UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 1862 AGRICULTURE IS THE FOUNDATION OF MANUFACTURE AND COMMERCE 1889 THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO FARMERS "By planting and increasing his production in every way possible, every farmer will perform a labor of patriotism for which he will be recognized as a soldier of the commissary, adding his share to the food supply of his people."-President Wilson, April 10, 1917. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 1862 AGRICULTURE IS THE FOUNDATION OF MANUFACTURE AND COMMERCE 1889 SPECIAL APPEAL TO FARMER PATRIOTS "SOLDIERS OF THE COMMISSARY" FARMERS MUST FEED THE NATION AND ITS FIGHTING MEN Millions of people across the sea also look to us for a large part of their food during and immediately after the war. The farmer who strives to produce the maximum yields this year is working for his country and will be recognized as a "soldier of the commissary." Armies and navies can not fight without food. Nations must be fed. Our Food Crops Must Be Increased to the Maximum THE PRODUCTS of our fields are needed at home and abroad. One of the most important services that can be rendered to our country is a large home production of the staple field and truck food crops. The country needs an increased output of cereals, beans, cowpeas, soy beans, potatoes, and vegetables. Expand the crops you are used to growing to the practicable limit-especially the acreage devoted to the staple food crops. Keep your fields at work. Have food growing at all times. Where one crop has failed, or has been harvested, replant with later food or forage crops. Once you have produced good food, see that it gets to the consumer. Don't let careless handling break an egg or spoil a pint of milk or a peck of vegetables. Plant Good Seed and Give it Every Chance to Yield SELECT SEED well adapted to your region; test it for germination; treat seed that is subject to preventable diseases, such as grain smuts or potato scab; prepare your seed bed with unusual care. Fight weeds. Cultivate to conserve moisture, to insure heavy yields, and to promote resistance to weather or disease. Spray and use every other effective measure to protect crops from insects and diseases. Make plans to harvest your crop at the best stage for handling without shattering or loss in transportation to market. Have a place ready for your harvest. Repair cribs and bins and provide storage places and cellars in advance of harvest. Prepare to fumigate products against insect damage; see that nothing heats, molds, or decays for lack of care or proper storage conditions. CAN, PRESERVE, OR CRY ALL PERISHABLE VEGETABLES AND FRUITS YOU DO NOT MARKET. IN THE SOUTH, "THE VARIETY OF THEIR CROPS THE MEASURE OF THEIR NATIONAL DUTY." Raise More Meat Make vigorous efforts to control animal diseases and parasites which weaken or kill animals and lessen meat supply and milk productions. Pork is one of the most valuable meats for army use. Don't let hog cholera or hog tuberculosis get your hogs. Keep contagious abortion out of your dairy herd, and control it if you are losing calves. Maintain productive areas of grasses, clover, alfalfa, and other legume crops before you turn them under. Save all manure and store it so that its valuable fertilizing elements will not be leached out. Don't burn straw. Use it for fodder or bedding. THE DUTY of the individual farmer at this time is to increase his production, particularly of food crops. If he has control of tillable land not in use, or money lying idle, or labor unemployed-he should extend his operations so as to employ those resources to the fullest extent. This does not mean that he should rob his land, waste his capital, or expend his labor fruitlessly, but that by wise planning and earnest effort he should turn out a greater quantity of food crops than ever before. He will not lose by it, and he will perform an important service in supporting his country in the task that lies before it.-Secretary of Agriculture, April 7, 1917. Market More Milk and Eggs See that no milk is spilled on the way to market and that no milk spoils because it is allowed to get warm or is handled in unsterilized utensils. Steam your dairy utensils and strainer cloths. Cool your milk on the farm and see that it is cold until it reaches the creamery, the cheese factory, or the consumer. See that no skimmed milk, sour milk, buttermilk, or whey is thrown out. Use them in cooking, cheese-making, or as feed for animals and poultry. Raise more poultry and produce more eggs. Produce infertile eggs after the hatching season. See that none of your eggs is broken by careless handling or spoiled by being allowed to get warm. Put up surplus eggs in limewater or water glass. You are Helping the Country Fight When You Help Feed Its Fighting Men Call on your county agent or write to your State agricultural college or the United States Department of Agriculture for latest information on producing and handling crops to prevent waste. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. c8-3738 The Postmaster will display this circular conspicuously in the Post Office Lobby.-A. S. BURLESON, Postmaster General.