X. A wagonload of live poultry coming to a western packing house.. 288 288 XII. Figs. 1 and 2.-Large feeding stations. Fig. 3.-At feeding time in the fattening station. 288 288 XIV. Fig. 1.-"String" killing and picking. Fig. 2.-"Bench” killing and picking. 288 XXIII. Fig. 1.-A view across the Salt Lake Valley. Fig. 2.-Maplewood cherry farm.. 312 328 328 328 thrips. Fig. 2.-Types of nozzles used in spraying for the onion thrips.... XXVIII. Fig. 1.-Onions when first infested by migrating thrips in June. Fig. 2.-Onions in 328 crates, with the tops left in piles highly infested with thrips, eggs, and adults. XXIX. Two-row field sprayer used against the onion thrips... XXX. Fig. 1.-Two-row field sprayer in action. Fig. 2.-Power sprayer in operation. 328 328 328 328 XXXII. Onion plant from Knox, Ind., showing pathological conditions found to be due to work XXXVII. Small chestnut tree in pot about three months after artificial inoculation 368 XXXVIII and XXXIX. Insect enemies of live stock in the United States.. 392 XL. A "farmers' saw mill" on the Weiser National Forest, Idaho.. 408 XLI. Fig. 1.—A small mill on the Boise National Forest, Idaho. Fig. 2.-A small mountain saw mill on Holy Cross National Forest, Colo.. 408 XLII. Fig. 1.—Taking out mining timbers from the Beartooth National Forest, Mont. Fig. 2.-A small National Forest saw mill in Colorado. 408 XLIII. Characteristic location on the trucking soils of the Norfolk and Portsmouth series.. 424 424 XLV. Fig. 1.—Early Irish potatoes on Norfolk fine sandy loam, near Charleston, S. C. Fig. 2.-Winter cabbage on Norfolk fine sandy loam.. 424 XLVI. Fig. 1.—Harvesting field lettuce on Norfolk fine sandy loam near Charleston, S. C. Fig. 2.-Harvesting field of beets on Norfolk fine sandy loam, Charleston, S. C................. 7 424 Page. PLATE XLVII. Field lettuce, Castle Hayne, N. C......... 424 XLVIII. Fig. 1.-Klondyke strawberries on Coxville fine sandy loam near Conway, S. C. Fig. 2.-Uncleared Savannah land, Norfolk fine sandy loam, in eastern North Carolina. XLIX. Western yellow pine seed gathered on the Black Hills National Forest. 424 440 L. Two types of cone gatherers.. 440 LI. Fig. 1.-A squirrel hoard. Fig. 2.-Government pack train on the Kaniksu National Forest 440 LII. A partially unloaded wagon at the cone bins, showing construction of bins to 440 LIII. Fig. 1.-Ordinary flat bale of cotton as it frequently appears after sampling and rough handling. Fig. 2.-Typical commercial gin plant in southern Texas....... LIV. Fig. 1.-Railroad compress at Shreveport, La. Fig. 2.-Ordinary compressed cotton bales ready for export.. 456 456 LV. Fig. 1.-The round cotton bale. Fig 2.-Gin-compressed cotton bales. 456 456 LVII. Home of John Christensen, New Salem, N. Dak.. LIX. Kafir corn and sorghum, Flagler, Colo., 1912.. LVIII. Fig. 1.—Half-blood Holstein calves from native cows. Fig. 2.-Oat hay, Limon, 464 464 464 LX. Fig. 1.-Millet, Geneva, Colo., 1912. Fig. 2.-Corn for silage, Limon, Colo., 1912. LXV. Fig. 1.—First load of baled Rhodes-grass hay produced in this country. Fig. 2.- 496 Johnson grass, and Sudan grass.... LXVI. Rhodes grass, showing its general habit of growth....... - LXVII. Fig. 1.-The third cutting of Rhodes-grass hay. Fig. 2.-Tunis grass.. LXVIII. Fig. 1.—A field of Sudan grass seeded in 18-inch rows. Fig. 2.-Seeds of Tunis grass, LXIX. Root systems of Sudan grass and Johnson grass. LXX. Natural hybrids of Sudan grass and hybrids.. 496 496 496 496 496 TEXT FIGURES. FIG. 1. The onion thrips (Thrips tabaci).... 2. The spotted ladybird ( Megilla maculata)..... 3. Thripoctenus russelli....... 4. Two-row arrangement of nozzles for spraying onion thrips. 5. Four-row attachment for onion sprayer.. 6. Seed-corn maggot (Pegomya fusciceps).. 7. Young onion plant, showing imported onion maggots at work in the bulb.. 8. Onion maggot (Pegomya cepetorum). 9. Black onion fly (Tritoza flexa). 10. The wheat wireworm (Agriotes mancus). 11. Larva of buffalo gnat (Simulium pecuarum). 12. Simulium pecuarum, one of the buffalo gnats. 13. The ox bot or heel fly (Hypoderma lineata).. 14. The screw-worm fly (Chrysomyia macellaria). 15. Goldfinch. 16. Chipping sparrow....... 320 322 322 325 325 326 327 328 328 334 384 384 388 393 399 400 401 17. Song sparrow.. 18. Sketch map showing location of the trucking district. 19. A typical commercial weather map... 418 538 YEARBOOK OF THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Mr. PRESIDENT: REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. I respectfully present my Sixteenth Annual Report, covering the work of the Department of Agriculture for the year 1912. BRIEF COMMENTS. The most effective move toward reduced cost of living is the production of greater crops. This is attributable to the work of the Department of Agriculture, the agricultural colleges and experiment stations, and the help of the press in publishing every movement to help the farmers. Demonstration work in Southern States in the fields has been of immediate benefit. The South has increased the food supply very much in the last few years. The movement ordered by Congress to take farm demonstration into all Northern States will bring more food into our markets. Our fields can and will steadily increase their output in coming years as ways and means of growing heavier crops become better understood. The Nation forgot its farmers in the general scheme of education of past years; few philanthropists thought of them when giving for education. Congress is good to them. They are waking up and thinking for themselves. The crop of sugar from the beet was 600,000 tons a year ago; it is 700,000 tons this year.. The sugar comes from the carbon-dioxide of the atmosphere, taking no valuable plant food from the soil. The process of growing is intensive agriculture, something new to all but our gardeners, and prepares the soil for increased yields of all other crops. One hundred and sixty-four thousand square miles have been cleared of the fever tick in the Southern States, equal to the area of three States. The farmers there are bringing in improved stock and will soon contribute materially to the meat supply. Seven hundred acres of Egyptian and other long-staple cotton are being grown on the Colorado River in southern California, under research conditions that give good promise of eventually supplying the demand for such fibers. Thread makers of Europe are here inquiring into future supplies of long-staple cotton. The market waits for the scientist to do his work. When the Panama Canal is open for business our bulbs and beet seed will come from the Pacific coast. The leading specialists of the Department of Agriculture educate their assistants. The outside world wants them and pays more than the law permits being paid in the Government service. The food and drugs act is exacting on department time; 1,459 violations were sent to the Department of Justice during the last year-25 per cent more than in the year before. Jail sentences are now being imposed. Our farmers get only half crops on the average, or 10 tons of beets from an acre. They are learning how to farm intensively and will grow twice this tonnage in a few years, when they will not fear reduction of duties. Our dry-land problems will be measurably solved through alfalfas from Siberia and nonsaccharine sorghums from Africa. Congress has given us law to keep out diseased and insect-infested plants. Farm demonstration in the fields is being organized in all the Northern States, Congress providing. The field is the best classroom for instruction in practical agriculture. Department study of poultry and eggs will help to get these foods to market in good condition. The sea is the great reservoir of potash. The kelp plant gathers it. We gather the kelp and extract. Two feet of woven wire and three barb wires keep dogs out of a sheep pasture. Dogs outnumber sheep in many States, and we have not learned to eat dogs as they do in some European countries. The reason given by most farmers why they do not keep sheep is "the dogs." Kansas had, in 1910, 175,000 sheep and 199,000 dogs, Coburn tells us. The town does not need the retired farmer, while the farm needs his experience and his capital. A retired farmer is capital going to waste. Taking care of the soil is the first consideration in the conservation of our resources. Denmark buys our mill feeds and sells $40,000,000 of dairy products to Great Britain. Bookkeeping will soon be as common on the farm as in the factory. It is just as important for a farmer to know what it has cost to produce a given crop as for the manufacturer to know the cost of making the article he sells. CROP RESULTS. MOST PRODUCTIVE OF ALL YEARS. EARTH'S GREATEST DIVIDEND. Most productive of all agricultural years in this country has been 1912. The earth has produced its greatest annual dividend. The sun and the rain and the fertility of the soil heeded not the human controversies, but kept on working in cooperation with the farmers' efforts to utilize them. The reward is a high general level of production. The man behind the plow has filled the Nation's larder, crammed the storehouses, and will send liberal supplies to foreign countries. The prices at the farm are generally profitable, and will continue the prosperity that farmers have enjoyed in recent years. In spite of the lower total value of animals sold and slaughtered, the total crop value is so far above that of 1911, and of any preceding year, that the total production of farm wealth is the highest yet reached by half a billion dollars. Based on the census items of wealth production on farms, the grand total for 1912 is estimated to be $9,532,000,000. This unthinkable amount of wealth has been contributed to the Nation in one year by the soil and by the farmers' live stock. It is more than twice the value of the wealth produced on farms in 1899, according to the census, and it is about one-eighth more than the wealth produced in 1909. During the last 16 years the farmer has steadily increased his wealth production year by year, with the exception of 1911, when the value declined from that of the preceding year. If the wealth |