1916.1 PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 69 a 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ECO- 

 NOMICS. 



A. E. CANCE. 



Two lines of work were authorized by the experiment station 

 committee: one an investigation into agricultural insurance, to 

 be carried on largely by correspondence with other States, and 

 the other an investigation into the cost of distributing onions or 

 tobacco, or both. 



Regarding agricultural insurance, requests were sent to several 

 States in the Union in the endeavor to ascertain the amount 

 and kind of agricultural insurance that was written in these 

 States. The results of this inquiry have not been tabulated, 

 but in general we find, first, that there is little or no live stock 

 insurance except insurance on race horses or on high-grade ex- 

 hibition stock when shipped to shows. There are two or three 

 mutual companies doing a little along these lines, but they have 

 few precedents to guide them, and are still in the dark as to the 

 amount of premiums or the possible losses. 



Very little livestock insurance is written in New England. 

 Three companies, two in New England and one in Illinois, are 

 engaged in the business of insuring animals. Their rates are 

 high, 10 per cent, per annum, — too high for the average 

 farmer. There is a third company which has recently entered 

 this field in New England, and which, consequently, lacks ex- 

 perience. It insures stock against both disease and accident. 

 Owing to certain peculiarities in the laws of Massachusetts, it 

 can do only a casualty business in this State. This company 

 insures packing house cattle on the way to market, and reports 

 it has been picking up a good business in this line, especially on 

 the stock shipped to the Boston packing houses. 



Hail insurance of tobacco is also a comparatively recent 

 development in agricultural insurance, although it is much bet- 



