5 



2. On the number of farm stock. Political events have made and are still 

 making a heavy demand on the stock of the country, used either for labor 

 or for food. The heavy supply of these comes from the west, but the failure 

 of the fall crops in 1863 has caused this stock to be lessened, except sheep, 

 to which the greatest and most commendable care has been given. The 

 returns and letters of the correspondents of this Department to the last cir- 

 cular show that other stock is too much overlooked, and in laj^ing the tables 

 before the farmers their attention has been called to the importance of using 

 every eflfort to timely guard against a deficiency in them. The benefit to 

 the country, if the tables and counsel given shall be heeded, will a hundred 

 fold repay every expense that the collection and publication of these statis- 

 tics may occasion during the next twenty years. 



3. Besides these leading articles, the farmers will find statistics showing 

 the condition of the home and foreign markets, and in them will see the 

 causes which give direction and value to their industry. That on the hog 

 crop of the past season will serve to encourage better attention to hogs in 

 the corn-growing States of the west than is now bestowed on them. 



4. The meteorological part of this report will be found to possess more 

 than its usual interest. The tables showing the state of the thermometer 

 on the first day of January, and of the points where the cold was below the 

 freezing point during the winter, as well as the most interesting phenomena 

 of a winter remarkable for its changes, cannot but be both interesting and 

 useful. That part of the report is prepared at the Smithsonian Institution, 

 with a care and an ability worthy its high reputation. 



5. Having tested the practicability of the present plan for collecting sta- 

 tistics, and satisfied of its great utility, the Department directed its atten- 

 tion to perfecting the workings of the plan. In the beginning, thq names 

 of correspondents were collected as best could be, without reference to their 

 locality in a county. Hence, oftentimes there were several in the same part 

 of a county, whilst other portions had none. Nor was there any concerted 

 action between them. To have several returns from one locality rendered 

 the labor of the Department greater than was justified b}^ any greater cor- 

 rectness accomplished by so large a number. To collect information from 

 all parts of a county, through systematic and co-operative action, was a first 

 duty in perfecting the details of the plan. This could be done only by re- 

 ducing the number to one correspondent, and having him select as many 

 assistants as he thought necessary, not exceeding five. So far this change 

 has been attended with every good effect anticipated from it. The assist- 

 ants have been selected in different sections of a county. Other changes 

 may, however, be proper in certain localities. 



1. In some very large counties, or of great length, it may be desirable to 

 have tico correspondents, each with five or a less number of assistants. Of 

 the necessity for such an additional correspondent we leave to the one now 

 selected to determine. If any one who has a very large county to report, 

 especially if his location is not central, thinks that there should be another 



