782 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The salaried employees consist of State statistical agents and 

 special field agents. A State statistical agent is employed in each 

 State, for which he renders monthly reports to the bureau, based 

 on reports received by him from correspondents throughout the State 

 and on his personal knowledge and observation. Special field agents 

 are assigned to duty in groups of States and perform travel throuj^h- 

 out their respective territories, examining crops, interviewing 

 farmers, country merchants, implement dealers, and others from 

 whom dependable information can be obtained. Their reports each 

 month to the bureau are based on the knowledge gained through such 

 travel and on reports received by them from correspondents. 



VOLUNTARY CORRESPONDENTS. 



The voluntary correspondents consist of several classes or corps, 

 the reports from each of which are tabulated and computed sepa- 

 rately and independently from those of any other class. 



There are two principal classes of voluntary correspondents who 

 render monthly reports direct to the bureau; one class, designated 

 " township " correspondents, report for the respective townships or 

 vicinities in which they reside; and the other, called "county" corre- 

 spondents, report for their respective counties as a whole, each one 

 of them having two or more assistants in different sections of the 

 county, whose reports to him he utilizes in preparing his monthly 

 report to the bureau. 



In addition to the township and county correspondents mentioned 

 above, the bureau maintains several special lists of voluntary corre- 

 spondents who are requested from time to time to render reports. 

 These special lists are as follows: "Individual farmers," who supply 

 information at harvest time regarding yields; "special price" cor- 

 respondents, who report as to prices received by farmers for their 

 products; "cotton ginners," whose addresses are supplied by the 

 Bureau of the Census; "special cotton" correspondents, who furnish 

 information relative to cotton acreage and yield ; " special potato " 

 correspondents, who report as to stocks of potatoes on hand January 

 1 ; " mills and elevators," answering inquiries regarding gi^ain ; 

 "special live-stock" correspondents and "veterinarians," who make 

 reports regarding farm animals ; and " special tobacco " correspond- 

 ents, who supply information as to the tobacco crop. The total 

 number of voluntary correspondents on all lists is about 130,000. 



The results of the separate independent tabulations and computa- 

 tions of reports received from voluntary correspondents who report 

 direct to the bureau (as distinguished from those who report to 

 special field agents and State statistical agents) are brought to- 

 gether by States and, in conjunction with the reports from special 

 field agents and State statistical agents, form the basis of each of the 

 monthly reports issued by the bureau. 



All reports received at Washington from the A'arious classes of 

 voluntary correspondents are tabulated and computed in the Divi- 

 sion of Domestic Crop Reports, the work of which is referred to 

 later. The voluntary correspondents are public-spirited citizens, 

 rendering sc rvice without compensation other than the publications 

 of tlie department and such limited quantities of seeds as can be 

 supplied them. 



