6i8 



APPENDIX 



POTATOES 

 POTATO CROP OF COUNTRIES NAMED, 1902-1906 



from some of the states which have crop-reporting boards, such as the Illinois 

 State Board of Agriculture and the Iowa Weather and Crop Service. Thus in 

 1907, Illinois produced, according to the federal report, more than 40 million 

 bushels of wheat, but less than 25 million bushels by the state report. In 1908 

 the federal estimate gave Illinois 9,450,000 acres of corn, while the state report 

 was 6,780,000 acres. The same year the state of Iowa claimed to produce 

 only 4,968,250 bushels of wheat, but in the federal report Iowa receives credit 

 for 8,068,000 bushels. These are extreme variations, but they should serve 

 to emphasize the fact that crop "statistics" should not weigh heavily as 

 against actual data, such, for example, as the records of the long-continued 

 field experiments of Rothamsted, Pennsylvania, etc. 



On the other hand, the United States crop statistics are probably as good as 

 those from any nation ; and, while gross errors may appear in specific instances, 



