290 International Institute of Agriculture. [July, 



proposals were agreed to which will, it is hoped, tend to 

 popularise the publications of the Institute. 



Of the various Sections into which the work of the Institute 

 is divided, the one which attracts most attention and is the most 

 valuable is the Statistical Bureau. Briefly its work consists 

 in publishing a monthly Bulletin, a Statistical Year Book, and 

 special Beports on the Statistics of particular products, such 

 as oilseeds. The work of this Bureau is remarkably well 

 done and reflects the greatest credit on Professor Bieci, the 

 Head of the Bureau, and on his staff. The Monthly Bulletin 

 has for the past year or 18 months been issued in three parts, 

 (a) Prices, (b) Production and (c) Imports and Exports, and the 

 desire to make each of these parts as complete and perfect as 

 possible has resulted in a very considerable increase in the size 

 of the Bulletin. Whilst this enlargement enabled the Bureau to 

 issue in a summarised form a complete statement of the avail- 

 able statistics received from all parts of the world, it necessarily 

 involved considerable expense in printing. The Bulletin con- 

 tained, moreover, two distinct classes of information. In the first 

 place the section relating to production comprised the latest 

 reports on crop prospects and crop yields in the different countries 

 of the world, and included the best available information as to 

 the supplies which were likely to be available in exporting 

 countries and the probable requirements of importing countries. 

 This section was therefore of direct and immediate \alue to the 

 grain trade of the world by helping producers and distributors 

 to form an accurate estimate of probable supply and demand. 

 Notices are also issued at frequent intervals to the Press, and 

 by this means the available information is spread broadcast 

 throughout the world and is available for a very much larger 

 public than is reached by the mere distribution of the Bulletin 

 itself. The value of this side of the work is clear and is admitted 

 on all hands. 



In addition, however, the Bulletin contains records of prices 

 ruling in the principal markets of the world, and also gives the 

 latest available particulars of imports and exports with a view to 

 showing how far the supplies of exporting countries are becom- 

 ing exhausted, and the demands of importing countries are being 

 met. These details whilst valuable for purposes of record and 

 comparison are necessarily retrospective, and do not possess 

 the same practical and current interest as those relating to crop 

 production. It was felt that the Bulletin would gain in the estima- 

 tion of the special public for whom it was intended by removing 



