BUREAU OF CROP ESTIMATES. -ill 



DOMESTIC CROP RECORDS AND RESEARCH. 



The official records of the reports made by the Bureau of Crop 

 Estimates, be<rinnin<; with 18C5, are on file in the office of the as- 

 sistant statistician. Special tables compiled from these reports are 

 kept for reference in the Division of Croj) Records, and duplicates 

 of those tables are kept for distribution. These tables include vari- 

 ous comparisons of acreage, yield, and value of crops, dates of plant- 

 inf; and harvesting crops, number and value of live stock, monthly 

 farm prices and wholesale prices, tobacco sales by counties (compiled 

 from unpublished records of the Internal Revenue Bureau), and 

 extracts from census reports. There are also tables of freight rates 

 on agricultural products by rail, ocean, and lake, beginning with 

 1881, but not kept up to date, since this work is no longer a part of 

 the Crop Records project. 



County yields per acre for various crops, beginning with 1911, are 

 compiled and kept up to date; also records of agricultural and live- 

 stock statistics, as published by State authorities, have been drawn 

 off in convenient form for reference. The domestic crop records 

 include also a special file of copies of letters which were written giv- 

 ing agricultural statistics on various subjects. 



Tliese records are used in current correspondence, in consultation 

 with visitors who call for information, and in preparing material for 

 the Monthly Crop Reporter, the Department Yearbook, and other 

 publications. 



The sources of the domestic crop statistics on file in this division 

 are, as has been mentioned, the basic records of the bureau : also 

 reports of the United States Bureau of the Census, the Bureau of 

 Markets, commercial periodicals, boards of trade, internal-revenue 

 records. State statistical offices, the Philippine Department of Agri- 

 culture, and the Porto Rican Government No statistical reports are 

 received from Hawaii other than the sugar- production report issued 

 by the Hawaiian Sucar Phmters' Association, but the Division of 

 Crop Records compiles annually, from returns made direct by the 

 Hawaiian sugar agents, detailed statistics of cane and sugar. 



Tlie work connected with domestic crop records and research is as- 

 signed to a few specialists, each of whom has one or more subjects to 

 follow. A stenographer in charge of the correspondence files attends 

 to the proper indexing and summarizing of these files, also to keeping 

 copies of up-to-date duplicate tables on hand in sufficient numbers 

 for distrilnition. Statistical clerks, stenographers, and typewriters 

 are assigned, as they are needed and are available, to assist a specialist 

 or research clerk. These assignments are changed from time to time, 

 according to the needs of the current investigations. Most of the 

 clerical work is under the supervision of the assistant chief of the 

 division. 



SURPLUS AND DEFICIENCY INVESTIGATIONS. 



Among the records of this division are many tallies pertaining to a 

 subject that is named "surplus and deficiency." The purpose of 

 these tables is to arrive at a demonstration of tlie alternative fact 

 for each agricultural product that its production affords either a 

 national sur})lus above consumption or a deficiency that is balanced 



