Crop Reports, How and Why Compiled. 455 



all the fibres, divided by 114 — the number of counties in Missouri — 

 gave as a result 102.4, indicating that the increased acreage amounts 

 to 2.4 per cent. Then multiplying 1,878,139, the original wheat acreage 

 for the fall of 1908, by 102.4, the result is 1,923,887, which figures then 

 become acreage basis for the 1910 wheat crop. All acreages are esti- 

 mated in this manner. 



Yields and prices are reported as the correspondents, by their per- 

 sonal laiowledge and by inquiry concerning local conditions, find them. 

 The reports from any given section, when not exactly identical, usually 

 agree very closely, but in order to discover any discrepancy, to account 

 for any ''high" or "low," and to eliminate any possible land boomer's 

 figures, the returns are "mapped" for comparison. That is to say, 

 on blank maps provided for the purpose, the figures are recorded, the 

 returns from each county being written in each county's space on the 

 map. Thus are the returns from counties in the same sections, and 

 where the conditions are similar or identical, brought together so that 

 they may be seen at a glace and careful comparisons made. If there 

 are one or two reports that disagree very materially from practically all 

 the others, an investigation is made to discover the cause. Then if the 

 report still appears radically wrong, or if there seems no good reason 

 why it should be given as it is, it may be necessary to arbitrarily change 

 it to a " zone average, " or to discard it entirely. Thus it will be seen 

 that the preparation of a crop report involves more than mere addition 

 and division. The statistician, if he is to do his work intelligently 

 and well, must have a pretty thorough knowledge of crop conditions, 

 soil and farming methods in every section of the State. Rainfall, local 

 floods and perhaps restricted drought districts, all enter in, and his 

 knowledge of these may aid him in reconciling figures which otherwise 

 might be regarded as unreliable. Or, on the other hand, he may, by 

 knowing that a certain small stream overflowed and damaged the grow- 

 ing crops along its banks, be able to understand why the correspondent, 

 whose farm is in that particular bottom, has made such a pessimistic re- 

 port. 



For convenience, the State of Missouri is divided into five crop 

 report sections, as follows: 



Northeast Section — Adair, Audrain, Clark, Knox, Lewis, Lincoln, 

 Linn. Macon, Marion, Monroe, Montgomery, Pike. Putnam, Ralls, St. 

 Charles, Schuyler, Scotland, Shelby. Sullivan and Warren. 



Northwest Section — Andrew, Atchison, Buchanan, Caldwell, Car- 

 roll, Clay, Clinton. Daviess, DeKalb, Gentry, Grundy, Harrison, Holt, 

 Jackson, Lafayette, Livingston, Mercer, Nodaway, Piatt, Ray and 

 Worth. 



