The purpose of this chapter is to show the large part which agriculture plays in the life of the country and to discuss briefly some of the problems of agriculture today.

Importance of American Agriculture.—Agriculture has always been the most important single industry in the United States. |The crops in earlier days.| It was at one time practically the sole occupation of the people; even today it directly or indirectly engages the attention of more than half the adult male workers of the country. In colonial days the chief task of the people was to raise a food supply sufficient for themselves. Corn was their principal crop, the colonists having learned from the Indians the methods of cultivating it. Corn had the advantage of being well suited to the soil and climate; besides it grows well even in partially cleared land. But in colonial days and even for a time after the Revolution the country did not produce much grain beyond its own needs. The production of large quantities for export came with the opening up of the great agricultural areas of the West.

Types of Agricultural Activity.—American agriculture has developed, during the past three hundred years, in five or six different directions. The earliest settlers in the northern colonies devoted themselves to general or mixed farming, in other words to the raising of grain, hay, and cattle on the same tract of land. This was because the environment and needs of the northern region alike favored this method. Mixed farming has continued to be the mainstay of agriculture east of the Alleghenies; in some measure it has spread to other parts of the country as well.

A second type of agriculture, almost from the very outset, made progress in the South. This involved the raising of certain staple products, such as rice, tobacco, sugar, and cotton on large plantations. The soil, climate, and general environment of the southern colonies all lent themselves to this type of agriculture and it eventually spread itself over the whole region. Cotton in time out-stripped the other staples and became king of the whole South. This was largely because the invention of the cotton gin, an appliance for removing the seeds from the fibre, greatly reduced the cost of preparing cotton for the market. The scarcity of free labor to work these great plantations led to the importation of negro slaves and the institution of slavery had a profound effect upon the subsequent course of American history. Since the emancipation of the negroes, the plantation system has remained although many of the larger tracts have been broken up into small holdings.

The opening of the Middle West and Mississippi Valley brought in a third form of agricultural activity, namely, the production of cereals (such as corn, wheat, oats, rye, and barley) on great tracts of prairie land. This form of agricultural production received a great impetus from the invention of labor-saving machinery, notably the power-reaper. The region of extensive cereal production today includes the Middle West, the Northwest, and the Mississippi Valley, making the richest grain-growing area in the world.

As the frontier rolled westward to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains a fourth type of agriculture—using the term in its wider sense—began to make rapid strides. This was the stock-raising industry, the production of horned cattle and sheep on large tracts of grazing land or ranches. This branch of agricultural activity has made its greatest progress in the Middle Southwest and upon the upland states just east of the Rockies (Montana, Wyoming, etc.). Cattle are raised on the ranches, then shipped to the corn belt where they are fattened before being sent to the abattoirs at St. Louis and Chicago.^[156]

Other branches of agriculture which have developed largely within the past half century are dairying, market gardening, and fruit growing. These activities are not confined to any one section of the country but to a considerable extent are carried on everywhere. Dairying and market gardening have made most progress within convenient distance of the large cities, although improved transportation facilities in the way of air-cooled and refrigerator cars now permit the shipment of dairy and garden produce over long distances.

From all this it can be seen that when one speaks of the interests of agriculture a great many different things are included. The agriculture of the United States is diversified to an extent that is found in no other country.

The Value of American Agricultural Products.—The largest cereal crop produced in the United states is corn; the total in some years runs as high as three billion bushels. This is more than twice the amount of corn grown in all the rest of the world. Oats come next, with about one and one-half billion bushels in the best years, and wheat third, with a round billion or thereabouts. Cotton is the largest staple crop, with an annual yield of from ten to fifteen billion bales, each bale containing five hundred pounds. Of this nearly half is exported. More than twelve million cattle are received each year at the great abattoirs, besides an equal number of sheep and twice as many hogs.

The value of this enormous agricultural production, if stated in dollars and cents, would be misleading because prices change from year to year; the fluctuations are often considerable within a very short period of time.^[157] But in any case the contribution which agriculture makes to the yearly income of the nation is enormous. Upon it the national prosperity depends in a very great measure.

American Agriculture and the War.—American agriculture had a very important part in winning the World War. As this great struggle progressed the task of providing food for the Allied armies and for the civilian populations became month by month more difficult. Men were drawn off the farms of Europe to fight and the fields went uncultivated; practically the whole of Belgium and a considerable part of France were in the hands of the enemy; no supplies could be drawn from remote parts of the world such as Australia, South America, or the Far East because the available ships were needed to carry troops and munitions; so the American farmer had to speed up production in order to save the situation. When America entered the war the Allies had practically reached the end of their resources in foodstuffs; their populations were living under a rigid system of food rationing. Under the stimulation of this great emergency American agriculture rose to the occasion and the increased production of foodstuffs, together with the savings which were made through the observance of “wheatless” and “meatless” days enabled the United States not only to maintain an army of two million soldiers in France but to contribute largely to the food supplies of the Allied armies and civilian populations as well. The supply trains which fed the American army in France (and never on a single day did they fail to reach the front), started from Kansas City and Chicago, not from Brest or Havre. The American farmer was the great factor in this service of supply.

A Peculiarity of Agricultural Production—The Law of Diminishing Returns.—There is one fundamental feature in which agriculture differs from industry. In industry, as a rule, the more labor and capital you apply the greater the amount of the produce. Many industries, indeed, are so constituted that by applying additional capital and labor you obtain more than proportionate returns. Take the book-binding industry, for example. A small shop, employing three men, might bind and stamp two hundred books per day at a cost of twenty cents per book. But a large establishment, employing a hundred workers with modern machinery can easily put through many thousand books at half the cost per volume. A manufacturer, if he is wise, finds out what branches of his business are most profitable. Then he applies more capital and labor in that direction so as to increase his earnings, and devotes less attention to the things which cannot be made so profitably. This is known as production under the law of increasing returns.

But in agriculture the situation is quite different. Any farmer or ranchman will tell you, if you ask him, that some of his land is better than the rest and yields him greater profit for the capital and labor applied to it. But if you thereupon suggest to him that he should devote all his attention to this particular piece of land, and neglect the rest, he would think very poorly of your intelligence. |An illustration of decreasing returns.| And rightly so, for if he applied more labor and capital to his best land, he would not be sure of getting a crop-increase in proportion; on the contrary, he would be quite safe in saying that, after a certain point, his extra labor and capital would bring him less than proportionate returns. An investment of ten dollars per acre may result in a crop of fifteen bushels per acre. It is very doubtful whether by applying twenty dollars worth of capital and labor to the land this yield could be doubled and it is quite certain that it could not be trebled by spending thirty dollars per acre on the land. In other words, agriculture is carried on, for the most part, under the law of diminishing returns, which may be briefly defined by saying that, “if at any given time, the amount of labor and capital applied to agricultural land is increased beyond a certain point, the increased investment will yield less than proportionate returns”. If this were not the case, no one would ever cultivate the poorer lands. We would raise our entire crops from the most fertile tracts. The point at which the returns will begin to diminish can never be exactly fixed, for improvements in the methods of agriculture may place it further ahead. These improved methods also bring into cultivation lands which otherwise would not be utilized.

Another Peculiarity of Agriculture—Limitations on Division of Labor.—In one other fundamental feature there is a difference between agriculture and industry. In industry, as will be seen presently, the individual worker confines his attention to one operation in the process of production. He does not make a shoe, but only part of a shoe. But in agriculture, this division of labor cannot be carried so far. |Why division of labor does not apply to agriculture.| The workers engaged in agriculture cannot be ploughmen, sowers, reapers, or threshers only; they must take a hand at all these things when the time comes. This is because the tasks connected with agriculture change with the seasons. Agricultural labor must, therefore, be much more versatile than labor employed in large-scale industry. Most industries, moreover, are able to run along at an even pace throughout the year, affording steady employment to a fixed number of workers. But in most forms of agriculture, the amount of labor required is much greater at some seasons of the year than at others, thus giving the farmer a labor problem of great difficulty to contend with.

The Exhaustion of the Soil.—The agricultural production of the country depends upon the fertility of the soil. Agricultural soil contains various chemical properties which are exhausted by long-continued cropping, particularly if only one type of produce is grown. These chemical elements are, more particularly, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash. Some crops draw chiefly upon one of these chemical elements and some upon the others. Wheat and corn take large amounts of nitrogen from the soil, while potatoes draw a larger proportion of potash. The exhaustion of the soil is prevented in two ways, first by rotation of crops and, second, by the use of fertilizers. Rotation of crops involves the growing of different products in successive years, such as wheat, potatoes, and hay. It is not always practicable. |Fertilization.| Fertilization involves the putting of chemical elements back into the soil. It may be effected by the use of natural manure or artificial fertilizers or by ploughing under the soil a green cover crop. Land retains its fertility to the degree that chemical elements are conserved in it.

The Effects of Agricultural Improvements.—During the past half century great progress has been made in all the processes of agriculture. The methods of treating the soil, the types of grain and other produce grown, the machinery available for use in agriculture, and the general intelligence with which the lands are cultivated—all have vastly improved since our grandfathers’ day. |The increased yield of the soil.| The results are apparent in an increased production. At the time of the Civil War the yield of wheat throughout the United States averaged only nine to ten bushels per acre; today it is nearly double that figure. Good farms and good farmers are now producing twenty-five bushels of wheat to the acre, sixty bushels of corn, or six hundred pounds of cotton. Similar progress has been made in the raising of cattle and in dairying. This has been accomplished by the selection and breeding of improved stock.

Year by year this improvement continues and it is certain that we have not yet nearly reached the limit of possibilities. On the highly fertilized lands of some European countries the wheat yield is as high as thirty or even forty bushels to the acre. In the case of root crops, fertilization of the land is an extremely important factor in production. |Our future possibilities.| One of the great present-day needs of American agriculture is a better and cheaper supply of nitrates for fertilizing the land and this has directed attention to the possibility of manufacturing nitrates in this country instead of importing them from abroad.^[158]

The United States Department of Agriculture.—To assist the agricultural interests of the country a Commissioner |How the national government helps the farmer.|of Agriculture was appointed by the national government in 1862, and seven years later this office was expanded into a Department of Agriculture, with a member of the cabinet at its head. The work of this department at the present day covers a wide range. Its more important activities, carried on through various bureaus, may be summarized as follows: The Bureau of Plant Industry studies new agricultural methods, endeavors to find improved varieties of grain and plants, conducts research work on soil fertility, and devises measures for the extermination of noxious weeds. It has combed the whole world for new grains and plants likely to thrive in this country. Its agents go about the country giving talks and demonstrations to the farmers with a view to educating them in all these matters. The Bureau of Animal Industry makes investigations into improved methods of breeding and raising live stock; it studies the problem of preventing communicable diseases among animals, and has charge of federal meat inspection. The Bureau of Entomology gathers and publishes information concerning insects which do harm to crops and cattle. It suggests methods of exterminating each form of insect pest. In this it has a giant task, for the ravages of insects like the gypsy moth and orange thrip are still costing the country millions of dollars per year. The work of the United States Forest Service, which is in this department, has already been mentioned. The Weather Bureau’s work is also well known. It gathers information concerning the weather in all sections of the country and sends out timely forecasts of probable storms, heat-waves, frosts, and rainfall for the benefit of agriculture and navigation. Other bureaus make chemical analyses of soil, water, and foods, and compile all manner of agricultural statistics. The Department of Agriculture also maintains, in different parts of the country, sixty experiment stations, at which new methods are fully tried out before being recommended.

It will be seen that by far the greater portion of the department’s work is scientific and educational. Its educational work is carried on not only by speakers and demonstrators who go about the country, but by the issue of bulletins and an annual volume known as the department’s Year Book. This volume, which may be had free of cost, contains more useful information on agricultural topics than any other book of its sort.

State Encouragement of Agriculture.—The encouragement of agriculture has not been left entirely to the national authorities. Most of the states also maintain departments of agriculture in charge of boards or commissioners. In most of the states, moreover, state colleges of agriculture have been established, and these may be attended, usually without the payment of tuition fees, by any qualified resident of the state. Short courses of instruction are given in various branches of agriculture for those who can spend but a few weeks or months at these agricultural colleges; extension work is carried on and scientific investigations made. This work has been, to some extent, assisted by grants of land and money from the national government. The chief individual factor in bringing both the federal and state agricultural authorities into touch with the farmers and cattle raisers is the county agent. He addresses them at their meetings, advises them on all agricultural matters, and helps them to form agricultural clubs.

The Problem of Agricultural Credits.—In agriculture, as in industry and commerce, a considerable amount of capital is needed. It takes capital to buy land, to improve it, to obtain machinery and live stock, to purchase seed, and to pay expenses during the period between seedtime and harvest. Until recently the agriculturist has been at a disadvantage, as compared with the manufacturer, in securing this capital. The banking system of the country was organized mainly to assist the operations of industry and commerce; there were no special banks to assist agriculture. |The Federal Farm Loan Banks.| In 1916, however, a system of Farm Loan Banks was established. There are now twelve such banks situated in as many regions of the country. Their function is to loan money on the security of agricultural or grazing land at reasonable rates of interest, the loans to be repaid in installments over a term of years. This has placed agriculture on an equality with all other forms of production as regards loans based on the security of land; but for loans upon the security of cattle, crops, and other personal property, the agriculturist must still depend upon the regular banking institutions.

The Problem of Agricultural Labor.—Mention has already been made of the fact that agriculture is a “seasonal” occupation to a very large extent. It is an occupation, moreover, in which the workers cannot at all times call eight hours a full day’s work. At the busy seasons of seedtime and harvest the day of the farmer and his helpers is from before sunrise until after sunset. As a result of these features the securing of a sufficient labor force at the busy seasons is an agricultural problem of great and constantly-recurring difficulty. Time and again it has happened that valuable crops have gone to waste because men could not be hired to harvest them. During the war years the scarcity of labor was especially acute and the wages of farm workers went up very rapidly. It is believed that this problem of getting sufficient labor might be solved by some organized action such as the United States government took during 1917-1918, recruiting labor in the cities, moving them from section to section in accordance with the demand, and effecting a more even distribution of the available workers.

Farmers’ Organizations.—It is harder for farmers to organize than for men in most other occupations. They live apart from one another; they are not dependent upon one another to the same extent that townsmen are; and their manner of life tends to make them individually self-reliant. In organizing they have, therefore, been much less active than workers in industry and commerce. Nevertheless there are many farmers’ associations in the United States at the present time and their membership is steadily increasing. Some of them are co-operative bodies, organized for the buying, selling, or manufacture of products. Others are agricultural societies formed for the purpose of holding fairs and meetings.

Two farmers’ organizations of a fraternal and social nature have spread all over the country. The first is the Patrons of Husbandry, more commonly known as the Grange. The other is the National Farmers’ Alliance. Between them these two organizations include several million members. Their main purpose is to promote the social and economic interests of the agricultural population, but they are also, on some occasions, active in politics. Farmers’ Institutes, which are being held under the joint auspices of the national and state agricultural departments in all sections of the country have also contributed to the facilities for popular education and recreation. These institutes are attended by more than two million persons per year.

The Farmer in Politics.—While the farmers of the United States do not possess a political organization of their own they are able through the various bodies mentioned in the preceding paragraph and through other associations to exercise a very important influence upon the action of the government. Many senators and representatives come from sections of the country where the farmers constitute an important element among the voters and on matters affecting the interests of agriculture these legislators usually stand together. In recent years this group of congressmen from the agricultural areas has been commonly known as the “agricultural bloc”; they do not form an actual majority in Congress, but they have usually had enough strength to get what they want. At the session of 1921 they obtained a tariff duty on wheat, which is in effect a tax on bread, and any political organization which can put a tax on bread must be powerful indeed. The farmers’ lobby at Washington is exceedingly strong.

Attempts have been made to unite the farmers in the rural districts with the workers in the cities into a regular political party. At the presidential election of 1920 a so-termed Farmer-Labor ticket was placed in the field, but it did not muster much strength. A combination of these two elements, if it could be effective, would be all-powerful. It is very doubtful, however, if any such political combination can be really made. The interests of the two elements are too far apart. The farmers are producers of food; the city workers are consumers. One wants prices to stay high; the other wants them to come down. It will be difficult to get two such groups to come together and to stay together.

The Special Problems of Rural Communities.—One of the chief problems of every rural community is to keep its young men and women from migrating to the cities and towns. In many parts of the country the agricultural population is steadily declining by reason of the constant exodus to the towns, and wherever population decreases there is usually a fall in the value of land.^[159] Thereupon the community ceases to move forward; the lands are neglected; methods of agriculture fail to keep pace with the times, and the whole region takes on a shabby appearance.

Now the chief reason why young men and women leave the rural districts for the cities is to be found in the outward attractiveness of city life. This attractiveness is really not so great as it appears to be; but it is the appearances that often count. Rural comforts and conveniences have been all too few in the past; the hours of labor have been long and the work often disagreeable; the dearth of social recreations has also been a factor in making rural life seem monotonous to youth. These drawbacks, however, are not essential and permanent features of rural life. The balance of advantage which towns and cities have heretofore possessed is in fact being steadily reduced by the advent of things which greatly enhance the attractiveness of life in rural communities. |The increasing attractions of rural life.| The motor car, the paved roads, the parcels post and rural mail delivery, the extension of telephone service and electric lighting into the country, the tractor and other labor-saving devices, the organization of societies and clubs among the young people of the rural areas, the improvement and centralization of rural schools—all these are having influence. The application of scientific principles to agriculture, moreover, has made it a skilled occupation, not a common industry. Routine farming by rule-of-thumb methods is not very interesting and not very profitable; but scientific farming is both. For these various reasons the exodus from the farms is not likely to be as great in the future as it has been in the past. This is a fortunate circumstance for, as President Roosevelt once declared, our whole civilization rests upon the attractiveness as well as the prosperity of rural life.

H. R. Burch, American Economic Life, pp. 209-232;

H. C. Taylor, Agricultural Economics, pp. 13-30;

G. F. Warren, Elements of Agriculture, pp. 372-398;

Sir Horace Plunkett, The Rural Life Problem of the United States, pp. 59-82;

John Phelan, Readings in Rural Sociology, pp. 162-183;

K. L. Butterfield, The Farmer and the New Day, pp. 1-29;

E. G. Nourse, Agricultural Economics, pp. 210-223;

A. H. Benson and G. H. Betts, Agriculture and the Farming Business, pp. 1-12;

S. J. Buck, The Agrarian Crusade, pp. 111-141.

1. How the national and state departments of agriculture help the farmer in your state. References: J. E. Boyle, Agricultural Economics, pp. 312-327; L. H. Bailey, The State and the Farmer, pp. 89-111; E. G. Nourse, Agricultural Economics, pp. 553-565.

2. Making country life more attractive. References: C. J. Galpin, Rural Life, pp. 212-260; J. M. Gillette, Constructive Rural Sociology, pp. 168-199; L. H. Bailey, The Country Life Movement; University of Virginia, Alumni Bulletins, Rural Life Conferences, passim; Report of the Country Life Commission.

3. The farmer in politics. References: S. J. Buck, The Granger Movement, pp. 34-39; 80-122; F. L. McVey, The Populist Movement, in American Economic Association, Economic Studies, Vol. I, No. 3 (August, 1896), pp. 131-209.

4. Who owns the farms in the United States? References: H. C. Taylor, Agricultural Economics, pp. 238-269; P. L. Vogt, Introduction to Rural Sociology, pp. 61-100; T. N. Carver, Selected Readings in Rural Economics, pp. 498-546; E. G. Nourse, Agricultural Economics, pp. 665-673; William Kent, Land Tenure and Public Policy, pp. 213-225.

1. The farm population of the United States. P. L. Vogt, Introduction to Rural Sociology, pp. 120-145; L. H. Bailey, The Country Life Movement, pp. 31-60.

2. The rural school and the rural community. Irving King, Education for Social Efficiency, pp. 21-42; E. P. Cubberley, Rural Life and Education, pp. 163-176; 226-255; Mabel Carney, Country Life and the Country School, pp. 133-148.

3. The grange. S. J. Buck, The Granger Movement, pp. 279-301; Mabel Carney, Country Life and the Country School, pp. 72-89.

4. The non-partisan league. Andrew A. Bruce, The Non-Partisan League, passim; Herbert Gaston, The Non-Partisan League, pp. 269-283.pp. 269-283.

5. Community life in the country. C. J. Galpin, Rural Life, pp. 176-211; L. H. Bailey, The Country Life Movement, pp. 97-133; T. N. Carver, Rural Economics, pp. 334-382.

6. The farmer of the Middle West. John Phelan, Readings in Rural Sociology, pp. 27-44.

7. The South and the negro farmer. Ibid., pp. 46-72.

8. The New England farmer. Ibid., pp. 1-25.

9. The farmer of the Rocky Mountain states. W. E. Smythe, The Conquest of Arid America, pp. 19-30; 150-163; F. I. Anderson, The Farmer of Tomorrow, pp. 98-140.

10. Marketing farm products. E. G. Nourse, Agricultural Economics, pp. 524-540; F. W. Card, Farm Management, pp. 109-138; T. N. Carver, Selected Readings in Rural Economics, pp. 769-782; H. C. Taylor, Agricultural Economics, pp. 352-365.

11. Women’s place on the farm. C. J. Galpin, Rural Life, pp. 101-117; John Phelan, Readings in Rural Sociology, pp. 313-324; P. DeVuyst, Woman’s Place in Rural Economy, pp. 23-42.

12. Rural credits. J. B. Morman, The Place of Agriculture in Reconstruction, pp. 310-347; E. G. Nourse, Agricultural Economics, pp. 712-723; 789-795; M. T. Herrick, Rural Credits, pp. 439-455.

13. Agriculture and reconstruction. J. B. Morman, The Place of Agriculture in Reconstruction, pp. 146-180.

1. Name the various types of agricultural activity and indicate on the map where they are chiefly carried on.

2. Place the following agricultural products in the order of their relative annual value (referring to the World Almanac for such information as is not given in the text); wood, cotton, rice, wheat, cattle, corn, sheep, sugar, tobacco.

3. Explain fully the law of diminishing returns as applied to agricultural land. Name some of its effects.

4. What are the chief chemical elements in agricultural soil? How are they saved from exhaustion? What is the order of crop-rotation practiced in your district and why is this order chosen? Explain how the “cover-crop” system helps the soil.

5. List, in what seems to you to be their order of importance, the services rendered by the National Department of Agriculture.

6. How are Farm Loan Banks financed? What functions do they perform?

7. Find out how a Grange is organized, what officers it has, and what members do at their meetings.

8. The government assures to the owners of the railroads a minimum return on their invested capital (see p. 367). Should it guarantee the farmer a minimum price for his products?

9. Do you believe that the farmers are justified in organizing a “bloc” in Congress to promote their own interests? If the industrial workers, the shopkeepers, the manufacturers and so forth were to do likewise, how would this affect the party system?

10. Explain how the attractiveness of rural life has been increased in recent years.

1. The national government should (a) directly engage in improved road-building for the benefit of agricultural areas; or (b) assist the states by grants of money for this purpose; or (c) leave the matter entirely to the states and communities.

2. Farmers and cattlemen should be permitted to form organizations in order to prevent competition and keep up the prices of their products, although such agreements among manufacturers are forbidden.