642 ANNUAL. REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



mental officials, Senators, Representatives, and others. As indi- 

 cating the volume of this class of work it may be said that the records 

 show 7,974 letters to have been press copied and mailed during the 

 past fiscal year. 



The bureau also does considerable work along statistical lines in 

 the way of computing and tabulating for other bureaus and offices 

 of the Department of Agriculture. A record has been kept of the 

 time devoted to such work and the cost of the same. For the past 

 fiscal year the value of services of clerks while employed upon work 

 for otlier bureaus and divisions of the Department of Agriculture 

 amounted to $3,886. 



NEW FEATURES IN CROP REPORTER. 



In addition to the usual monthly crop reports, which appear regu- 

 larly in the Crop Reporter, several new features have been added. 



In the August, 1910, Crop Reporter was published statistics of the 

 values of lands, by States, upon which corn and wheat are grown, 

 and the average size of fields. This rep)ort shows that the average 

 value of wheat-growing lands in the United States in 1909 was $44 

 per acre, being lowest in Alabama ($16) and highest in Illinois ($84). 

 Corn lands averaged in value $48 per acre, being lowest in Florida 

 ($11) and highest in lUinois ($100) per acre. The average size of 

 fields varies considerably in the different States. The average corn- 

 field is 31 acres in size, but only 3 acres in Vermont and Rhode Island 

 and 55 acres in Nebraska. The average wheat field is 54 acres, but 

 only 3 acres in Vermont, whereas it is 169 acres in California. 



A report upon the average wages paid to farm labor will be made 

 annually hereafter. A statement appeared in the March, 1911, Crop 

 Reporter of the wages paid in 1910. The average monthly wage for 

 farm labor, without board, was found to be about $27.50, as com- 

 pared \vith $22.14 in 1902, when the last preceding investigation was 

 made; in the eight years there was an increase of about 24.2 per cent. 



The result of the investigation upon the cost of producing corn in 

 1909 was published in the April, 1911, Crop Reporter; the results 

 for wheat m thi* May number, and the results for oats in the June 

 number. This investigation made it evident that the cost of pro- 

 ducing crops varies widely in different sections of the United States. 

 The average cost per bushel of producing corn in the United States 

 was found to he 37.9 cents (including rent charge), varying by States, 

 from 30 cents in Iowa and South Dakota to 72 cents per bushel in 

 Maine; the average cost of producing wheat in the United States, 

 66 cents per bushel (including rental charge), varying by States from 

 44 cents in Montana to 96 cents per bushel in South Carolina; the 

 average cost of producing outs in the United States, 31 cents per 

 bushel (including rental charge), varying by States from 23_ cents 

 per bushel in Montana to 56 cents in Connecticut. This fine of 

 mvestigation concerning the cost of producing crops will probably 

 be continued. 



In the Crop Reporter for November, 1910, appeared a sumniary of 

 the first investigation of the amount of damage done to each impor- 

 tant crop in 1909, and the relative extent of each cause of damage. 

 A similar inquiry has been made for 1910, and ^vill probably be con- 

 tinued hereafter. The results of this fii-st inquiry show that, of the 



