to make a better crop and raise everything necessary for his support. He is shown that as soon as he proves himself to be a progressive and thrifty farmer it will add to his credit. He can then buy upon better terms and will soon own a farm. The landlord is seen and urged to look more closely after his farm; to improve his farm buildings; because this is necessary to the securing and retention of the best tenants; to furnish better implements or assist his tenant to purchase them; and to insist that good seed shall be used and that there shall be better tillage of the crop. Many proprietors take the deepest interest in having their tenants taught better methods. They call meetings and scatter farm literature, thus creating a sentiment favorable to the demonstration work. Rural Improvement the Natural Result of This Work. The agents of the demonstration work are thoroughly drilled in progressive steps. When the rudiments of good farming are mastered the farmer secures a greater income for his labor. An important part of this greater net earning capacity is good farm economy and greater thrift. Farm economy dictates the production of the largest crop possible to the acre at the least expenditure of money and without impairing the productive capacity of the soil. It also includes the planting of crops of the greatest value to the acre, provided the cost of production is not proportionately increased, and it teaches a more economic support of the family, team and stock, which is based upon home production of all the foods, and forage crops consumed. For the family more use must be made of milk, eggs, the vegetable garden and fruits; for the stock there should be better pasture and hay, especially the abundant use of legumes. Thrift demands the proper housing of family, teams and tools, and the more economic expenditure of the greater gains of the farm arising from greater earnings and more economy. The only way to successfully attack such problems is by an example. Long-time customs cannot be overcome by writing a book. One might as well write a book to teach better sewing. Poor farming is the natural result of a lot of bad practices and must be treated rather as a defect in art than a lack of intelligence. It is not assumed, nor is it the intention to assert, that agriculture is not one of the greatest of sciences, but at the beginning it must be treated as an art and the best methods adopted. Then it is shown that this greater income should be applied to the reduction of debt, the betterment of the family and the home, and the improvement of rural conditions. Coöperation is then taught in buying and selling, but coöperation is of little avail in buying if the farmer has no money, and it is impossible in selling if his crop is mortgaged for advances. The fundamental basis of the work of the Department of Agriculture is to increase the efficiency of the farmer. If there is a better variety of cotton seed in Georgia or Texas, then the other cotton-producing states should immediately have the benefit. This is precisely such work as the Farmers' Coöperative Demonstration Work is doing in the South. It has been instrumental in the introduction annually of 100,000 to 500,000 bushels of better cotton seed. Those better varieties of cotton seed are of earlier maturity than the old. This cotton is picked on an average six weeks earlier in the fall, which gives the children six weeks more time for school and allows the farmer to prepare his land for the next season's crop. The old plan was to pick cotton all winter. The loss of cotton and the lowering of the grade by the winter rains made this plan an economic crime, and its debarring the children from attending school caused it to be a social crime. These old methods will soon be a thing of the past. This is truly a national work, and wherever put in operation with sufficient intensity to influence public opinion these results have rapidly followed: (1) Increased yield per acre; (2) The purchase of more and better horses or mules; (3) Great increase in the use of better implements; (4) General interest in seed selection and the use of the best seed; (5) Home and school improvements; (6) More months of schooling; (7) Better highways; (8) Increase of a healthy social life in the country; (9) Intense interest in agriculture. It is of the utmost importance to the South from economic, social and educational viewpoints that rural conditions should be changed as soon as possible. The Coöperative Demonstration Work is fundamental, but other influential factors must be made effective. The country schools and colleges should be redirected that they may enrich and vitalize rural life. The country church should measure up to its mission of creating and fostering a true social and spiritual life upon the farms and there should be an aroused purpose and energy for greater accomplishment and to meet the full measure of the highest civic obligation. SEAMAN A. KNAPP, In charge Farmers' Coöperative Demonstration Work, CHAPTER V. SOCIAL SETTLEMENTS IN THE SOUTH. HE improvement of social conditions has an intimate connection with the progress of a people, and in considering how far the South is contributing to the solution of social problems, the question of social settlements must not be overlooked. The social settlement as generally understood is a colony or group of persons of education and refinement, who from a feeling of compassion for the poor people in the congested tenements of some great city voluntarily leave their own comfortable and often luxurious homes and surroundings and take up their abode and throw in their lot with the people whom they desire to help and whose condition they wish to ameliorate. Speaking first of the cities and in a general way, the South is doing its fair share of social work along these lines, when we consider that the Southern cities are not, as a rule, of any great size compared with those in the North; that they have been but little affected by the immense tide of foreign immigration which has crowded and congested the poorer quarters of the Northern cities; and also that the lowest class in the Southern cities are principally negroes, which means that, owing to the race question, settlements of white persons among them would be out of the question. Still we find that in most large Southern cities either one or more social settlements are to be found, and that they are growing in number. One thing to be specially noted is that the social settlement movement in the South is a distinctly religious movement. South of Washington the settlements working in the cities, with few exceptions, have been organized and are carried on either by the churches themselves or by individuals, working in connection and coöperation with the religious bodies to which they belong. In one notable case, a single individual possessed of large means has established a large plant in a poor section of one of our Southern cities, and along religious, educational, and social lines is seeking to ameliorate the conditions existing in the adjoining neighborhood. In other cases the different denominations are opening settlement houses in the working class sections of the cities, and seeking to awaken interest and secure financial help for their support from their churches. In yet one or two other cases we find individual congregations composed of wellto-do people opening up settlement work among those who are less fortunate than themselves. This last example of the social settlement seems to promise the best results on the whole, so far as the cities are concerned, because if wisely and intelligently directed it should be instrumental in bringing the rich and poor closer together and enabling both to realize that the deepest and most precious experiences of life are not the exclusive possession of any one class, and that the mere expenditure of money does not necessarily secure joy and happiness or render one exempt from sorrow and the cares of life. If the churches in the South can direct this social settlement movement in such a way as to bring about a better understanding between the rich and poor by establishing closer and more sympathetic relations between the classes, they will not only renew their |