BUREAU OF CROP ESTIMATES. 303 



DISTRIBUTION OF THE MONTHLY CROP REPORT. 



The agricultural appropriation act approved March 4, 1917, pro- 

 vided " that hereafter the Monthly Crop Keport shall be printed and 

 distributed on or before the 12th day of each month." The crop 

 reports relate to conditions on the 1st day of the month, and the 

 individual schedules are filled out and mailed on that date. The 

 returns from the Pacific Coast States are received about the 6th, and 

 the tabulation of returns from all States in the bureau is completed 

 about the 7th or 8th of the month, when the report is made up by 

 the crop-reporting board, the date depending on the occurrence of a 

 Sunday or holiday. The manuscript of the Monthly Crop Keport is 

 completed and forwarded to the Public Printing Office on the after- 

 noon of the same day the preliminary report is issued by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, so that four or five days are allowed for the 

 printing and mailing of the report. The enactment of the law by 

 Congress requiring the report to be printed and mailed on or before 

 the 12th of each month insures the prompt delivery of printed copies 

 to all voluntary crop reporters and others on the mailing list. Be- 

 cause of the prompt mailing of the reports in compliance with the 

 law the telegraphic reports to Weather Bureau station directors of 

 near-by States was discontinued. 



LIBRARY. 



The library of the Bureau of Crop Estimates, vehich is a branch 

 of the library of the department, during the fiscal year received ap- 

 proximately 250 foreign and 300 domestic periodicals containing 

 useful information regarding agricultural statistics. Of these peri- 

 odicals about 202 were monthly, 138 weekly, 41 daily, and the re- 

 mainder were issued at other periods. The foreign periodicals re- 

 ceived were about 50 less than in the fiscal year 1916, a decrease of 

 about 16| per cent owing to war conditions. 



The books in the library comprise the agricultural reports of prac- 

 tically all countries issuing such reports; also a fairly complete col- 

 lection of the official reports of exports and imports for each foreign 

 country. The collection of State reports on agriculture and live 

 stock is practically complete; also annual statistical reports of com- 

 mercial agencies, such as boards of trade, chambers of commerce, cot- 

 ton exhanges, etc. 



ACCURACY OF THE COTTON CROP ESTIMATES. 



Cotton is the only crop for which there is an absolute check on 

 the estimates of the Bureau of Crop Estimates. The latest jjrelim- 

 inary estimate of the number of bales produced each year is pre- 

 pared and published early in December. The Bureau of the Census, 

 Department of Commerce, is required by law to report every bale of 

 cotton ginned, and its final report is published after the close of the 

 ginning season, three months or more after the December estimate 

 of production is issued. The following table shows the increasing 

 accuracy of the cotton estimates of the Bureau of Crop Estimates 



