The actual laboratory work was begun several months ago and is being actively carried on by a corps of trained workers at the Harvard Medical School. The National Canners' Association has donated to Harvard University a fund sufficient to finance the investigation for three years. When the United States was drawn into the European War, it became evident at once that the demand for canned foods must far exceed the supply. Even before that time, the amount of some products was insufficient. It was obvious that the purchase of such supplies by the old process of competitive bidding would lead to interminable delay and would not secure satisfactory results. It was obvious also that orders must be given for the army and navy which would be larger than any one agency could supply. In such cases bidders must secure the refusal of the goods desired and base their bids on such refusals. Thus many inquiries would be made for the purpose of filling a single order. In this state of affairs the real demand could not be gauged and prices would be inflated in our general market as well as for the supplies of the army and navy. The first inquiries of this nature were for evaporated milk. The manufacturers had been unable to fill their orders for some time and did not desire to bid. There resulted a consultation within the industry in which it was arranged that the needs of the government for this product should be supplied for materially less than the market price. The orders were apportioned among the various manufacturers in proportion to the amount packed by each, and the quality of each shipment was guaranteed. Instead of the delay that has heretofore attended such purchases, these orders are given priority over all others and the milk is shipped at once. This plan was found so satisfactory that the manufacturers were asked to supply milk on the same basis to the American Red Cross and the Committee for Relief in Belgium. As preparations for the war progressed, a general procedure, based on this same arrangement, was adopted for the purchase of the principal staples. Under this plan packers are instructed by the Council of National Defense to withhold from sale a certain percentage of their pack of each of the canned products which the government desires to purchase. For instance, the packers of peas were asked to hold 12 per cent of their entire pack; packers of tomatoes 18 per cent; and packers of string beans 25 per cent. These goods are then ordered as they are desired by the army and navy. Special arrangements are made by a committee of experts not connected with the canning industry to inspect these goods and see that they comply with specifications, the packers being required, at the suggestion of their own organization, to comply with the specifications fixed. On all of these purchases the prices are not the subject of agreement but are fixed by the Federal Trade Commission, which ascertains the cost of manufacture by means of a staff of expert accountants who visit the canning factories. These prices are well below the contract prices which govern the sale of the same commodities in the usual channels of trade. During the present year 800,000 cases of evaporated milk, costing about $4,000,000, are being used by the American Red Cross and the Committee for Relief in Belgium. The army and navy use at least as much. There is being exported for the use of our allies at least $10,000,000 worth of milk per year. The estimates of the army and navy for the present year include something like $6,000,000 for tomatoes and $2,000,000 each for salmon, peas and corn. The amount of money that will be expended for canned meat cannot now be estimated, but will probably be between $15,000,000 and $20,000,000. The pack of 1916 was short in most articles. There are no stocks in the hands of packers or jobbers and the supply on retailers' shelves is low. It is apparent, therefore, that the volume of canned foods needed in connection with the war must curtail the supply of our civilian population. The attempt of canners to secure largely increased acreage was only partly successful. Many farmers discontinued or reduced their acreage of canners' crops because of the high prices prevailing for corn and wheat. Others were deterred from large plantings of canners' crops by the scarcity of help, and planted crops for whose harvesting less labor was required. Late frosts killed the first plantings in some districts and new plants could not be obtained. The season is very late, and already frost has visited some localities. An early general frost would be disastrous to the pack of many products. The labor situation is one of extreme difficulty. The canning industry cannot compete with the high wages of the munitions manufacturers and has lost much of its best help for that reason. Its ranks have been further depleted by the organization of the army. The actual canning operations are therefore conducted this year with unusual difficulty. Moreover, as often happens in late seasons, the height of the season is marked by a glut of some products that taxes the canning plants to their utmost capacity. Notwithstanding these handicaps, it is expected that between five and six billion cans of food will be packed in the United States this year. The supply of tin is giving much concern. Early in the present year there was a great scarcity of tin plate, owing to the inability of platemakers to secure a supply of steel. It is probable that the amount of tin plate actually made into cans was no less than in preceding years, but the cans were used as soon as manufactured for baked beans and war rations for European armies. Consequently, when the canning season approached, it appeared that there might not be a sufficient number of cans to take care of the crop. At the request of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Commerce, a special effort was made to increase the manufacture of tin plate, and canners ceased to pack non-perishable goods, such as baked beans and macaroni, until a sufficient supply of plate was assured for the manufacture of cans necessary to preserve perishable foods. Thus far there has been no scarcity of tin. It appears possible, however, that the supply of pig tin may not be adequate for the summer of 1918. Great difficulty attends its production in Singapore owing to the labor situation, and it is possible that the present output of that region cannot be increased. The same is true of other Oriental sources. There is ample tin in Bolivia which until very recently it has not been possible to refine. Lately, practical methods for refining Bolivian tin have been devised. One firm is now turning out from Bolivian ore a tin of the highest grade of purity at the rate of 600 tons a month, and it is hoped that this output can be increased. Notwithstanding this increase, however, it is feared that the supply of tin for 1918 will not be sufficient to meet our needs. PRODUCTION AND MARKETING PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR BY CHARLES J. BRAND, Chief, Bureau of Markets, United States Department of Agriculture. Before proceeding to outline the production and marketing plans of the Department of Agriculture for the present time, as a large part of next year's production depends upon the present seeding of winter grains, and for the ensuing year, let us first examine briefly what the problem is and why it is so unusually necessary to make plans for the next year. That bread is second only to bullets as an essential to win the war is not a theory but a cold fact. A relative scarcity of food supplies already exists, created in part by unfavorable conditions for crop production, and in part by the diversion of vast amounts of farm labor from the field of production into the pursuits of war. At least forty million men, a large number of whom come from agricultural pursuits, are now engaged in war or in war work. The year 1915 witnessed the production of prodigiously large crops of the important cereals in most of the producing countries of the world. The United States made 1,025,000,000 bushels of wheat, as compared with 891,000,000 bushels in 1914, and a five-year average of 728,000,000 bushels. Last year (1916) in contradistinction we produced only about 640,000,000 bushels, practically 400,000,000 bushels less than in 1915, and nearly 100,000,000 bushels less than the fiveyear average. In the face of this reduction in the crop our normal export requirements of about 125,000,000 bushels were more than doubled in order that we might feed the Allies and the neutral countries depending upon us. In the case of corn also, 1916 witnessed the production of a crop fully 400,000,000 bushels less than the preceding bumper crop. Our white potato yield was nearly 100,000,000 bushels less than usual. A situation similar in kind but less in degree prevailed with respect to barley, rye and oats. In the case of some crops, notably rice, meats and other animal products, root vegetables and some other vegetables and fruits, including sugar beets, and sweet [potatoes, there was a somewhat larger production but wholly insufficient to fill the void occasioned by the reduction of nine bushels per inhabitant, or a total of about 900,000,000 bushels of the three great staple food crops,-wheat, corn and potatoes. Cabbages. and onions, important staples, were also present in a very short supply that resulted in extraordinarily high prices. Beans, which are especially important in war time, were normal in crop, but so abnormal a demand existed as to occasion a real shortage. As a result of the reduced production throughout the world and the enormous demand, reserve stocks have been depleted to an unusual extent. The outlook for the current season is fair and there need be no fear of famine so far as our own population is concerned. However, as we have associated ourselves with the Allies across the water in a grim determination to defeat the central empires in this war we cannot think in terms of our own needs only, but must have in mind in addition those of our allies and those of deserving neutrals dependent upon us. Recent exposures force the consideration seriously of very great extensions of the existing embargoes on foodstuffs and other materials. The normal total production of France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Belgium of wheat, corn, oats, barley and rye is 1,846,000,000 bushels. Their normal consumptive requirements are 2,214,000,000 bushels. Hence their import requirements exceed 728,000,000 bushels. In normal times Canada and the United States have contributed roughly 240,000,000 bushels of this need, each shipping about half of the quantity. Russia, North Africa, Australia, India and Argentina have furnished the rest. In a general way the diet of the average person in the United States is obtained from the following sources: 39 per cent animal 31 per cent cereal 25 per cent fruits and vegetables 5 per cent sugar, condiments and miscellaneous It is apparent from this that practically 70 per cent of the whole food requirements depends upon animal and grain food products. Therefore it is their production and conservation that is of the highest importance. On account of the inroads that war has made upon the herds and flocks of the world, it is estimated that there |