HEARINGS BEFORE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE. 4038 
Mr. Hormes. I think Mr. Burleson knows a good deal more about 
that than I do. 
Mr. Burteson. They plant it in the spring. 
The Cuarrman. What time in the spring? 
Mr. Hormes. I should say February and March. 
Mr. Burteson. At the same time they plant wheat. 
The Cuartrman. You donot want him to He anything with past crops? 
Mr. Hotes. We want him to estimate on the crops of last year. 
We want him to verify the estimates we have in our office before we 
put them out, and then_he will go on reporting the same as our other 
reporters do, using probably two-thirds of his time on cotton and one- 
third on rice. Rice is a small crop. 
The Cuarrman. I want information as to what his actual work would 
be down there. Would he gather the acreage? 
Mr. Hotes. Yes, sir. 
The Cuarrman. Don’t you gather that now under your system? 
Mr. Houtmes. We gather it just as we do cotton and wheat. 
The CuarrMan. How could one man accomplish that; how could he 
get the acreage ? 
Mr. Hoxtmes. Experience has proven to us our field men can set us 
straight on acreage when our county and township and State corre- 
spondents are off. That is our weak point, our acreage—the weakest 
point in the system of estimating crops. The only way we can get at 
an estimate of acreage is on a percentage basis, and our county cor- 
respondents hesitate to put down an increase of 50 per cent in acreage, 
or in some cases it might be 109 per cent. We fell into an error some 
years ago out in Nebraska, which was not straightened out until I 
straightened it out. 
I used to be the field man they had had there. They reported almost 
no winter wheat for the state of Nebraska—nearly all spring wheat. 
As a matter of fact, there had been a steady increase in the area of 
winter wheat in Nebraska; and almost a steady decrease of the area of 
spring wheat; they were planting winter and cutting out spring wheat 
because it was a better crop. I went out there and found out the. 
condition of affairs and immediately sent word into the office, and 
the estimate was changed. We were the first people to discover that. 
The Cuarrman. As I said a little while ago, why not do ‘away with 
all these local men? 
Mr. Hotmes. Our men would have too much work to do; we could 
not cover the country. 
The Cuarrman. How many men would it take to cover the country 
if you have more reliance on your own men than on the local people? 
Mr. Hotmes. You have misunderstood me there a little. I did not 
say we had more reliance on them than on our local people, except in 
some unusual condition which generally happensafter our local reports 
are in, and those unusual conditions exist all the time. 
Mr: Burueson. How do you pay your local observers? 
Mr. Hotmegs. Do not pay them anything, except the State agents; 
we give them publications and seed. : 
Mr. Havueen. How much are you paying these State agents? — 
Mr. Hotmes. From $300 to $800 a year, depending on the size of 
the State. . 
Mr. Havucen. They are paid by the State also? . 
Mr. Houmes. Oh, no. They are very independent from any State 
