Dec. 1895.] INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL INSTITUTE. 287 



The second method consists in inquiring, from persons 

 acquainted with the agriculture of their district, what proportion 

 of the land is under each crop. The area of all the arable lands in 

 the district, is then distributed amongst the crops, according to 

 these proportions, and by adding together the areas under each 

 particular crop in all the districts, the distribution of the arable 

 land in the whole country is obtained. The districts should be as 

 small as possible, and the difference in the systems adopted on 

 small, medium, and large farms should be taken into account. 



The third method consists in selecting farms, which could serve 

 as types of the district in which they are situated, making an 

 exact investigation into the acreage under each crop on these 

 farms — distributing the remainder of the arable land in the dis- 

 trict proportionally to these results. The smaller the districts, 

 and the larger the number of ty{)es, the better would be the 

 results ; and there should be " type " farms for- small, medium, 

 and large holdings, the remaining farms being apportioned 

 according to their proper class. 



Dr. Pilat expressed himself strongly in favour of the third 

 method, and the resolutions hnally adopted were as follows :— ' . 

 (1.) The most effectual method of obtaining as exact a knowr 

 ledge as possible of the areas under different crops 

 would be an individual census from every agricultur£tl 

 holding. 



(2.) In countries where the farmers can be trusted to fill in the 

 returns themselves, the collection of the data should be 

 anriual, while in countries where it would be necessary 

 to employ special agents, it would be better to take a 

 detailed census every tenth year, and restrict the 

 annual inquiry to any changes in the areas under the 

 principal crops only. 



(3.) Where it is impossible to obtain accurate information for 

 the whole territory, as much as possible should be 

 obtained concerning farms for which it could be got, or 

 concerning local districts, and estimates resorted to 

 only to supplement the data thus ascertained. These 

 estimates should be made for small areas which present 

 fairly uniform agricultural conditions throughout, and 

 should be made separately for small, medium, and large 

 farms. 



(4.) These estimates should be made by ascertaining exactly 

 the areas under the various crops on a certain number 

 of farms, and the distribution of the whole surface 

 should be determined by generalising from these data. 

 (5.) Inquiries into the acreage under the different crops 



should be made separately from those into the yield. 

 Major Craigiehad intended to suggest an international agricul- 

 tural return, limited to a few leading characteristic statistics, 

 worked out per 1,000 of the population, but the absence of recent 

 data in certain countries such as Belgium decided him to defer 



