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agricultural colleges and the great body of writers for the agricultural 

 press and for economic periodicals with the facts upon which their 

 most valuable studies and analyses are based. The wisdom of Congress, 

 in constantly increasing the scope of the farm census from its real 

 beginning in 1850 down to the present time, has done much to further 

 the gradual development of farming in this country from a primitive 

 "means of subsistence," in which every farmer sought to work out 

 his salvation according to his own ideas, into a great national industry, 

 highly organized and specialized and constituting a science in itself. 

 The farm census is taken primarily for the benefit of the farmer, and 

 upon the accuracy of the information given the enumerator by the 

 farmer next April depends to a large extent the value of the statistical 

 work to be carried on in the farmers' behalf during the next five years, 

 not only by the Federal and State departments of agriculture, but by 

 students of agricultural conditions in all parts of the world. To what 

 extent the very marked increase during recent years in the cost of 

 living, and especially in the cost of certain kinds of farm produce, is 

 due to shortage in production, is -a question of vital moment to a vast 

 number of people. A complete and accurate census of farm areas, 

 products and values will furnish data which, studied in connection 

 with the revised population figures, should throw much light on the 

 great question of our national food supply. The farmer and the urban 

 consumer alike desire information along these lines. It lies with the 

 farmer to provide it. 



How can the Farmer help the Census Bureau? 



By keeping an accurate account of his farm operations during the 

 year ending Dec. 31, 1909, and by making an inventory on April 15, 

 1910, of all his farm possessions, the farmer can render the Census 

 Bureau and the public at large an estimable service. It is not to be 

 expected that farmers will ever keep as complete accounts as do manu- 

 facturers and merchants. The very nature of their occupation, the 

 long'hours, and the arduous labor of the summer months, are a par- 

 tial bar to scientific bookkeeping. The fact that a large part of his 

 daily bread is supplied from his own farm instead of being purchased 

 out of cash on hand, naturally causes the farmer to place an uncertain 

 value on the products consumed in his home. Nevertheless, a con- 

 stantly increasing number of farmers are keeping accurate records of 

 their daily receipts and expenses, and of the exact quantities of all 

 classes of products grown or raised on their farms. Wherever such 

 records are kept the census enumerators are able to obtain highly 

 accurate reports without taking more than a few minutes of the 

 farmer's time, and without troubling him to make difficult estimates. 



In order that the great majority of farmers who do not ordinarily 

 keep book records of their farm operations may be given an oppor- 

 tunity to familiarize themselves with the scope of the census to be 



