occasional help, but must provide all-round-the-year employment, the possibility of a home and some social attractions for the laborer. The new agriculture calls loudly for a freer application of labor, and its attainment would benefit owners, tenants and labor alike.

So also is credit a great desideratum. It is needed to pay for labor and to conduct farm operations under the new system. Thousands of farmers are hampered for the lack of it, and lose each year many times the interest charge on the capital needed. Moreover credit is a most important means of acquiring land ownership. It is often more desirable to pay interest than to pay rent, and this would be more frequently true but for the evil system of "double taxation" still prevalent.

The country store as the original credit institution of the American farmer has been superseded, except in the negro farming regions of the South, by the local bank. These are everywhere found, but are frankly commercial and profit-making. In fact, neither personal nor mortgage credit institutions have reached a satisfactory stage of development, and little to compare with the Raffeisen system of Europe has yet appeared. In the corn belt the life insurance companies have loaned largely on farm mortgages. Elsewhere the local banks furnish the only facilities, with the attendant evils of high interest and frequent foreclosures. Since 1910, however, there has been extensive agitation and an official commission went to Europe in 1913, with the result of attempted Congressional action, some State laws favoring credit societies, and action in a number of Western States to allow the loaning of certain State funds (e.g., school moneys) on mortgage. In response to the general agitation many joint stock-loan companies have been organized in Middle Western States.

The need for credit is evident from the fact that the old tradition regarding the undesirability of mortgages has been latterly lost in view of their indispensability under our system of agriculture to-day. There has been no comprehensive report by the government since 1890, but even at that time 18.6 per cent of all farms were encumbered to one-third of their value. Infrequent in the South, one-half of all the mortgage encumbrance was centred in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa and Kansas. The average duration of the mortgage was five years, and only about 3 per cent were indicated as foreclosed, the vast majority of all the adventures being thus of successful issue.

It is doubtful if co-operative credit institutions of the European variety will become common here, but the need for new credit will be met by greater local control of the local banks,

associated with local distribution of funds through the Federal Reserve system. This will provide a solution more in harmony with our need and the individualistic traditions of our farming population.

Along all lines the need for organization is being felt, not only in matters of business but in re-creating rural social institutions and reorganizing local politics. The early appearance, widespread scope and great variety of farmer's associations is evidence that the farmer is not incapable of organization, but that wherever he feels the need and recognizes the possibility of results he is ready. For more than a century there have been local, State and even national associations for promoting agriculture. Soon after 1800 the "fair" took its rise and now over 3,000 fairs are annually conducted, devoted to general, as well as special, farming interests. The great majority of farmers' organizations have been directed to some form of business co-operation, and often for this sole purpose. In 1908 it was estimated that there were 85,000 co-operative organizations with a membership of more than 3,000,000. About 30,000 were irrigation associations, and others were co-operative telephone companies, grain elevators, creameries, insurance panies, associations for marketing and for supplies. the purchase of In 1913 the United States Department of Agricul ture established a Rural Organization Service to assist farmers and farmers' organizations. Several associations have at various times assumed a position of leadership among the rest and even reached the status of a political party. Especially should be mentioned the "Grange, or Patrons of Husbandry, the "Farmers' Alliance," and the "Farmers' National Congress." But although these serve a useful purpose in subserving the larger interests of the farmer they cannot take the place of thorough going local reorganization in the home community alike for social, business and political needs.

com-.

Education and leadership have always been at a premium in American agriculture. Rapid changes of condition, with the necessity for abrupt and radical changes of idea and practice in farming, make them vitally necessary. Agricultural education developed from the top down, the agricultural college and experiment station first appearing, and only recently agricultural high schools, the introduction of agriculture into the common schools, the short course and the general extension services. Farmers' institutes have long been widespread and active, the agricultural press has become a powerful and permeating influence, and above all the multitudinous activities of the United States Department of Agriculture leaves little to be desired in the way of adequate leadership.

Locally the new country school, especially where consolidated, and the new country church, have become centres of community leadership and wider social service. Reorganization of the social institutions of our farming population is perhaps the most backward phase of rural progress. But its importance is being recognized; more than half of all the school children in the nation are in country schools, and nearly two-thirds of all the

churches are in country or village, and the lines of reorganization are clearly seen.

There is danger that the fundamental importance of the family may be overlooked. The traditional American farm was a family unit; rural social organization has always been patriarchal; social life in the country in the past has centred in the home. But later conditions associated with the shift of farming population disintegrated the rural family, and to-day a lowering birthrate, prevalent divorce, many unmarried, though of marriageable age, may be said to characterize it. The new agriculture calls for reform in the domestic relations on the farm, and is a problem no less pressing than that of the school and the church. WILLIAM L. BAILEY, Associate Professor of Political Science, Grin nell College, Iowa.

FARM LABOR. See FARM AND FARM PROBLEMS; FARM CROPS; FARM MANAGEMENT. FARM LOAN ASSOCIATIONS. See FEDERAL FARM LOAN ACT.

FARM LOAN BANK. See FEDERAL FARM LOAN Аст; LAND CREDIT; Co-OPERATIVE BANKING.

FARM MACHINERY. The function of farm machinery is to enable the farmer to produce not only larger crops but better crops than he can with only his simple hand tools. In fact, without the aid of such machinery the farmer of the present day finds it difficult to earn more than a bare living for an average family.

The machinery employed in modern farming falls naturally into four groups: (1) tilling machines, which prepare the soil to receive the seed; (2) drills, seeders and planters, for placing the seed in the ground; (3) cultivators, for working the growing crop; and (4) harvesting machines, for gathering the matured crop. In the first group belong the plows, harrows, drags and rollers; in the second, the grain and seed drills, the corn-planters and the potato-planters; in the third, the various forms of horse weeders, wheel-hose, fertilizer drills, corn-plows, etc.; and in the fourth, the cornbinders and huskers, the potato diggers, the mowing machines, reapers and binders, the hay rakes and tedders, hay loaders and trolleyforks, fanning mills, corn-shellers and the like.

Tilling Machines. The plow is the foundational instrument of all agriculture, and it has been brought to its present state of scientific perfection only after tireless experimentation. The farmer of to-day finds at his disposal a long line of special purpose plows from which he may select the one best adapted to the soil he wishes to work, and to the condition in which the soil may be at the moment. On the ordinary farm, however, there will be found three types of plow, the sod plow with a long moldboard and a strong twist; the stubble plow, with a shorter moldboard and much less twist; and the corn cultivating plow, which approaches much more closely the simple wedge shape. The sod plow is designed not only to tear up the sod and turn it upside down, but also to break up thoroughly the texture of the earth clod. It is much more effective if it has a jointer attached. The jointer has the shape and form of a little plow, and gives the sod

its first turn, allowing the plow itself to exert the desired shattering effect. The stubble plow is used to break up land which was in cultivation the previous season. Its particular office is to break up and loosen the soil rather than to turn it over although its action partakes also of the turning movement. These two forms do most of the plowing on the average farm. The draft varies from 400 to 600 pounds, according to the condition and constitution of the soil, and should be provided with such a number of horses, that each may have no more than a 200-pound pull. More than that tires the team to such an extent that the efficiency of the machinery is seriously reduced. These plows are also combined into "gangs" of two plows or more, and when the motive power is a traction engine, many furrows may be turned at once. With a four-furrow gang plow and five horses one man can break up from five to seven acres per day. A gang of 10 to 20 plows drawn by a traction engine, with two men in attendance, will plow up to 50 acres per day. (See PLOW). Following the plow comes the harrow, and of this machine also there are many types, adapted to the soil to be worked and the crop to be raised. The object of the harrow is to reduce the soil to a condition of fineness in which the tender roots from the newly germinated seed will find least resistance, and at the same time an abundance of air and moisture in the interspaces. To get the best results from the harrow it should be sent on to the plowed ground as soon after the plow has passed as may be. The ordinary spike-tooth harrow is a very effective tool, and if it has long teeth which may be set for deep working it is quite sufficient for most soils. The spring-tooth and disc harrows have particular uses on special soils, and for very fumpy soils a clod-crusher is of great service, to precede the harrow. The drag or planker is used to smooth off uneven parts of the harrowed field, and if the soil is very light and fluffy, the roller is indispensable to produce a seedbed sufficiently compact to hold moisture through the germination period.

Seeders and Planters.- The ordinary grain drill consists of a long transverse bin with a series of 11 spouts set five inches apart. These spouts furrow the ground as the drill is pulled along, drop the seed in the furrow and cover it to the required depth. Where the soil is so light that it dries out quickly, a pressure wheel may be attached to firm the covering soil over the seed. The feeding gates in the bin of the drill may be adjusted to openings of different sizes, so as to sow beans and corn, as well as all smaller seeds. In order to space the seeding properly some of the spouts are closed. For example, in sowing mangels, spouts numbered 1, 5 and 9 are allowed to remain open; in sowing beans, spouts 1, 6 and 11 do the work. Beans may be sown in double rows for field culture by allowing spouts 1 and 3, and 9 and 11 to remain open. Corn is usually sown with spouts 2 and 10. There are special corn-planters which sow the grain in hills, five or six grains at a time, but the handplanted cornfield still holds all the records for big crops. Potato-planters are of advantage when more than five acres are to be planted: with less than that the cost of the machine for the very few days in the year when it is at

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work is prohibitive. Drills are also of great usefulness in the sowing evenly of lime and commercial fertilizers. The disc drill is a combination disc plow and seed drill. The discs plow the land sufficiently for grain without other preparation and the grain is sown at the same time.

Cultivators. The functions of the cultivator are threefold: to prevent the growth of weeds, to modify the moisture conditions, and to add a dressing of fertilizer to the soil while the crop is growing. A tilting-tooth harrow is an effective form of cultivator when the crop is small. It can be so driven as to straddle the crop rows while it tears up and destroys thousands of weeds. As the crop becomes larger the horse weeder comes into use. It resembles the harrow in general make-up, but has very long slender spring tines instead of the stocky teeth of the former. The depth to which these tines penetrate is governed by setting the wheels of the machine. For specific crops there are special types of cultivators, with shovel-teeth, wide scuffle-blades and narrow hoe-blades, miniature plowshares for earthing up the plants, discs for deep stirring, etc., in great variety. In light soils the cultivators are sent into the field after every rain to break up the surface and thus form a mulch to conserve the moisture. Several of these machines are made small and light, for hand use.

Harvesting Machines.-The complicated machines used in harvesting operations are the most expensive in the farm's equipment, in spite of the fact that every effort is made by the manufacturers to keep the price down, while producing a machine of the highest efficiency. The great disadvantage attaching to farm machinery is that the use of any particular machine is limited to a few days during the year, and it thus takes on the character of an expensive per diem luxury. Thus the haymaking machinery- the mowers, tedders, rakes, loaders, stackers, etc.- must earn their pro rata cost within a very brief period. And the horses to operate them must be at hand when the crop is ready, even if the farm provides insufficient work for them for the remainder of the year. The relative per diem cost of farm machinery depends largely upon the size of the area devoted to a particular crop. For example, a grain drill used to sow only 20 acres annually, costs $2.97 per day it is in use: if 107 acres are sown the per diem cost is $1.04. Where 15 acres of grain are harvested, the grain-binder's cost annually per day's use figures at $8.15. If, however, the grain-growing area is 85 acres, the annual per diem cost is $2.41. The corn-binder is more expensive by 40 per cent, and the corn-shocker by 300 per cent. These high relative figures have the tendency to induce specialization in the main crop for which the machinery must be provided. The problem is partially solved by farmers' associations which buy the machinery and distribute its use equitably among the members. In this way a traction engine may be economically used to provide power for rapid work. The traction engine cannot be profitably employed on a farm area of less than 240

acres.

Farm Equipment.-The usual machinery equipment of a well-regulated farm of 160 acres consists of the following: 1 manure

spreader; 1 walking plow; 1 riding gang plow; 1 smoothing harrow; 1 disc harrow; I plank drag; 1 land roller; 1 seed drill; 2 cultivators; 1 corn-planter; 1 mowing machine; 1 hay tedder; 1 hay rake; 1 hay loader; 1 corn-binder; 1 grain-binder; 1 potato digger. Two heavy farm wagons and a hay rack will be needed to handle the crops, fertilizer, etc. The cost of this equipment will come near to $900. The annual cost per acre of these tools figures about as follows: walking plow, 7.2 cents; gang plow, 18.3 cents; smoothing harrow, 1.9 cents; disc harrow, 4.9 cents; plank drag, 0.8 cents; roller, 2 cents; cultivator, 4.3 cents; horse-weeder, 3.3 cents; corn-planter, 8.1 cents; seed drill, 13 cents; mowing machine, 10.5 cents; tedder, 16.4 cents; hay rake, 5.5 cents; hay loader, 24.8 cents; grain-binder, 26.4 cents; corn-binder, 36.9 cents; corn-shocker, 84.2 cents.

Performance. The per diem performance of farm machinery depends somewhat upon the power used. Many of the machines are of too heavy a draught for two horses to work with steadily, and yet three horses will not accomplish 50 per cent more in a day than will two, and in general require another man. The figures as worked out by the United States Bureau of Agriculture are as follows:

A motor plow will break up from 1.29 to 1.63 acres per hour; a tractor and gang plow, 0.74 to 2.18 acres per hour; two engines and a cable plow, 1.04 to 1.25 acres per hour.

Comparisons of the statistics of the crops of 1850 with those of 1910 have shown that the saving to the American farmer in labor-time in the 60 years increased his potential efficiency by 2,000 per cent. To instance a few of the more common farm processes: a quantity of grain may be sown to-day in 33 minutes that formerly required 10 hours and 36 minutes; and a job of harvesting can be done in 1 hour that would have taken 46 hours and 40 minutes in 1850. A planting of corn which now requires but 37 minutes then required 6 hours and 15 minutes; and a husking job which now is completed in 3 hours and 36 minutes would then have consumed 66 hours. The mowing machine does in 1 hour what the scythe will hardly do in 7 hours; and the potato planter does in 1 hour the work which formerly took 8 hours with a hand hoe. A bushel of

wheat can now be raised with the expenditure of but 10 minutes of the farmer's time; in 1850 it required an average of 3 hours and 3 minutes. Statistics show also the interesting fact that where the farm is generously supplied with machinery, the farm income is much enlarged. For example, in Florida, where the value of the machinery on the farms averages $30.43, the yearly income of the farm-worker averages $119.72; in Iowa, with machinery averaging $196.55 to the farm, the farm-worker's average annual income is $611.11; in North Dakota, where the machinery averages a value of $238.84 per farm, the average income per farmworker is $755.62.

Production. In no other country in the world is there such extensive use of farm machinery as in the United States. According to the census of 1910 the total value of such machinery was $1,265,149,783, an increase of $515,373,813 (68.7 per cent), over the figures for 1900, and 734.6 per cent greater than those for 1850. In 1910 farm machinery constituted 3.1 per cent of all farm wealth. Measured on the basis of area, for every acre of improved farm land in the United States there was on the the farms in that year a value of $2.64 in machinery. The production of farm machinery in the United States in 1914 amounted to a value of $168,120,632. The exports for that year were valued at $31,965,789. (See AGRICULTURE; DAIRY PRODUCTS; FARM POWER; STOCK RAISING). Consult Davidson, J. B., Agricultural Engineering) (Saint Paul, Minn., 1914); King, F. H., Physics of Agriculture (Madison, Wis., 1901); Warren, G. F., Farm Management' (New York 1915); United States Department of Agriculture, Bulletin 412' (Washington 1916).

FARM MANAGEMENT. Farm management may be defined as the science of the organization and management of a farm for the purpose of securing the greatest continuous profit. Many farmers have learned the art of farm management without clearly understanding the principles involved; just as a farmer may get a good crop of corn if he plants by the moon, if this happens to be the right time. If the corn is planted at the right time it grows just the same, regardless of the explanation that the farmer makes. But the farmer who understands the principles of farm management will be able to adapt his farming to new conditions more readily than will a farmer who acts by rule.

A good farmer must be a skilled husbandman in the care of his crops and animals. He must invest his available capital and credit with discretion. Between many things that are needed he must choose the most essential, considering his capital. He must follow the most profitable type of farming for his conditions, and must have the right number of each class of animals and the right area of each kind of crops. He must know the right amount and kind of labor for his conditions. Must so arrange his buildings and fields that they can be most profitably operated. The above are but a few of the management problems that confront the farmer.

Choosing a Farm.- One of the most important decisions that a farmer ever makes is in his choice of a farm. So many details must be