280 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



IMPROVEMENTS m ORGANIZATION FOR ESTIMATING CROP AND 



LIVE-STOCK PRODUCTION. 



Methods of improving the crop-reportmg service are constantly 

 under consideration in the Bureau of Crop Estimates. As pointed out 

 in the annual report of this Bureau for the fiscal year ended June 30, 

 1914, the most difficult problem encountered in crop reporting is an 

 attempt to estimate acreages planted to different crops and the 

 numbers of different classes of live stock on farms ; also such special 

 crops as truck and fruit. To take an annual census of acreages and 

 live stock can not be considered because of the enormous expense 

 involved and the time required to compile and publish the results. 

 Returns of local tax assessors in the various States are not always 

 complete, uniform, or available when needed. In lieu of an annual 

 census enumeration the best substitute appears to be an organization 

 or system of reporting for definite areas under the constant observa- 

 tion of field agents who are trained in crop-reporting methods, sup- 

 plemented by reports of large numbers of individual farmers dis- 

 tributed throughout each area, and by reports of trained specialists 

 on each crop. This in effect is the system at present employed by the 

 Bureau of Crop Estimates. Obviously, the smaller the territory 

 assigned to each field agent, or, what means the same thing, the 

 greater the number of field agents assigned to a given territory, the 

 more thoroughly the acreages and condition of crops and the num- 

 bers of different classes of live stock can be studied and the more sat- 

 isfactory will be the results. That better results can be secured from 

 a smaller division of territory has been fully demonstrated during the 

 fiscal year 1915, when for the first time the Bureau had a trained field 

 agent in each of the principal agricultural States, instead of one agent 

 for a group of States, as formerly. However, it is evident that even a 

 single State in the important producing areas is entirely too large for 

 one man to cover effectively. 



If sufficient funds were available fuUy to develop and perfect the 

 crop-reporting service, it would be highly desirable to give each field 

 agent one or more trained assistants, so that the territory he covers 

 could be divided into districts and a survey made of its agricultural 

 resources and production by counties. It would also be desirable 

 to provide each field agent with a clerk to assist in folding and mail- 

 ing schedules of inquiry, opening and tabulating returns, and handhng 

 correspondence and other necessary office work, so as to reheve the 

 field agents of the burden of routine details and leave them free to 

 devote their entire time to the more important and difficult work of 

 studying, analyzing, estimating, and forecasting crop conditions and 

 prospects. 



To provide such an organization, grouping the smaller States and 

 dividing the larger ones, would cost approximately $475,000, which, 

 with $50,000 for the administrative office at Washington, would make 

 a total of $525,-000 per annum. 



Greater efficiency would result if some of the field agents were pro- 

 vided with automobiles. Crop estimates can not be made entirely from 

 written reports of correspondents, nor can the field agent judge of the 

 condition and probable yield of a crop from the fleeting ghmpse he 

 gets through a car window when speeding across the country between 

 cities and towns. During the growing season, especially at critical 



