WHEAT The wheat seeding in many parts of the State was unusually late, owing to the excessive rain-fall during the early part of September, the season at which most of the wheat seeding in Pennsylvania is done. In many places the rain-fall during this period was so great that land which was plowed and about ready to be seeded when the September rains set in was not seeded at all. This condition was largely responsible for reducing the acreage to 49,000 acres less than it was the previous year. The average yield, however, was 18 bushels against 13 in 1911. The total amount produced in 1912 was 22,320,000 bushels, worth $21,204,000, against 17,402,000 bushels, worth $16,010,000 in 1911. BARLEY The acreage of barley was the same this year that is was in 1911, the yield per acre being an increase of 2 bushels over that of last year. Reference has been made several times in the reports of this Department to the value of barley as a feed crop, and when, in addition to such value, we take into consideration the fact that on account of the small quantity of foliage it produces, growing near the ground, it has special advantages as a "nurse crop" for clover or the grasses sowed in the spring, it is a matter of wonder that so little is raised in our State. It can be sowed a little later than oats, thereby making it possible to lengthen the period of spring seeding, an advantage of which many farmers would do well to avail themselves, especially in sections where corn and buckwheat are not grown. The total production of barley in 1912 was 175,000 bushels, worth $131,000. OATS The amount of oats produced by the farmers of the State in 1912, was 36,377,000 bushels, worth $14,915,000, the average yield per acre being 33.1 bushels, an increase of nearly five bushels per acre over the average yield of 1911. A comparison of the figures given shows that the value per acre of the oats raised was $13.50 while that of barley was $18.75, another argument in favor of raising more barley. It must be admitted, however, that where the straw is used for feed, the relative difference in the value of these two crops is not so great, owing to the fact that oat straw, as a feed, is preferable to barley straw. RYE In the production of rye, Pennsylvania, in 1912, kept up her record of several years past of standing at the head of the list of Eastern states in the production of this valuable crop and has exceeded all the other states of the Union, except Wisconsin and Minnesota, in the total amount produced. The total yield for Pennsylvania, as given by the United States Crop Reporter, is 4,935,000 bushels, valued at $3,800,000, as against 4,304,000 bushels produced in 1911, valued at $3,443,000. The average yield per acre is 17 bushels, against 15.1 bushels in 1911. BUCKWHEAT Pennsylvania has, this year, kept the position she achieved last year as being the first state of the Union in the production of buckwheat, the total yield being 7,405,000 bushels, nearly 21 per cent. of the entire amount raised in the United States. The yield per acre is 24.2 bushels, against 21.9 in 1911. Buckwheat is a crop that does well in high altitudes and is not the "soil robber" that many farmers believe it to be. A comparatively thin soil, put in proper tilth, can, by a moderate use of commercial fertilizer, be made to produce a good yield. Its rank growth, under favorable circumstances, and its broad leaves that shade the ground, make it an excellent cleanser of soils infested with weeds, and these qualities as well as the good prices at which it sells should induce farmers to continue to increase its production. POTATOES White or Irish potatoes do well in many parts of the State. This is a crop that requires a light friable soil and is well suited to some of the shale and gravel soils found in the higher altitudes of the State as well as to the loose sandy soils found in some of the valleys. The sandy soils have the advantage of warming up quickly in the spring season, adapting them especially to the growth of potatoes for early market. 265,000 acres were planted with potatoes in 1912, yielding a crop of 28,885,000 bushels, the value of which is $16,466,000. The average yield per acre was 109 bushels, about four bushels less than the average crop produced in the United States. The high averages attained in the New England states, where the acreage is so much less than in Pennsylvania, and most other states, and as a result the cultivation and care that the crop receives is much greater, causes the average production in the remaining states to make a bad comparative showing; but at this average the production of each acre planted was worth more than $62, which shows that it will pay the Pennsylvania farmer well to give more attention to this valuable crop and bring his production nearer the possible average, which this year, was, in the State of Maine, 198 bushels. If methods advocated by this Department, through its institute workers and published bulletins, were followed, there can be no doubt that the average Maine production could be reached in five years. A number of potato growers in Pennsylvania are nearly doubling the Maine average at the present time. HAY But two states of the Union, namely New York and Iowa, produced as much hay in 1912 as was produced in Pennsylvania, our crop being 4,537,000 tons, worth $70,777,000, as against 3,022,000 tons, worth $60,440,000 in 1911. With the constantly increasing facilities for harvesting this crop and the ready and convenient markets always at hand, Pennsylvania farmers would do well to make extra effort to increase its production. With a small expenditure of money for fertilizers adapted to giving the grass a quick start and good "setting" in the early spring and a little time for applying the same, the yield can be greatly increased and the crop, which, under existing circumstances, is one of the most profitable, could be made more profitable still. TOBACCO The yield of tobacco in Pennsylvania was less in 1912 by 1,230 pounds than in 1911, and the value of the crop was $757,000 less than it was last year. The only other crop that was of less value than the crop of 1911 is corn. The yield of tobacco per acre in 1912 was 1,450 pounds, against 1,420 pounds in 1911, and the yield of corn per acre in 1912 being 424 bushels, against 44 bushels in 1911, shows that the difference in the total yields of both these crops in the two years named was not owing in any appreciable degree to improper care and cultivation. All the other crops named in this report show better average yields per acre for 1912 than for 1911, which are as follows: Average yield of barley, 1912, 27.5 bushel; 1911, 25 bushels. Average yield of oats, 1912, 33.1 bushels; 1911, 28.3 bushels. Average yield of rye, 1912, 17.5 bushels; 1911, 15.1 bushels. Average yield of buckwheat, 1912, 24.2 bushels; 1911, 21.9 bushels. Average yield of potatoes, 1912, 109 bushels; 1911, 56 bushels. Average yield of wheat, 1912, 18 bushels; 1911, 13.5 bushels. Average yield of hay, 1912, 1.43 tons; 1911, 1 ton. DOMESTIC ANIMALS The United States Crop Reporter makes the following statement concerning the number and value of farm animals on the farms of Pennsylvania at the close of the year 1912: Horses 578,000, averaging in value $133.00. Mules 44,000, averaging in value $149.00. Milch cows 943,000, averaging in value $46.60. A comparison of values shows that the average value of horses per head at the end of the year 1912 was $3.00 more than it was at the close of 1911, and of mules the value was $2.00 more per head. These figures show that there is an increasing demand for horses and mules, which indicates that the breeding of these animals is worthy of the attention of the farmers of our Sate. With proper care, ordinary farm work can be done as well with brood mares, from which a colt may be raised every year, as with other horses, and colts three and four years old, carefully handled, and not taxed beyond their strength, can also do an important part of the farm work, so that the colt produced by each brood mare and the growth of each young horse employed on the farm before it reaches a proper age for market can be made to add a nice per cent. to the total farm profits, and while it may be more pleasant to do the work with other teams, it is well worth while for the frugal farmer to carefully consider whether or not it will pay to do so. The number of Milch Cows in the State at the close of 1912 was 943,000, valued at $46.60 each, against a value of $43.70 at the close of the year 1911, and a ten year average of $36.60. Of other cattle in the State at the close of the year, the estimated number was 614,000, valued at $23.60 each,as against $21.70 at the close of 1911, and a ten year average of $18.80, or an increase of 25 per cent. in value. If, therefore, there was any profit in raising cattle at the prices for which they sold during the ten years last past, is it not reasonable that more attention should be given to this important branch of husbandry now? That the prices of cattle will go still higher can not be questioned. The great cattle ranches of the Northwest are a thing of the past, and many thousands of acres of government and railroad lands, that were but a few years since covered with great herds of cattle, have been purchased by home makers and divided into farms of ordinary size and devoted to raising general farm crops. The few ranchmen who continue in the business by going into Texas, New Mexico and Arizona and buying cattle and bringing them up into Western Nebraska and South Dakota to finish them for the feeders' market, can not come anywhere near supplying the demand as it is at the present, to say nothing of our rapidly increasing population; and unless the small farmers of the Middle West and East take the matter up and return to the old time method of raising a few cattle for market every year, the time is not far distant when cattle raised upon the plains of South America will be coming into our Northern markets, and a splendid opportunity now open to the farmers of the United States will be lost. The change referred to that has taken place in the Northwest has kept the price of cereal and other general farm crops at reasonably low prices, while every thing that comes from animal husbandry has gone in price almost beyond the reach of the wage earners of the country. When, as was the case within a score of years, the large Western ranches were in operation and cattle raised upon the rich Blue-Stem Buffalo grass of the Dakotas and other states farther west, without ever having tasted grain of any kind, were brought into our Eastern markets in such condition as to place them in competition with our stable-fed stock, the Eastern farmer had good reason to let the beef cattle business slip out of his hands and turn his attention to other farm crops, but conditions have changed all along the lines, and with the prices at which cattle are selling now and must sell for a long time in the future, Eastern farmers would not only find it profitable but would place themselves in the list of public benefactors of the first order if they should make it a point to raise a few cattle for the public market every year. The number of sheep on Pennsylvania farms at the close of 1912 was 865,000, valued at $5.00 per head, against an average value of $4.30 for the previous ten years and an increase in value of 16.3 per cent. per head for the year and the same average increase for ten years. The number of hogs in Pennsylvania at the close of the year 1912 was 1,130,000, valued at $14,125,000, an average value of $12.50 per head, as against an average value of $9.30 for the previous ten years, an increase of 22 per cent. The average age at which hogs are marketed in this country is 11 months, the age being the greatest in sections where the practice is to run them in pasture. Much more profitable results can be secured by reducing the marketing age to 6 or 7 months. Careful feeders will have no trouble in this time to reach an average weight of at least 200 to 225 pounds, and if marketed at that weight the profit will be greater than at any later period. Lambs properly handled can be marketed at from 2 to 4 months old, and farmers would do well to consider carefully the possibilities of sheep production as a means of increasing the meat supply of the country without any regard for what the next Federal administration may do in the way of wool protection. It is apparent, therefore, that the quickest means for increasing the meat supply of the country is by increasing the production of sheep and hogs. One great obstacle in the way of raising sheep, is their destruction by dogs. This, however, can be overcome to a great extent by erecting wire woven fences with a mesh small enough to keep out dogs that are large enough to be a menace to sheep. Hogs can be produced at a comparatively low cost by arranging the farrowing season of brood sows so as to turn them, with their pigs, into clover pasture when the pigs are from three to five weeks old. A second litter of pigs for a given year can be provided for, to come in the fall season, which, by being properly housed and fed, can go to market about the time of the farrowing of the following spring litter. The profit on the spring litter will be the greater, but a good average profit for both can be depended upon. The poultry industry during the year showed results as remarkable as they were satisfactory. The great awakening to a realization of what can be achieved in this line of husbandry, that has in recent years stirred the people of the entire country, continued to bear fruit in our State throughout the year, and the value of the poultry industry for the year 1912, as estimated by careful statisticians, amounted to about $17,500,000. The possibilities of a speedy increase of our meat supply are even greater through the poultry industry than by means of increased production of sheep and swine, and this Department has been doing all in its power to promote activity in the development of this important branch of husbandry. ADVERSE CONDITIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVE MENT One of the greatest hindrances to the improvement of agricultural conditions and the building up of a permanent agriculture that will meet the requirements of our increasing population, is the wrong estimate that is placed upon the farmer's occupation and the consequent disposition of boys and girls reared upon the farm to seek other employment. Instead of being generally recognized as standing at the head of the list of occupations in which men are engaged and as being the most honorable as well as the most important, it is, by many, given an inferior or secondary place, and for this reason parents many times discourage their sons who are naturally inclined to become farmers, and turn their thoughts in a different direction. The fact that the farmer's occupation brings him into closer touch with the great forces of Nature than any other class of men, and confers upon him the honor of being a co-laborer with the Divine Being in providing for the wants of His creatures, is lost sight of, and he is regarded as being engaged solely for the profit that the oc |