Published by authority of the Secretary of Agriculture. Vol. I. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, JOHN HYDE, WASHINGTON, D. C., NOVEMBER, 1899. consistency or inconsistency with his reports DIVISION OF STATISTICS, WASHINGTON, D. C. The comparison of the present crop with that THE CROP REPORTER is issued as a conven- of last year should be made with great care. ient medium of communication between the Evidence is at hand that in some cases correDivision of Statistics and the crop reporters of spondents make their December comparisons the Department of Agriculture. It is not de- either with an average crop or a full normal of signed for general distribution and will be sent only to regularly enrolled correspondents of crop rather than with that actually harvested the Division. The subject matter will be pre- the preceding year. When this is done the repared primarily with the idea of aiding and port is misleading, and, if the error becomes instructing correspondents in the work of crop reporting; and it is hoped that it may common, it can not fail to affect the final reinstill into correspondents that spirit of inquiry sult of the tabulations. If the crop of the and investigation upon which the success of present year is estimated as one-fourth larger their work so largely depends. All inquiries than that of last year, it should be reported as or suggestions that may be called forth by 125; if one-fourth less than last year, at 75; if articles herein contained will receive considerate attention. one-tenth more, at 110; one-tenth less, at 90, etc. In view of the failure of the winter wheat crop in certain important States, and of the conflicting statements that are being made with regard to the cotton crop, correspondents are requested to use the utmost care in making this comparison. It not infrequently happens that a more accurate estimate of the crop can be made by comparing it with that of the preceding year than by basing it on an estimate of the average yield per acre. As correspondents are frequently reminded, there has always been a tendency to overestimate the average yield per acre. This is accounted for by local pride, by the publicity that is given to large individual yields, and by forgetfulness of the fact that there is in every agricultural community a large number of farms on which, during even the most favorable seasons, the yield of the particular crop is small. The December Report. Correspondents have reported monthly during the growing season on the condition of the crops. With the gradual approach of harvest, each monthly report has been a more reliable index to production than the preceding one, the figures indicating "condition at harvest" being expected to constitute a fair indication of the year's production. In October and November a preliminary estimate of the yield per acre in bushels, tons, or pounds, according to the crop, was made by each correspondent for his own county or district, and now, in December, a comparison of the crop gathered with that of last year affords a final and most important test of its size. No. 7. Distribution of the Yearbook. A limited number of the 1898 Yearbooks of the Department are available for correspondents of this Division. Applications, therefore, addressed to the Statistician will be honored in the order of their receipt. A very few copies still remain available, for the use of our correspondents, of the Yearbooks of 1895, 1896, and 1897. Requests for the above addressed to the Statistician will be duly honored so long as the available supply is not exhausted. Applications are already being received for the Yearbook of 1899. Owing to the fact that each Yearbook contains data covering the calendar year, and not available, consequently, till its close, it is impossible to bring out any Yearbook until after the close of the year of its title. Every effort is made to hasten the issue of the Yearbook, but the probable date of its appearance can only be estimated in the light of previous experience. Its issue last year was earlier than ever before by some weeks, copies being available for distribution on May 15. Census Enumerators. When a statistical correspondent of the Department of Agriculture sends an application for appointment as census enumerator to this office he is immediately furnished with the name and address of the census supervisor for his district, and his communication is referred the Census, who causes the necessary applicato the Hon. William R. Merriam, Director of tion blank to be forwarded to him. The Di rector of the Census announces that such blank, after being properly filled out, should be sent to the census supervisor of the applicant's district. The area sown to winter wheat and rye should be very carefully estimated. It should While there should be substantial agreement be compared, on a percentage basis, not with among these three reports, no correspondent the area harvested the past season, but with should be prevented from reporting to the De- that actually sown last fall, much of which partment in strict accordance with the latest was winter killed. With regard to the averinformation in his possession by the fact that age condition of these crops, nothing need be such information is more or less inconsistent added to what has been said in recent issues of with previous reports. Were it not that pro- THE CROP REPORTER as to the fact that 100 CORRESPONDENTS who mail requests for pubduction is more definitely ascertainable on No- represents, not an average crop, but a full nor- | lications, etc., to the Department in the same vember 1 than on October 1, and again on De- mal crop, which is somewhat larger than an envelope with the crop schedule should sign cember 1 than on November 1, these several average crop and is a crop that is but rarely name and full address to the request as well as reports would not be called for, and each cor- attained. to the schedule. The request should always respondent is therefore requested to give the The average prices desired are those actually be on a separate sheet of paper, and attention Department the benefit of his more exact received by farmers on or about December 1, can only be assured for it when the name and knowledge of the situation, regardless of its or ruling in the local markets on that date. address is added. 3.45 4.20 18 19 18 19 14 15 9 13 7 78 81 81 74 81 81 10 23 17 20 12 15 8 8 10 10 781 318 343 37 391 241 271 49 52 23 25 62 10.00 11.50 1.00 3.50 42 52 15 16 28 29 27 27 3.10 3.85 23 23 22 23 20 24 152 19 8 27 19 20 9 10 10 10 9 10 10 21 17 29 13 22 10 10 10 11 The statement is frequently made by correspondents that they fail to receive the crop circular issued by the Division of Statistics until some days after the information contained therein has appeared in the public press. Circumstances connected with the preparation 1893of the circular make this delay unavoidable. In order that each section of the country may receive the information at the same time, that nearby points, because of the advantage of quicker mail service, may not get the benefit of the report earlier than places more distant, it has been the custom of the Department on the tenth of each month to make public a summary of the crop report by telegraph. This telegraphic summary is then followed by the printed crop circular, distributed by mail and giving the information in full detail. The telegraphic summary, in order to give the public the benefit of the information it contains at the earliest possible moment, is dispatched almost instantly upon the completion of the tabulation of the data furnished by correspondents. The full report, however, as it is sent out by mail, requires some further time for preparation, printing, and mailing; hence arises the delay in its receipt to which some of our correspondents call attention. It should be stated, however, that the printed report is prepared and mailed with all possible expedition. At the Government Printing Office the issuance of this report is given precedence over all other matter; envelopes are addressed at the Department of Agriculture in advance of publication, and the entire force of the document section is assigned to the work of mailing immediately the 200,000 copies which are printed. WILLETT AND GRAY have recently estimated the total sugar production of the entire world for the year 1899-1900 to be 8,222,000 long tons, against 7,890,524 long tons in 1898-99 and 7,731,131 long tons in 1897-98. As a corn producer Mexico usually ranks third among the corn-growing nations of the of the United States and Austria-Hungary, world, its crop being exceeded only by those and occasionally by that of Roumania. In one respect the culture of corn in Mexico is of more importance than in any other country of the world, viz, in the domestic economy of the Mexican people it is the veritable "staff of life" and constitutes their staple food. In some sections of the country climatic conditions are such as to render possible the raising of two crops in the year. In the more tropical latitudes there are only two seasons, the rainy and the dry; and in some States land upon which wheat has been raised by irrigation during the dry season is utilized during the rainy season of the same year for the production of corn. The Cotton Crop of 1898-99. The final figures relative to the cotton crop of 1898-99 as compiled by the Department will be made public within a few days. The estimates of the Department are based principally upon statements of cotton movement as rendered by transportation companies. The crop year ends on September 1. The time required for the preparation and tabulation of these statements explains any apparent delay in the publication of the final results. While the number of bales could have been stated approximately some time ago, the increased exactness that has been attained by withholding the estimate fully justifies the plan adopted. be counted as of June 1, 1900. Farm acreage, buildings, improvements, implements, and machinery will be taken as of June 1, 1900. Tenants will be asked to give information the same as owners. Write down farm items now, and thus be perfectly ready for the arrival of the enumerator next June. Washington, D. C., will supply a copy of the Upon application, the Director of Census, farm census blank. Seed Distribution. The annual distribution of seeds to the correspondents of the Division of Statistics will be made in February. It will not be necessary for correspondents to make individual applications for seeds. Their names and addresses are carefully filed, and a supply will be sent to each active correspondent. It is a matter for regret that the Department, on account of the enormous amount of seed which has to be distributed within a limited time, is unable to comply with requests for certain kinds or varieties of seeds, even though they may be on hand. THE exports of sugar from the Philippine Islands have fallen from 202,000 tons in 1896-97 to 50,000 tons in 1898-99. Employment Agencies for Farmers. A circular letter regarding employment of help by farmers has been sent to the chief officers of the U. S. Immigration Service at Large at the various ports and interior stations, to the State Commissioners of Labor and superintendents of public employment offices, to the State Commissioners of Agriculture and secretaries of State Boards of Agriculture, to municipal and county poor officers in the larger cities of the country, to the head residents of the various university, college, and social settlements, the secretaries of the charity organization societies and local Young Men's Christian Associations, and the supertendents of vacant lot cultivation throughout the United States, to free employment agencies maintained by private philanthropy, so far as their addresses could be secured, to municipal and other lodging houses, and to the officers of many other philanthropic institutions and associations. In this circular the Division of Statistics announces the preparation and publication for wide distribution of a list of free employment offices and other institutions to which farmers may apply when in need of farm laborers, excluding all such as make any charge for their services either to employers or to laborers. The circular invites cooperation in its work of giving publicity to such agencies and concludes as follows: Mr. JOHN HYDE, United States Department of Agriculture, Chairman. U. S. Department of Agriculture. While there are many institutions still to be Division of Statistics, Washington, D. C. heard from, it may be stated that about 265 It is hoped that the proposed list of employcolleges and other educational institutions have ment agencies, etc., will be found to be a conreplied favorably, while only about 50 have de- venience to the farmers of the country, and clined to be represented in the list, and about that they will make free use of it when wish30 have replied doubtfully. Of the replies to ing to employ hands either permanently or the letter sent to other than purely educational temporarily. institutions, about 300 have been favorable, about 85 unfavorable, and about 50 doubtful, requiring further correspondence or at least further consideration. Any person wishing to communicate with free employment agencies may obtain the addresses of those most convenient to his place of residence by applying to the Statistician after December 15. The Crops of Austria. Not all the settlements and charity organization societies have replied affirmatively, for while they have many applications from persons out of work, they find a general unwillingness to go into the country, even temporaThe Statistical Yearbook of Austria, which rily. The following letter, however, while has just been issued, gives the final official recognizing this prevalent feeling, is of special estimates of the crops of that country for the interest because it suggests the value of makyear 1898. The estimates of the principal ing known to farmers the various employment crops are given below. For purposes of comagencies which exist in the cities: parison, the official estimates of the same crops for 1897 are added. ASSOCIATED CHARITIES OF OAKLAND, OAKLAND, CAL., Oct. 31, 1899. MR. JOHN HYDE, Department of Agriculture. DEAR SIR: In answer to your letter of the 25th, instant, I would say that I believe that we are in a position to and that if it were understood that application for such Wheat know of persons desiring temporary work in the country, help would be made to us more persons looking for work Rye would report at this office. Barley to us, and I feel sure that a number of country homes Corn It sometimes happens that women with children apply Oats would be open to them if we only knew just where to look. 60,034,015 49.756,070 114,189,232 96,164,500 *** "Are you in a position to know of persons seeking employment who would be willing to go into the country for temporary work during the busy season? If so, and if you are willing to cooperate in this undertaking, it will give the Department pleasure to bring powerful pressure to bear to overcome this re- schedule to the Department promptly on the While the circular letters refer specifically careful preparation of the data which the schedonly to temporary work during the busy sea-ule contains, no detail which correspondents son, that being the time when farmers have are requested to observe is more of value to the most difficulty in obtaining help, it is hoped that the employment agencies will often be able to place men, and, as Miss Felton suggests, women also, in permanent positions in the country. It appears from the following letters that city residents would sometimes be more willing to go into the country for longer periods than for shorter ones, and also that those at first taking temporary employment sometimes find permanent homes in the country: UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT SOCIETY OF NEW YORK, 184 ELDRIDGE STREET, NEW YORK, Oct. 26, 1899. Department of Agriculture, "Have you among your students any who would be willing to accept temporary employment on farms during the summer vacation, and if so would you be willing to cooperate with the Department in this undertaking and have your name published in the list referred to ?" A large majority of the replies to these let- Mr. JOHN HYDE, ters has been in the affirmative. The colleges, especially, have replied favorably in a surprisingly large percentage of cases; it appears that nearly all the colleges have students who pay their way in whole or part by means of their own labor. The following letter from the president of Yale University may be quoted as almost typical of a large number of replies from the larger universities and colleges: YALE UNIVERSITY, NEW HAVEN, CONN, Oct. 14, 1899. DEAR SIR; It will give us the utmost pleasure to cooperate with the Department of Agriculture in the way suggested by Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: We are frequently in a position to place persons seeking employment in the country, but I do not think we could send them to the country for merely the busy season. I would gladly aid in getting men into the country for a longer period. We frequently have appeals from men who wish such aid, but farmers can not expect that a man will leave the city for July and August when he can get along easily in the city and is not prepared for hard work in the sun. * * * Very truly yours, (Signed) Department than the mailing of their reports promptly on the exact date, or as near thereto as possible, mentioned in the schedule. Schedules which arrive too late for tabulation can not be utilized, and the information which they contain ceases to be of value after the specified date. THE frequent failure of some of the correspondents of this Division to insert their names, post-office, county, and State addresses in the heading of the schedule returnable monthly to the Department often renders such reports valueless. After the schedule has been removed from its envelope in this Division it is no longer possible to identify it. To ascertain the locality to which it applies becomes impossible, and, therefore, the data which it contains are useless. The importance to the Department of inserting full addresses in all instances is plainly apparent. THE aggregate exports of wheat from Argentina from January 1, 1899, to November 3, 1899, have been 55,300,000 bushels, against 22,936,000 bushels for the same period in 1898. Weather Conditions October 1 to 31, 1899. (Compiled from the reports of the Weather Bureau, U. S. Department of Agriculture.) Temperature. The average temperature for October was above the normal in all districts east of the Rocky Mountains, with the exception of the upper Missouri Valley, where it was slightly below, the month averaging decidedly warm in the central valleys, Gulf States, and Lake region, where the mean daily temperature excess generally ranged from 3° to 8°. Along the immediate Pacific coast there was a general but slight deficiency. The temperature extremes of the month were very unusual, more particularly the minimum temperatures of the first decade in the northern districts east of the Mississippi, and the maximum temperatures of the second and third decades over a large part of the central and northern districts to the east of the Rocky Mountains. From the 1st to the 3d the temperatures at a number of stations in the Lake region were the lowest observed in the first decade of October, while the 1st was an unusually warm day over the middle Rocky Mountain slope. From the 11th to the 14th and from the 21st to the 23d the highest temperatures yet observed in the second and third decades of October occurred at a large number of places in the lower Missouri and central Mississippi valleys and Lake region. From the 24th to the 27th maximum records of former years were broken at numerous stations in New England and the Middle Atlantic States. Precipitation. There was more than the usual amount of precipitation during October in the central and northern Rocky Mountain regions, over the greater part of the Pacific coast districts, central and western Texas, western Kansas, Oklahoma, southern portions of Missouri and Illinois, southern Florida, and over an area extending from southern Georgia to southern Virginia. Over some areas in these districts the precipitation was heavy and exceeded the average from 1 to more than 4 inches, the greatest monthly rainfall occurring on the east Florida coast, nearly 17 inches being reported from Jupiter. In western Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, over a large portion of the lower Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio valleys, the greater part of the Lake region, New England, and the Middle Atlantic States, the precipitation was below the average, portions of the lower and the upper Mississippi Valley, lower Missouri Valley, and Middle Atlantic States receiving less than 1 inch. There was also a deficiency along the south Atlantic coast and over a limited area on the north Pacific coast. Total Visible Supplies of Grain Available in the United States and Canada at the Dates Given, as Reported to Bradstreets. The following figures represent stocks of grain available at 62 of the principal points of accumulation East of the Rocky Mountains, stocks in Manitoba elevators, and stocks afloat on lakes and canals. Pacific Coast stocks are shown only in the case of wheat. Available Publications. The following Farmers' Bulletins are available for distribution to correspondents, and copies will be sent on receipt of application; No. 21. Barnyard Manure. No. 22. Feeding Farm Animals. No. 24. Hog Cholera and Swine Plague. No. 28. Weeds: and How to Kill Them. No. 35. Potato Culture. No. 40. Farm Drainage. No. 44. Commercial Fertilizers. No. 62. Marketing Farm Produce. No. 95. Good Roads for Farmers. No. 106. Breeds of Dairy Cattle. Circular No. 3. Salt Bushes. Circular No. 4. The Renewing of Wornout Native Prairie Pastures. Bureau of Animal Industry. Bulletin No. 23. The Serum Treatment of Hog Cholera and Swine Plague. Circular No. 2. Wheat as a Food for Growing and Fattening Animals. Circular No. 23. Blackleg: Its Nature, Cause, and Prevention. Circular No. 25. State Standards for Dairy Products. Office of Experiment Stations. Bulletin No. 25. Dairy Bacteriology. Circular No. 25. Canaigre. Office of Fiber Investigations. Report No. 5. Leaf Fibers of the United States, etc. Report No. 7. Cultivation of Ramie in the United States. Office of Road Inquiry. Bulletin No. 15. Employment of Convicts in Connection with Road Building. Bulletin No. 20. Traction Tests. Division of Statistics. Special Report No. 12. Freight Charges for Copies of the following divisional publica- Ocean Transportation for Products of Agricultions may also be obtained: Division of Agrostology. Bulletin No. 1. Notes on Grasses and Forage Plants of the Southeastern States. Bulletin No. 6. Grasses and Forage Plants of the Dakotas. Bulletin No. 9. Grasses and Forage Plants of Iowa, Nebraska, and Colorado. Bulletin No. 15. Forage Plants and Forage Resources of the Gulf States. ture. Miscellaneous. Report on Market for American Horses in Foreign Countries. Inasmuch as the editions of the above publications are limited, it is urged that correspondents select and apply only for such publications as relate to subjects in which they are specially interested. Published by authority of the Secretary of Agriculture. Vol. I. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, WASHINGTON, D. C., DECEMBER, 1899. DIVISION OF STATISTICS, WASHINGTON, D. C. The CROP REPORTER is issued as a convenient medium of communication between the Division of Statistics and the crop reporters of the Department of Agriculture. It is not designed for general distribution and will be sent only to regularly enrolled correspondents of the Division. The subject matter will be prepared primarily with the idea of aiding and instructing correspondents in the work of crop reporting; and it is hoped that it may instill into correspondents that spirit of inquiry and investigation upon which the success of their work so largely depends. All inquiries or suggestions that may be called forth by articles herein contained will receive considerate attention. JOHN HYDE, The January Report. The January report will relate almost exclusively to the number and value of farm animals, the only questions not relating to live stock being those concerning oranges, and these apply only to California and a narrow belt of country in the extreme South. No. 8. was only 1.7 per cent for the entire country, it not for the system of crop reporting practiced Foreign Crop Reports. The regular collection and publication of data concerning crops, a science commonly known as "crop reporting," is now pursued by all the advanced nations of the world. A cen taken of the products of agriculture. The number of farm animals should be re-sus, in a manner perpetual, is constantly being The estimates of average prices per head, according to age, should be made with great care, and correspondents who have been reporting to the Department for one or more years are recommended to examine their former reports, especially that of January 1, 1899. In reply to the question as to the destruction of sheep by dogs, an estimate of the actual number so killed during the past year is desired, and not a comparison with the loss during any previous year. It is scarcely necessary to state that in certain sections of the country this item of loss is a very serious one. While the number of sheep reported by the Eleventh Census as having been killed by dogs in 1889 To a great exporter of agricultural products like the United States, the benefits that accrue from this general adoption of systems of crop reporting can scarcely be overestimated. It furnishes a preventive, or at least a modifier, of those violent and spasmodic disturbances of prices in the markets, from which producers notoriously never derive their fair share of the profits; it supplies to farmers the basis for prudence and business sagacity in the marketing of the products of their toil; and offers to consumers the opportunity for the exercise of needful economy in dealing in even the ordinary necessities of life. France, as is well known, generally produces just about enough wheat for her domestic needs, but is occasionally subject to crop failures, which makes her a heavy importer. In these years of shortage, the fact that the French people are the greatest consumers of wheat per capita in the world is sure to be quite a factor in the making of prices in all markets. Were Argentina, on the other hand, is in some years a heavy exporter of wheat, and her exports are of peculiar significance because they come upon the markets in midwinter, just at a time when the world's visible supply is expected to be on the decline and prices to show a tendency upward. The lack of a system of official crop reporting in that country has, on many occasions, made its crop a perplexing factor in the making of prices in the world's markets. But the recent establishment of an Argentine department of agriculture and the organization of a system of crop reporting there is expected to be of great service in removing the troublesome doubtfulness that has always overhung the Argentine crop. The fairly accurate anticipation of that country's product, which its crop reports are relied upon to give, will henceforth prevent this crop at least from being a spasmodic and unexpected disturber of world's prices. ONLY those reports which are made regularly each month fulfill the purposes for which data concerning crops, etc., are collected by this Department. If a correspondent allows an interval of two or three months to elapse between successive reports, the value of his work is seriously impaired; and, although the best possible use be made of such reports by the Department, they are never satisfactory. A RECENT consular report states that in Siberia wheat ripens in 107 days; in Northern France in 137 days. |