435 



judgment. Occasioually a newspaper, with commentlaWe enterprise, 

 solicits crop statements from tlie area of a State, or several neigliboring 

 States, and obtains irregularly located returns, desultory, fragmentary, 

 combining several crops in one generalization, one having no points of 

 comi^arison with another, altogether defying interpretation in figures or 

 by any other method of consolidation into one definite expression of 

 quantity or value. More frequently commercial runners of dealers in 

 cereals, wool, meats, or fruits, hired to aid in depressing or raising 

 prices, supply, from all quarters, these news items, tinted with roseate 

 or cerulean hues as best may suit the purpose of their principals. Are 

 these statements reliable ? Do they admit of systematic compilation and 

 accurate generalization *? Is there not a need of greater accuracy, sys- 

 tem, and thoroughness than any newspaper can attain in the haste con- 

 sequent upon its daily issue ? 



Some writers upon " sj'stematic crop reports" have suggested the ap- 

 pointment of a person in each congressional district to collect and col- 

 late crop news. The cost of such service, with traveling and other 

 expenses, would be at least a round million of dollars, and it would 

 prove entirely impracticable and useless, requiring a whole season to 

 traverse the territory sufficient to make one report, while observ^ation in 

 any one county would cover a stage of growth diflereut from that ob- 

 served in any other. 



If there is a better system than that adopted by this Department it 

 should supersede the present; or, if modification of the official plan 

 would imi^rove it, suggestions founded in sound sense will be promjitly 

 considered and tested. As many evidently do not understand this plan 

 a brief description is given. 



A statistical correspondent i» selected from each county in the States. 

 The nomination is made by officers of agricultural societies, by mem- 

 bers of Congress, or by individuals of known character for judgment 

 and integrity. The qualifications requisite are, large facilities for obser- 

 vation of growing crops, sound judgment in agricultural matters, and 

 promptness in responding to circulars of inquiry, both egular and 

 special. The iiosition is honorary rather than remunerative, affording 

 no temptation to mercenary unfitness, offering only co-operation of the 

 Department in local improvements, and such incidental favors, in its 

 documentary and other distributions, as may serve to indicate a just appre- 

 ciation of the unselfish efforts of public-spirited farmers in the improve- 

 ment of their respective neighborhoods. These deserving appointees 

 continue faithfully, year after year, a service rendered more efficient by 

 repetitious of its performance, and report, in the first week of each 

 month, with a uniformity and promptness scarcely equaled by salaried 

 agents under compulsory requirement of prompt correspondence. They 

 also respond willingly to systematic inquiry upon special topics for in- 

 vestigation, as wages of farm labor, cost of fences, statistics of bee- 

 keeping, and any specialty demanding a systematic collection of facts, 

 from original sources. These men associate with themselves several as- 

 sistants, representing different sections of the county, thus constituting 

 a county board of crop statistics. The inquiries are forwarded several 

 weeks in advance, and copies are placed in the hands of these assistants, 

 in season to make the requisite observations, and correspond or confer 

 with the principal, who is then ready to make a deliberate and trust- 

 worthy return. The tabulated returns for October, pages 130, 431, in answer 

 to twenty-two separate inquiries, will illustrate the range of the monthly 

 schedules, which vary constantly with the season. 



These returns, coming in throughout the first half of each mouth, 



