636 



Agriculturai. Statistics. 



[Oct., 



AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS: THEIR 

 COLLECTION AND USE/- 



Sir Henry Eew, K.C.B. 



Importance of Statistics.— It is not necessary to place before 

 the Section of the British Association which is specially con- 

 cerned in the advancement of agriculture, arguments to prove 

 that statistical information lies at the basis of agricultural 

 progress under modern conditions. It is quite true that im- 

 provements in farm practice and in farm live stock were made 

 long before any systematic attempt was made to provide 

 statistics of agriculture, and that scientific enquiry into the 

 processes of nature in relation to soils, crops and animals, is 

 not dependent on statistical data. It is, however, also true 

 that the farmer, the stockbreeder and the scientist, are all 

 limited in their outlook unless they know the magnitude and 

 scope of the problems on which they are engaged. 



All economic statistics have two primary objects, one general 

 and the other specific. The general object is to provide in« 

 formation for the Government, for publicists and economists, 

 of the extent and progress of that section of national activity 

 to which the statistics relate, and the specific object is to pro- 

 vide information for persons who are themselves engaged in 

 the enterprise recorded. In the case of agriculture, it is 

 evidently important that full statistical information should be 

 available for the Government and the public, and it is equally 

 important that farmers and stockbreeders should be provided 

 with it — although it must be admitted that they do not all 

 appreciate or use it. 



If one had a free hand and unlimited resources, it would 

 be pleasant to construct a complete and logical scheme of 

 statistics to provide all the information which it would be 

 desirable or interesting to obtain. Such a scheme would be 

 devised to show: — 



The extent of land used, with details of its utilisation. 

 The capital A^alue of the land, its vent and tenure. 

 The amount of capital — fixed and inov^eable — employed. 

 The amount of labour — manual, animal and mechanical — employed. 

 The number of individuals providing the capital, management and labour 

 rpspectivply. 



* Pappr read before Secticm M of the Biitish Association at Edinburgh,. 

 12th September, 1921. 



