Adequate and efficient labor. Capital invested in above. Adequate transportation of corn. 5. Compare above with that of other countries. 6. Uses of corn: Locate the distillery centers of the United States. "Why so located? Canning and by-products. Feeding by silage. Feeding by grain. 7. Markets of demand for corn. 8. Study maps showing number of hogs per square mile in the corn belt. What conclusions do you draw? Locate the centers of the meat-packing industry in the United States. Why in the corn belt? (In the region of -supply-saves transportation of raw product-near markets of demand-ade-quate and efficient (refrigerator cars) transportation of meat and meat byproducts. By-products of swine, lard, sausage, etc. 9. Our export trade in pork, and by-products. 11. By a study of charts, maps, year book, locate the region where hay is an important crop. Name other grains raised in this region. Their uses. Discuss hay-raising and alfalfa-raising farther west as to surface conditions, climate, cultivation and harvesting. 12. Study the maps and charts showing number of cattle per square mile in the corn belt and the hay and alfalfa region farther west. What conclusions do you draw? Compare with cattle industry of other countries. 13. Problems: 1. Why are we exporting less corn each year? 2. Why is meat so much more expensive than it was 20 years ago? 14. Cattle raised for two purposes: Meat and Dairying. 15. Beef cattle. Locate regions in the United States where raising cattle is an important industry. Compare size of ranches now with those years ago. Compare care and feeding now with years ago. Compare density of population in regions of demand for beef and veal with those same regions 20 years ago. Carefully bring out these points: a. Decrease of size of grazing region-greater demand for grain feeding. b. Agriculture crowding out grazing region also. C. Increased population-increased demand for meat. d. Demand for young meat increasing. g. Demand for better care of cattle-government inspection. h. Cost of better transportation-better, more careful methods used now. What conclusions do you draw? 2. Which help to solve the problems? Give the solutions. Locate the meat packing centers of the United States. Give reasons why this is such an important industry in these cities-Chicago, Kansas City, Kansas; South Omaha, Neb.; St. Joseph, Mo.; Indianapolis. a. Nearness to region of supply. b. Adequate transportation, from region of supply to these cities -care on trip there. f. Adequate transportation to these markets (refrigerator cars,. quick transportation). Discuss large stockyards, care of cattle while there, slaughtering, use made of every part of animal (by-products). How does the above add to the solution of your problems? Discuss value of refrigerator cars in shipping meat to home markets-refrigeration in exporting. Countries to whom we ship meat. Compare our industry (beef cattle) with that of Argentina, and other countries. Routes of transportation abroad. 16. Dairying Industry. Problems: 1. Why have substitutes for dairy products become so important, and so widely used? 2. Locate other parts, than the ones now intensively used, that will be used in the near future for cattle used in dairying industry. Discuss the great importance of the dairy industry in the United States. The milk problem of the great cities today. Locate centers of this industry. Why necessarily near these cities? Why passing farther west? How does New York state rank? Wisconsin? How does the care of cattle differ from years ago? Increased cost of feeding cattle. Housing of cattle at increased cost-modern barns. Great difference in dairying processes. Importance of new inventions-1. separator. 2. Babcock tester (to measure amount of butter fat in milk). Need of decreasing the number of dairy cows, but increasing the best producers. Discuss the increased amount of milk daily by certain feeding. Food values. Dairying industry greatly influenced by markets. Locate these markets of dense population where there is a great demand for milk, butter, and cheese. Effect of milk refrigeration upon distance of milk routes. Distance that milk can be carried at same price. Value of quick, cheap transportation. From the above, account for the increased cost of production of dairy products to the farmer-to the buyer. What substitutes may be used instead of dairy products? Compare the cost of these with the dairy products. What conclusion do you draw as to their use instead of dairy products? What solution would you give to the problem? If a new invention is a success in which, by the use of electricity, milk is prevented from spoiling for a greater length of time, from what distant states in our country can we obtain fresh milk? Why from Texas? How far does this aid in the solution of your problem? Locate another region. Discuss the possibilities of the southern states of the New England states in this industry, in regard to your problem. Discuss dairying in other countries-Switzerland, Germany, etc. Compare with United States. World value. From what countries do we import cheese? Trace routes of travel for this. Ports. Other world needs are taken up and studied in much the same way. Materials used in this work: Corn products exhibit, dairy products exhibit, many pictures. Reference books: Robinson's "Commercial Geography." Salisbury, Barrows, and Tower's "Elements of Geography." Smith's "Industrial and Commercial Geography." Adams' "Commercial Geography." Chisholm's "Commercial Geography." Keller & Bishop's Book for Grammar Grade Children. Carpenter's "How the World is Fed." Allen's "Industrial Studies in the United States." Year Book for 1913. CURRENT GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. CONSERVATION OF THE POTATO CROP IN GERMANY Germany's import of cereals is greatly curtailed by the prohibition of cereal exportation from some of the neutral countries, as well as by the danger of seizure as contraband when transported from non-contiguous territory. As a result the Empire must depend to a greater extent than usual on its own resources. This matter has already been brought by various announcements to the attention of the farmers and the general public. More intensive farming, if such be possible, has been planned, as well as greater care in the conservation of products hitherto considered as waste material. For example, potato peelings and beet heads are now retained in the country or even collected in the cities and returned to the farm to be used as cattle feed. While the potato crop has always been an important factor in the food supply of the Empire, special efforts are being made this year to further its conservation. Fortunately, the crop is an abundant one. In normal times, on an average from 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 tons of potatoes rot because of their large water content. Efforts have been made in the past to avoid this waste by the erection of drying plants, and Germany has had for some time quite a number of these institutions. Because of the present dependence on its own resources, it has been deemed necessary greatly to increase their number. For the sale of dry potatoes, a large syndicate is to be formed, to which the factory owners are pledged to deliver all their products except what they need for their own use. The content of water which normally amounts to approximately 70 per cent, can not be more than 15 per cent in the dried product. The sale of the produce should be excellent, in view of the scarcity of cattle feed. It should increase correspondingly with the consumption of potato flour for baking. Many bakers have already made bread with an addition of from 10 to 20 per cent of potato flour, of which half was made from dried potatoes. In view of the fact that potato flour is about 8 marks ($1.90) per 100 kilos (220.46 pounds) cheaper than rye flour, this should tend to lower the price of this necessary food product. A further considerable conservation of both potatoes and cereals for food purposes has been effected by the decision of the Government to cut down the production of alcohol by 40 per cent.-[Daily Consular and Trade Reports, Dec. 1, 1914]. THE CAPE COD CANAL Cape Cod is known as the graveyard of sailormen. For 22 centuries Cape Cod has been an obstacle in our Atlantic coast-wise traffic. Millions of dollars worth of ships and cargoes have been lost on the banks, shoals, and rocks near Cape Cod. During the last half century there have been 2000 shipwrecks on and very near this cape, with loss of 700 lives, and annual loss of half a million dollars' worth of property. By means of the Cape Cod Canal, which connects Buzzards Bay and Cape Cod Bay, such dangers can be avoided to a very great extent. This sea-level canal, which has converted Cape Cod into an island, is 72 to 8 miles long, plus 5 miles of approach channels. The maximum height of the peninsula is only 29 feet. The canal has a minimum bottom width of 100 feet and a twenty-foot depth of water, which is to be increased to twenty-five feet immediately. Such dimensions may seem small because we are used to hearing figures which relate to the Panama Canal, but nevertheless the Cape Cod Canal is very high in rank because (1) dangers which have caused so many wrecks in the past can easily be avoided by way of the canal; (2) the distance between Boston and southern ports is reduced by 62 to 73 miles; (3) the cost of transportation is reduced by amounts ranging from 7 to 12 cents per ton, and the rate of insurance is cut from 12% to 4%; (4) the prospective annual tonnage is 25,000,000, where as that of the Suez Canal is 20,000,000, the estimate for the Panama Canal is only 10,600,000 and for the Erie Canal about 4,000,000; (5) the Cape Cod Canal has high value to our navy for strategic purposes. The $12,000,000 which the canal cost was furnished chiefly by August Belmont and associates. There was no government assistance. The work was completed in 5 years and the canal opened July 29, 1914. [References to literature on the subject: J. W. Miller, Cape Cod and its Canal, Board of Trade, Sandwich, Mass.; Mrs. C. R. Miller, Leslie's Weekly, July 2, 1914; The Literary Digest, Aug. 1, 1914; The Opening of the Cape Cod Canal, Bull. Amer. Geog. Soc., Vol. 46, 1914, pp. 832-834; Cape Cod Canal Nears THE LOESS SOILS OF SOUTHWESTERN OHIO In the southwestern part of Ohio, including most of Hamilton, Clermont, and Brown counties, the northwestern part of Adams county, the southwestern portion of Clinton county and the southeastern part of Warren county, is found an area of soil different from that found in any other section of the state. Except in the valleys and on some of the slopes, all the soils have been formed from a silty layer known geologically as the "loess." The loess is believed to consist of glacial rock flour ground up by the action of the ice, carried southward by the waters resulting from the melting of the ice, deposited in the valleys, and afterward swept on to the uplands by the action of the wind. In this way a layer, with an average thickness of about 5 feet, was deposited over the uplands in the southwestern portion of the state. It is from this layer that the loess soils of southwestern Ohio have been formed. When laid down by the wind, the deposit of loess was doubtless very uniform in character and, if the drainage conditions had been the same over the entire section, only one kind of soil would have been formed from the loess. However, a difference in drainage conditions, with the consequent difference in the processes of weathering, has given rise to two distinctly different types of loess soils with all stages of gradation between them. Where the surface is sufficiently rolling to permit the water to run off rather rapidly after rains, the soil is a yellow brown color and had been called the Cincinnati silt loam; but, where the surface is level and water remains after rains until most of it is removed by evaporation, the soil has become a very light gray to white in color and has been called the Clermont silt loam.-[Ohio Agric. Exp. Sta., Circular No. 146]. THE MONSOONS, AND NAVIGATION NEAR CEYLON At "Adam's Bridge," where the island of Ceylon is close to India, a railway has now been completed which crosses all but one small gap. In order that the ferryboats may keep to the leeward side of the peninsulas and islets which go by the name of "Adam's Bridge," it is necessary to shift from the northern to the southern waters with the shifting from the summer monsoon to the winter monsoon.-[Scientific American Supplement, p. 136, Aug. 29, 1914]. GEOGRAPHY IN THE PERIODICALS Mr. D. W. Strayer discusses "Second Term Geography for City Schools" in School Science and Mathematics for November (Vol. 14, 1914, pp. 704710). |