644 



Agricultural Statistics. 



[Oct., 



— as is frequently the case— it is forthcoming nevertheless 

 from the fertile brain of an up-to-date journalist. Even in ordi- 

 nary conversation one is constantly confronted with statistical 

 " facts " in relation to subjects on which no statistics exist I 



In this really lies the best reply to the question: " What is 

 the use of Agricultural Statistics? " They are of vital im- 

 portance to the producer. His whole business depends on 

 information of the present and prospective supplies of the pro- 

 ducts which he has to sell. If that information is not obtained 

 independently and completely, the enterprise of traders will 

 furnish statements as to the supplies available which will not 

 be compiled in the interests of producers, but which there will 

 be no means of checking or contradicting. Similarly, the 

 trader w^ho is daily in the markets must necessarily have a 

 wider knowledge of current prices than the producer who 

 attends only one market occasionally. An independent record 

 of market prices must therefore be advantageous to the 

 producer. 



Broadly, therefore, the main use of agricultural statistics i& 

 to supply, as far as humanly possible, facts, and thus to prevent 

 the promulgation of statements w^hich are inaccurate and 

 interested. 



To the administrator, the economist, and the sociologist, 

 statistics of the use of land and the distribution of its products 

 are indispensable to any intelligent survey of the economic life 

 of the nation. Agriculture may no longer be the predominant 

 factor in the national life, but it can never cease to have an 

 overpowering significance in relation to the health and V7ealth 

 of the people, and full records of its varied activities are- 

 essential to its maintenance and development. 



