The Department or Agriculture during the War. 555 



system, as have not already been allotted, and also prescribes the posi- 

 tion they are to occupy on the animal ; this system proves to be the 

 best in the interests of stock owners, and the need for nniformity 

 throughout the Union based on the Transvaal system was freely 

 expressed. Owiug to scarcity of paper it was not possible to publish 

 all the Brands' Directories, but the deficiency was met by tlie regular 

 publication of quarterly returns and of lists showing the additions 

 and amendments to the directories and the cancellations of brands. 

 The number of brands registered steadily increased during the period 

 of the war. This was specially noticeable in the Transvaal, where, 

 owing to its Brands Ordinance, farmers have availed themselves of 

 the benefits conferred by proper branding of stock, and registrations 

 far exceeded those in the Cape and Orange Free State Provinces, not- 

 withstanding that the Transvaal Act was of more recent date. On the 

 31st March, 1918, the total number of brands registered was 27,526, 

 of which 20,350 were in the Transvaal, 5647 in the Cape Province, 

 and 1529 in the Orange Free State. 



Ckop and Live Stock Reports. 



The need of reliable and up-to-date information regarding the 

 growth of the country's principal crops and their probable yield, 

 together with the condition of live stock, becoming increasingly felt, 

 the Department inaugurated a scheme of crop reports, and com- 

 mencing with September, 1915, a Crop and Live Stock Report has 

 since been published regularly every month. The principal crops of 

 the country were dealt with, and in the face of many difiiculties it 

 was endeavoured to keep the public informed of the progress made by 

 the crops month by month and to afford a means of arriving at an 

 estimate of probable production. A comprehensive statement 

 regarding* the condition of large and small stock throughout the Union 

 from a slaughtering point of view was also included. It is obvious 

 that reliable forecasts of crops production are essential ; farmers are 

 benefited both directly and indirectly — directly by being- kept 

 informed of crop prospects and prices outside of their own immediate 

 districts, and indirectly because the disinterested reports of the 

 Government tend to prevent the circulation of false or misleading 

 reports calculated to depress prices. Merchants in the distribution of 

 their wares, the railways in arranging- the handling and transport of 

 produce, and the shipping companies in the providing of freight, are 

 also benefited by reliable forecasts of crop production. 



The following is a brief explanation of the system at present in 

 operation : — 



1. In eacli producing district of the Union a number of farmers, 

 judiciously distributed, furnish gratuitously monthly crop reports. 

 Each of these farmers, who is known as a crop correspondent, reports 

 on the crops growing on his own farm and the farms adjoining it. 



2. These reports are sent on a specified date to the Magistrate of 

 the district, where they are scrutinized, weighed, and averaged, the 

 result being telegraphed to Pretoria. 



3. Two classes of reports (excepting iji respect of fruit) are 

 furnished by the crop correspondent, viz. : — 



(a) When sowings are completed he fills in a card showing the 

 change (if any) in the area under crop as compared with 



