BUREAU OF CROP ESTIMATES. 327 



jiici-cial estimates of the apple and peach crops were made, and the 

 weekly truck-crop news service was continued and extended. Many 

 fecial inquiries were made during the year, including : 



Quantity of comuiercial fertilizers used per acre of cotton and proportion of 

 fields upon which used. 



IVrcentajfe of various crops to which commercial fertilizer and manure was 

 applied and quantity used per acre. 



Binder twine requirements for the grain crops of 1918 for the use of tlie 

 Orsiin Corporation. 

 ' Emergency live-stock survey, to determine the number on farms July 1, 1918. 



Uses made of wheat crop, for the United States Food Administration. 



Quantities of various crops fed to different classes of live stock. 



Tilve-stock sui*vey of .Tanuaiy, 1919. 



Fertilizer inquiry of January, 1919, to ascertain quantity of commercial fertil- 

 izers and manure used for various crops. 



Wages of farm help. 



Prices farmers pay for equipment, machinery, and supplies. 



Percentage of farm labor requirements available. 



Field agents prepared estimates of acreage, yield, production, and 

 stocks on farms of wheat and corn by counties for the United States 

 Grain Corporation, and tliey also prepared estimates of the value of 

 agricultural production by counties in each of the principal States 

 for the use of the Treasury Department. Field agents coo]>erated 

 with officials of the Department of Agriculture, the Treasury Depart- 

 ment, and the State extension services in the States where seed-grain 

 loans were made to farmers in the drought-stricken regions of the 

 Northwest and the Southwest in the fall of 1918 and spring of 1919. 



The bureau compiled innumerable statements showing the produc- 

 tion, consumption, surplus and deficiency, exports and imports, and 

 prices of important agricultural products for all the principal coun- 

 tries before the war, and of production and requirements during the 

 war, for the information of administrative officials of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, of other Federal departments, and various war- 

 emergency organizations. Many of these statements were for the use 

 of the department conmiittee on crop production and were used as a 

 basis for the crop-pix)duction programs which were recommended. 

 Other compilations were made for the confidential use of the War 

 Trade Board and for the Committees on Agriculture in Congress. 



Summaries of weekly reports of the State field agents of the bureau 

 were furnished for the confidential information of the Secretary and 

 chiefs of bureaus of the Department of Agriculture, and after the 

 signing of the armistice the mailing list for these summaries w\as ex- 

 tended to include other Government officials and Senators and Mem- 

 bers of the House of Kepresentatives. Bimonthly foreign crop re- 

 ports were issued in the spring of 1919 and will be continued. 



A vast amount of information was compiled and furnished in re- 

 sponse to inquiries received by telephone, telegraph, letter, or per- 

 sonal call of representatives of the Food Administration, the War 

 Trade Board, the War Industries Board, the Military Intelligence 

 Office of the War Department, the Tariff Commission, the Federal 

 Trade Commission, the Council of National Defense, other depart- 

 ments of the Federal and State Governments, Congress, and private 

 individuals. The statistical library of the bureau was in constant use 

 by such representatives. The limited clerical force of the bureau was 

 taxed to the utmost in compiling and tabulating statements and fur- 

 nishing information urgently needed for immediate use. 



