REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 31 



nursery stoclt, for all which adequate reports have not been available, 

 except in the census years. 



Likewise, there will be given the number of horses, mules, dairy 

 cattle, beef cattle, swine, sheep, goats, and poultry, by age and sex 

 classitications corresponding with the census enumeration of Janu- 

 ary, 1920 ; of pure bred animals of each kind ; of those bred, born, or 

 brought on to the farm; of those sold, slaughtered, or lost througli 

 disease, exposure, or other causes ; of those remaining on hand and on 

 feed; the condition of the various classes of animals; farm prices; 

 and the feed situation, including the carrying capacity of pastures 

 and ranges, the number of silos, the quantity of silage and other 

 forage available, as well as the domestic meat, dairy, poultry, wool, 

 and hide production, and the foreign situation. 



Available foreign crop and live stock estimates will be secured and 

 published, especially for countries of deficient supply and those of 

 surplus production in competition with the United States, and 

 periodical world balance sheets will be prepared, showing for the 

 principal countries of the world the production requirements, im- 

 ports, exports, and net deficiencies or surpluses of the major crops 

 and classes of live stock. 



It is proposed to establish intimate cooperative relations with State 

 departments of agriculture and State assessors. In this way greater 

 accuracy will be secured and the aggregate expense to the States 

 and the Nation reduced. As the value of reports depends not 

 only on their completeness and accuracy but also on their quick avail- 

 ability, they will be issued very promptly and more frequently, sum- 

 maries will be released on dates of issuance, and the Crop Reporter 

 will be changed from a monthly to a weekly basis. 



VALUE OF COMPLETE ESTIMATES. 



It need scarcely be pointed out that county estimates are of great 

 importance to the work of the county agents and the extension 

 service in each State, to manufacturers and business men who sup- 

 ply farmers with equipment and machinery, to banks which furnish 

 funds for financing crop production and movements, and to trans- 

 portation companies for supplying cars when and where needed 

 to move crops. They have already been made in a number of States. 

 Preliminary estimates of acreages intended to be planted will en- 



