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AGASSIZ, ALEXANDER, the American scientist who was elected president of the National Academy of Sciences in 1901, was born at Neuchâtel, Switzerland, December 17, 1835, the son of Professor Louis Agassiz, the famous naturalist. Removing to the United States with his father in 1849, he graduated at Harvard in 1855, and at the Lawrence Scientific School two years later. As assistant on the Coast Survey he went to California in 1859, and in 1860 he was made an assistant in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, a position which he retained until 1865. Then he made a venture in coal mining in Pennsylvania, which led to his connection with the development of the Calumet and Hecla Copper Mines on Lake Superior, from which he gained a large fortune. The years from 1865 to 1869 he spent at the mines, and then devoted a year to studying the museums of Europe, returning to take the position of assistant curator of the museum at Cambridge, and upon the death of his father in 1873 he became curator. In 1885 he resigned this position on account of ill health, after valuable work in developing the museum, and retained only an unofficial connection with the institution. Mr. Agassiz has spent much time with the Coast Survey in deep-sea dredging, and has headed a number of scientific expeditions. Among his publications are Marine Animals of Massachusetts Bay (with Elizabeth Agassiz, 1871), North American Acalephæ (1865), Revision of the Echini (1872), North American Starfishes (1877), Report on the Echini of the Challenger Expedition, and numerous monographs on deep-sea fishes.

AGRICULTURE. The season of 1901 was an unusually prosperous one for agriculture, considered as a whole. The wheat crop was one of the very largest, if not the largest, which this country has produced, and the prices, which depend upon the world's supply, were good, so that the total value of the crop of this country is placed at $150,000,000 above that of the preceding year. There was a falling off in the cotton crop in a number of States, which brought the total yield down considerably below the average. The oat crop was a fair one and has commanded high prices. The corn crop was the disaster of the year, owing to a severe drought during the early summer. The total yield is estimated at nearly or quite 700,000,000 bushels below the average. The potato crop was short, and making necessary an unusual importation. The high prices, however, made up for the deficit. The prices of farm crops in general were very good, owing in part to the shortage of corn, which increased the demand for all sorts of feed stuffs. The American Agriculturist estimates the total value of the farm crops at $400,000,000 over that of the preceding year. The shortage of the corn crop forced the heavy marketing of stock from the drought districts, and the high prices have tempted many farmers to ship their stock. There was an active market for animals and animal products throughout the year at satisfactory prices.

Plant Production. The progress in plant production has been chiefly along the lines of greater diversification, more intensive cultivation, and the improvement, introduction, and management of new crops, from which has resulted a remarkable advancement in agricultural industries. This has been promoted by the efforts of the national Department of Agriculture to seek out and introduce plants or varieties better adapted to the conditions of different sections of the country, and to build up new industries, and by the great activity that there has been in the scientific improvement of plants by breeding and selection. In the plant-breeding work which is carried on by the Department of Agriculture and a number of the agricultural experiment stations, the effort is either to improve the quality or productibility of the plant, or to produce a strain or variety more resistant to unfavorable environment conditions or serious insect ravages. A great deal has already been accomplished with wheat, corn, cotton, and other staple crops, and the work is expected to exert a profound influence on agriculture. The Illinois Station has improved the quality of corn and the Minnesota Station has given to that section several varieties of wheat and corn which are more productive than the common varieties and possess more desirable qualities. In Illinois and Iowa organizations have been formed among farmers, who, under the instruction of their experiment stations, are engaged in breeding corn, establishing distinct types, and growing seed corn in accordance with scientific principles.

The macaroni wheats which the Department of Agriculture has introduced and disseminated have been found well adapted to a wide extent of territory in the West and Northwest. In 1900, when other wheats were almost a complete failure in the Dakotas, the macaroni varieties produced a good yield and grain of excellent quality, and these results were confirmed during 1901.

The rice industry in Louisiana and Texas has developed very rapidly during the past few years, not less than $20,000,000 being now invested in that industry. During the past two years there has been an increase in the rice production of nearly 75,000,000 pounds, which has been accompanied by a falling off in the importation of rice of nearly one half. The rice is there grown under irrigation, the water being

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pumped from wells or streams for that purpose. It is believed that in a few years this country will not only cease to import rice, but will be exporting it.

Great interest has been aroused, especially in 1901, in the reclamation and improvement of the ranges of the West and in finding or breeding forage plants adapted to them. The great success which has attended the trial of smooth brome grass (Bromus inermis) has led to the planting of this on a large scale in certain sections. While this is partly due to the demand for seed, many farmers are planting tracts of 50 to 100 acres for the production of hay.

The growing of tea in South Carolina is a demonstrated success. About 4,500 pounds of high-grade tea were produced at Summerville, S. C., in the season of 1901, for all of which a ready market was found in the North. The labor conditions have been so far overcome that the profit on this crop averages from $30 to $40 an acre. In connection with the various studies that have been continued on the sugar beet and its adaptation to different sections of the country, an extensive résumé has been made by the Department of Agriculture showing the influence of environment on the sugar content of the beet, especially the soil and seasonal influences which brings out a number of interesting points. Studies of the effect of environment on the gluten content of wheat have shown that even in the course of a single year the influence was so great as to cause a variation of 50 per cent. or more from the original gluten content, usually a decrease.

The growing of Sumatra tobacco under shade in the Connecticut Valley, which gave such favorable results in 1900, was continued on a larger scale in the following year, about forty acres being grown under proper supervision. The results were even more favorable than in 1900, and show conclusively that when properly managed a wrapper tobacco of high quality can be grown in this country at a good profit. About $2 a pound was realized for the product at auction. A company has been organized which will plant 100 acres in 1902, and it is said that cloth has been contracted for to cover over 500 acres. In the curing of tobacco there has been great progress, coming from a better understanding of the nature of the fermentation and the conditions for the development of black rot and other unfavorable changes. Bulk fermentation has been shown to be very superior to the old method of fermenting in the case, both in improving the quality of the leaf and in controlling the dreaded black rot.

Soil Studies-During 1901 a soil survey under the supervision of the Department of Agriculture was undertaken on an extensive scale. Beginnings have been made in a number of States, and the work will be vigorously prosecuted with a view to mapping the soil areas so as to show the different types of soils represented and to determining methods of soil management and cropping. A considerable amount of work has been done in studying the alkali of the West-the way in which it injures or prevents the growth of plants and the tolerance of different plants for it. The role of micro-organisms in the soil in rendering plant food available, decomposing organic matter, and nitrifying nitrogenous matter, is now better understood, and it is recognized that the real object of the cultivation of the soil is very largely the bringing about of conditions favorable to the activity of these beneficial organisms. These investigations have an exceedingly important bearing in shaping the practices of soil management.

The benefits of a rotation of crops in maintaining soil fertility, as compared with continuous wheat growing, have been forcibly brought home to the farmers of the Northwest during the past two seasons. The system of continuous wheat culture with summer fallow has been shown by Snyder at the Minnesota Experiment Station to result in heavy loss in nitrogen and humus, the loss of the latter changing the physical properties of the soil and causing it to be less retentive of moisture. Bare summer fallow, which is common in the wheat-growing regions of the Northwest, has been shown to cause a heavier loss in nitrogen than continuous wheat growing. A condition has been reached, both in the wheat lands of the North and the cotton fields of the South, where a system of rotation must be employed to secure good results. Experiments carried on for six years at the North Dakota Experiment Station show that continuous wheat culture is unprofitable, while wheat in rotation increases in yield and improves the fertility. Three crops of wheat and one of clover gave in four years almost as much wheat and more profitable returns than four successive crops of wheat. The results of the past two years have shown the marked advantage of rotation, and they are gradually having their effect in changing the practice and doing away with the wasteful summer fallow system.

Live Stock-The census returns of the enumeration of farm animals, issued during 1901, show that the number of farm animals is increasing relatively more rapidly than the population, indicating an increased production of live stock in recent years. The effect of this has, however, not been apparent in the prices received. The prices of live stock in general have been good, and the report of the Union Stock Yards at Chicago shows the business of the past year to have been almost

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unprecedented. The total number of cattle received at the yards, over 3,000,000 head, was larger than in any year since 1893. For the first time in the history of the yards the receipts of sheep and lambs reached the 4,000,000 mark, and the number of hogs exceeded 8,000,000. The stock received at the yards during the year represented an estimated value of nearly $284,000,000, which was an increase of more than $20,000,000 over 1900. There was a notable increase in the number of cattle and sheep exported from this country in 1901, the former being greater than in any year since 1898, and the latter the largest since 1896. The exports of animals and animal products during the year amounted to nearly $254,000,000.

The discovery of a practicable method of immunizing northern cattle to Texas fever has led to the introduction of a large number of high-bred animals into the South for the improvement of the herds. In recent years a marked improvement has also taken place in the general character of the animals raised on the range, and in breeding beef animals to meet the demand. A notable instance of this improvement is found in the fact that at the Fat Stock Show at Chicago in December, 1901, the champion carload lot of fat steers were produced on a Texas ranch and were largely of Hereford blood. Another change in stock raising has come from the worn-out condition of the open range and the gradual selling and fencing in of the public domain. While there is much interest in the renovation and improvement of these ranges, time will be required to overcome the effects of the continued overstocking, and the changed conditions brought about afford encouragement for intelligent stock raising in the East. With the superior prices for high-grade beef, rapidly grown and of the type best suited to the butcher, the opportunity for profitable beef production in the East is believed to be good and the conditions more favorable to it than they have been for many years past.

The Russian government has taken steps in the direction of improving the character of the live stock and the live-stock industry of that country. An appropriation of $2,000,000 was made in 1901 to begin this work, together with a regular appropriation for its continuance.

The exhibition event of the year was the Second International Live-Stock Exposition, held at Chicago early in December, which was one of the largest and most successful live-stock expositions ever held. Practically 12,000 animals competed for premiums amounting to $110,000, and these were viewed by over 400,000 people. The exhibition animals included cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs. Among the beef cattle the Aberdeen Angus, which carried off the prizes last year, were this year outclassed by the Herefords. The grand champion of the show was a pedigreed Hereford steer, and the champion carload lot of steers, as mentioned above, was composed of grade Herefords. The latter brought at auction $12 per hundred weight. The auction sales of breeding cattle brought some unusually high prices. A Shorthorn cow sold for $6,000, a Hereford cow for $4,500, a Galloway bull for $2,000, and a Shorthorn bull out of the royal herd of England sold privately for the highest amount, it is stated, ever paid in America. A Berkshire boar sold privately at the remarkable price of $2,500.

There has been renewed interest in the Angora goat, resulting in a considerable demand for this variety in those sections of the country which are suffering from the encroachment of brush and briers upon the farm and pasture lands. As the Angora produces annually a fleece worth from $1.00 to 1.50, and its skin with the fleece attached is worth from $1.50 to $2.50, it would seem that Angora goat raising is likely to develop into a permanent industry in certain sections of this country.

The investigation in the line of animal production has continued along much the same lines as in previous years and has covered the whole range of commercial and home-grown feeding stuffs, the economical production of beef, mutton, and pork, using farm-grown feeds to a greater extent, and more intricate problems connected with the physiology of animal nutrition. In this connection it may be mentioned that a respiration calorimeter, which is the first apparatus of its kind for use with large animals, has been completed at the Pennsylvania Experiment Station, and experiments have been commenced with it in a preliminary way.

Literature. Of the new literature of 1901, the following books may be mentioned: Agriculture (Volumes 1, 2, and 3), by William P. Brooks; Agricultural Bacteriology, by H. W. Conn; Text-Book of the Physics of Agriculture, by F. H. King; Feeding of Animals, by W. H. Jordan; Judging Live Stock, by John A. Craig; Study of Breeds in America, by Thomas Shaw; and Breeds of Poultry, by G. C. Watson.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

The great development of the administrative and scientific operations of the Department of Agriculture under the administration of Secretary James Wilson has necessitated its reorganization in accordance with the plan followed in the other departments of the National Government. Congress has therefore authorized the

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establishment of four new bureaus: the Bureau of Plant Industry (comprising the former divisions of botany, vegetable physiology and pathology, agrostology, pomology, seeds, gardens and grounds, and the section of seed and plant introduction); and the Bureaus of Soils, Chemistry, and Forestry (taking the place of the former divisions of the same names).

The annual appropriation for the department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1902, is $3,862,420, exclusive of the regular appropriation of $720,000 for the State agricultural experiment stations. The number of its paid employees is over 3,500, of whom more than 2,000 are engaged in operations connected with its scientific work. During the year 1901 it issued 606 publications, aggregating nearly 8,000,000 copies. The Year Book has an edition of 500,000 copies. Plans have been drawn for a new main building, provision for which is made in a bill now before Congress. Among the important advances in the work of the department during the past year are the following:

The Weather Bureau has established cooperation with Europe in the interchange of weather forecasts and has extended the distribution of forecasts to farmers through rural free delivery. Progress has been made in perfecting a system of wireless telegraphy for use in the weather service. Meat inspection is now maintained in fifty-one cities where nearly 37,000,000 animals were inspected in 1901. Investigations in plant breeding have been much extended and the problems of the improvement of the western ranges are being widely studied. Satisfactory results have been obtained in the growing of macaroni wheats, Egyptian cotton, the date palm, and tea. With the aid of the department, Sumatra tobacco is being successfully grown in the Connecticut Valley and Florida. The survey of soils of different States with reference to their agricultural capabilities has been greatly extended. Investigations on the adulteration of food products have been extended to include imported foods. The investigations on the nutrition of man include dietary, digestion, metabolism, and cooking experiments. The work in forestry has been enlarged to include the study of forests, forest fires, forest grazing, commercial trees, lumbering, and forest products for the Federal and State governments, and for private individuals. Expert assistance is being given in the management of forest reserves as well as of private forest lands. Much progress has been made in studies of the irrigation laws and institutions in the arid States and the distribution and use of water for different crops in both the arid and humid regions. The survey of the life zones and crop belts in the West has been continued in connection with which it has been ascertained that a species of agave grows in great abundance in Texas which may take the place of large quantities of fibre now imported, mostly from Mexico. The inspection of the importation of birds has been systematized under the provisions of the Lacey Act. The investigations which resulted in the introduction and establishment in California of the fig fertilizer insect (Blastophaga grossorum) have been completed and already a considerable amount of figs fertilized in this way have been put upon the market. The original home of the San José scale has, it is believed, been found in Northern China, where it is held in check by a lady-bird beetle (Chilocorus similis), which will be introduced into this country in the hope of thus repressing this pest. See FORESTRY.

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

Considerable progress was made during 1901 in broadening and strengthening courses in agriculture in the colleges in the United States. The movement for the division of the general subject of agriculture into specialties to be taught by different instructors still continues. The Committee on Methods of Teaching Agriculture of the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations completed its syllabus for the college course in agriculture. This divides the subject of agriculture into agronomy (plant production), zootechny (animal production), agrotechny (agricultural technology, especially dairying), agricultural engineering and rural economics. Thus far comparatively little attention has been given to the two latter branches of agricultural instruction in our colleges. There is, however, increasing interest in these subjects, and therefore good reason to believe that with the increase of resources of these institutions, more adequate courses along these lines will be provided. Notable recent advances along the line of agricultural engineering have been the establishment of a department of irrigation at the University of California, and the offering of special courses for irrigation canal superintendents and State water commissioners at the State Agricultural College of Colorado.

A new step of progress in agricultural education in this country is indicated in the plans for a Graduate School of Agriculture to be held in the summer of 1902 under the auspices of the Ohio State University and in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture and the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. The purpose of this school is to give advanced

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instruction in the science of agriculture, and particularly in the methods of investigating agricultural problems and teaching agricultural subjects.

There has been a considerable increase in the total number of students attending agricultural courses in the colleges, but the great majority of these students are still unwilling or unable to complete the four years' course leading to the bachelor's degree. There is an increasing demand for short and special courses, and the colleges are meeting this to a greater extent than heretofore. A much larger amount of college extension work in agriculture is now being done than ever before. This includes, besides the wide dissemination of information through the experiment station publications, such things as nature-study lectures and leaflets, press bulletins, correspondence courses, farmers' institute lectures, exhibits at State and County fairs, and excursions of farmers to the colleges.

In providing for maintenance and new buildings at the agricultural colleges, the various State legislatures meeting during 1901 were more than usually liberal, so that in the aggregate these institutions now have materially increased resources. The State support of these institutions is changing from a temporary to a permanent basis. Colleges and universities receiving the benefits of the Acts of Congress of July 1, 1862, and August 30, 1890, are now in operation in all the States and Territories except Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico. The total number of institutions in the United States maintaining courses in agriculture is 62; the aggregate value of the permanent funds and equipment of the land-grant institutions in 1901 is estimated to be $67,060,000, of which $1,928,000 was added in 1901, and their income was $7.401,000. Out of a total attendance of 42,104 students, 6,860 were taking courses in agriculture.

The movement for the establishment of secondary agricultural schools and the introduction of nature study and elementary agriculture into the rural schools has increased in importance. Alabama continues to support nine Congressional district agricultural high schools, which annually accommodate about 2,000 pupils at a cost to the State of $22,500. Minnesota has for a number of years supported a successful secondary school of agriculture in connection with the State university, and the legislature of 1901 appropriated $2,000 a year for two years for the introduction of agriculture into the rural schools. The University of Nebraska has recently inaugurated a similar school of agriculture with a three-year course. A recent law in Wisconsin provides for the establishment of county agricultural high schools. In Missouri increased attention is being given to carrying out the provisions of the law requiring agricultural instruction in rural schools, and to prepare teachers for this work departments of agriculture have been established in three normal schools of that State. Through the efforts of the committee for the promotion of agriculture of New York a school of practical agriculture and horticulture has been put into successful operation at Briar Cliff manor, N. Y.

In many States the problem of improving the rural schools is causing general discussion, and there seems to be a marked tendency toward concentration; that is, the elimination of small schools and the establishment of centralized schools, often with free transportation for pupils living at a distance from the schoolhouse. This movement has in several cases resulted in the establishment of rural high schools, with the township or the county as a unit. Reports coming from sections where centralization has been tried show for these schools better supervision, better teaching, better buildings and other facilities for instruction, better health and morals on the part of the pupils, more regular attendance, a longer continuance of the large boys and girls in school, and considerably enriched courses of study. It is believed that this movement for the consolidation of rural schools will be an important factor in securing the general introduction of nature study with special reference to agriculture in the country schools.

The farmers' institute movement is growing in importance, attendance at the meetings is increasing, and State appropriations for this work are becoming more liberal. The institutes are now held in 43 States and Territories. In 19 of these they are under officials of agricultural colleges or experiment stations; in 17 they are under State or county officials; and in 7 they are under the joint control of State officials and the college or station officials. Successfully conducted institutes are found under each system of management. Some 2,000 institutes are now annually held in the United States, with an aggregate attendance of at least half a million farmers.

AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS.

These are now in operation under the Act of Congress of March 2, 1887, in all the States and Territories and in Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico. In Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Hawaii, Missouri, Alabama, and Louisiana, separate stations are maintained wholly or in part by State funds. A number of substations are also maintained in different States. Excluding the substations, the total number

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