International Agricultural Institute. 



13 



Library; a catalogue, according to countries, of the maga- 

 zines and newspapers which are regularly received, and a 

 subject-index of their contents which refer to the objects of 

 the Institute. 



The Second Division. 



The Second Division deals with technical subjects indicated 

 in Art. 9, (a), (b), (d)> of the Convention of 1905, viz. : — (a) to 

 collect, elaborate, and publish, with as little delay as possible, 

 statistical, technical, or economic information regarding the 

 cultivation of the soil, its production, whether animal or 

 vegetable, the trade in agricultural products, and the prices 

 obtained on the various markets; (b) to send to interested 

 parties, in a similarly rapid manner, full information of the 

 nature above-mentioned; (d) to notify the new diseases of 

 plants which may appear in any part of the world, indicating 

 the districts affected, the spread of the disease, and, if 

 possible, the efficacious means of resistance. 



In order to carry out this work, the Division has been sub- 

 divided into four Branches : the first and second, dealing with 

 agricultural production and trade in agricultural products 

 respectively, constitute the Department of Agricultural 

 Statistics; the third and fourth, dealing respectively with 

 plant diseases and "agricultural intelligence," are separate 

 Branches, although they have been temporarily working 

 together. 



Statistical Department. 



The following duties were referred to the Department of 

 Agricultural Statistics during the second quarter of 1909: — 



I. The preparation of a Report on the organisation of the 

 agricultural statistical departments in various countries. The 

 information was intended to describe the different departments 

 and their staff, the object of the statistics, the methods. of 

 collection and tabulation, and the dates of collection and 

 publication. The subjects were to be grouped under three 

 heads, viz. : agricultural census, annual agricultural statis- 

 tics, and financial and trade statistics. Analogous work had 

 fortunately already been prepared by the Royal Italian Com- 

 mission, so that in many cases it was only necessary to 

 complete details by asking for the necessary documents and 

 information from the adhering Governments. This explains 



