Show our part in feeding the nation special information service V S department of agriculture IN FOOD HARVEST PROTECT THEM mg dwellings and storehouses will reduce food flossea BIG CROP WORTH estimate of department of agriculture for 1917 STATE OF ILLINOIS IN LEAD farm value of nations production two and one half times that of 1909 crops include cereals potatoes hay and cotton lint thirteen principal farm crops in this country in 1917 had a value at the farm of according to estimates of the united states debirt ment of agriculture or nearly two and one halt times the value for the census year 1900 this amount Is about four fifths of the v alue of all crops these crops include seven cereals flaxseed potatoes sweet potatoes tame hay tobacco and cotton lint enree states stand out far in the lead in their share of this great and unprecedented total illinois Is in the front with a value of for these crops iowa Is next with and texas Is third with the position of texas Is determined by the cotton crop which was much damaged by drought in 1910 and in the average of the preceding five years texas led all the states in the total value of these crops and athla out including cottonseed in the value of the cotton crop the states that follow in order after texas in 1917 are ohio missouri indiana georgia and minnesota with values ranging from to great achievement these figures represent a great achievement by the nations tural forces and the workers well deserve to be cited for commendation but it Is not the time to rest on these gains it Is a time to plan for greater efforts this year as secretary houston recently pointed out in comparing the geographic alons of the country with one another for 1917 the beat predominance of the north central states Is ous and their production Is mostly hu man food and animal food the 12 chief crops produced in these states for cotton docs not appear had a value that Is nearly one half or over 43 per cent of the value of the 13 crops or the whole country of this division the section west of the mississippi river produced the greater value or over 27 per cent of the nation s tota while the eastern section produced 21 per cent production in south the entire south produced nearly three eighths of the total bilue of the nations 13 crops or 30 per cent and this traction was divided among the three sections so that the south atlantic states produced 14 per cent the south cental section past of the GREATER EFFORTS NEEDED SAYS SECRETARY HOUSTON that the farmers of the nation have generously responded to the appeal for pro duct lon and that much has nl ready been done to insure a large supply of food and feedstuffs feed stuffs justifies no letdown in their activities tivi ties or in these of all agricultural agencies on the con arary oven greater efforts mast be put forth in the coming months jit we ae a e to meet satisfactorily facto rily the domestic demands and the needs ot the nations with which we are associated in this struggle there must be no breakdown on the farms no failure of foods foodstuffs or cloth ing I 1 cannot emphasize too strongly the urgent necessity of doing everything possible to bring about a still further in crease in tho production of all essential commodities barly of the staple crops and alv e stock secretary houston PROTECT FOOD BILLIONS fi DESTROY RATS AND MICE we have billions of bushels g of food worth billions of dollars lets protect these billions we need all of them lets not ali low rats and mice to take their toll of millions this year t Is their annual bill of de trapping poisoning and rat proofing buildings will help reduce this enormous food loss organized rat hunts by communities are effective in one ohio town n few years ago each of two teams killed more than rats and a dinner for all the hunters was the penalty tor the losing side boards of trade civic societies and citizens associations in tow ns and farmers and clubs in rural communities should find this worthy of their efforts farmers bulletin tells how individuals and communities can fight rats and mice write to the united states department of agriculture for it mississippi river 9 per cent and the section west of the river 13 per cent the smallest share 0 the total value of the 13 crops remains to the north atlantic states and to the western states 7 per cent each the relative standing of the various divisions of states in value of chief crops may be better understood when it Is remembered that the corn crop of 1917 has an estimated value of 4 cotton lint hay 1359 wheat 1307 oats and that the north central states enormously produce coin wheat oats and hay and the southern states cotton with strong support from corn tobacco sweet potatoes and rice get rid of hats and mice in the united states rats and mice destroy each year in homes factories stores and warehouses in cars and on chips crops poultry and other property valued at boore than nn amount equivalent to the gross earnings of an army of men grain eaten and wasted by rats and mice on many farms would pay all of the farmers taxes states communities and individuals can help eliminate rats and mice by requiring that all new buildings wharves and structures be rat pi bof that existing buildings of rat pi cot construction be furt lier protected by h i ing basement windows and drains with screen gratings etc and that existing gs that ire not rat proof be made so by remodeling by constructing sewers and drains so that they alit not provide entrance and tor rats by insisting on greater cleanliness about markets stoics and generally throughout cities and the country districts by threshing and marketing grain early so that stacks will not furnish harboring places and food for rats by removing of straw trash and lumber w alch harbor rats in fields and vacant lots ly the hawks owls and other natural enemies of rats which are not so destructive to poultry as rats themselves by keeping well trained dogs on farms and about city w warehouses by keeping provisions which rats and mice will attack in rat proof and mouse proof containers by destroying rats and mice by poisoning trapping and by organized systematic hunts the sugar specialists of the bureau of chemistry have devised improved methods of y paring cane that will neither crystallize nor ferment these methods ae adopted commercially merci ally alie department Is develop ing improved methods of clarifying this the preparation of sweet potato 1 hour is under investigation by taff united states department of agrical agri cuL ture |