The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-07-15
CROP REPORTS.
AN IMPORTANT WORK OF TIE
AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.
The Reports Are Obtained From
! 10000 Correspondcnts-Makfng
Up and Distributing the
Reports.

10, 900 unpaid agents. In every pro-
ducing county in the United States is
correspondent of the Agricultural De-
partment, and each of these correspond
ents has three assistants. There are now
about 1850 of these correspondents. They
and their assistants receive 70 compensa-
ton, but they get full supply of de-
partment publications and seeds, and all
the stationery needed for their work IS
furnished to them. These agents of the
department are almost exclusively farm
ers. Occasionally country physician ID
found on the list. His opportunities for
observation are quite as good as those
of the farmer. In addition to this
enormous force of volunteer correspond
ents the department now has in nearly
all of the States salaried agents, who
have organized parallel system OF re-
ports through correspondents in the
counties, entirely independent of the
county correspondents, whose reports
Are made directly to the department at
Washington.
The Statistician sends each month to
the correspondents of the department a
circular containing certains questions. In
February these concern only live stock.
In March, the month which practically
winds up the crop years record, the
questions are about the commercial dis
tribution of cereals. At the beginning
of April the questions concern the con-
dition of the growing crops, the acreage
Under cultivation, etc. In October and
November the department inquiries
about the probable yield per acre. In
December its inquiries are for a final es-
innate of the product of the year.
Those questions require, usually, mathe-
matical answers. Taking 100 per cent.
: as the normal condition, the correspond
= ents are asked to indicate the condition
. of the crops in their vicinity by figures
based on this percentage. The actual
: average is not taken, because this would
be misleading, as some counties produce
TWENTY times as much as others, and the
high average of the small would raise
that of the large oues. The average of
..each county is multiplied by the proper
tion of the crop grown in that county,
and thus an ''extended average is OBJ
tained which gives approximately cor
rect idea of the product.
/ With such an enormous corps of
correspondents it would be impossible
for any collusion to exist which would
affect or control the market by the max
Ing of false reports to the Statistician's s
Office. Besides, the Statistician has in
The reports of State agents and the re-
ports of agricultural boards organized
under State supervision constant checks
upon the departments correspondents.
/ Each of the 1850 county correspond
ents of the department makes up from
the reports of his three assistants his re-
report of the condition of the crops in
that county. He does not contine him
self necessarily to the facts and figures
received from his assistants. He may
exercise his own judgment in modifying
those figures. He is expected to watch
the newspapers and gather in every
other possible way all indications which
NAV be of value, and to make up his
average from all the information in his
possession. The correspondents on the
Pacific coast are under instructions to
mail their letters to the department on or
about the 25th of each month. East of
the Rocky Mountains the instructions OF
the correspondent are to mail his report
.on the 1st of the mouth. These reports
begin to come in on the 2Sth, and every
mail is heavily laden with them for more
than a week. The heaviest receipts are
on the Sd, 4th and 5th of the month. AS
fast as they are received these reports are
assorted. On the evening of the 9th
they are distributed among dozen
&. clerks who occupy desks in three rooms
of the department annex, and these
clerks figure from these county reports
the State averages of the different crops.
All of the tabulation is done in one
room, but the work OF footing up the
averages is distributed through three
rooms, and so distributed that each OF
the clerks has knowledge only of the
small part of the work which he has
done. Across the hail another force OF
clerks Verifes these averages. As soon
as this work is completed it is taken
from the hands of the clerks and deliv-
cred into the hands of the Statistician,
where all OF the cards are placed under
lock and key. On the morning Of the
18th the Statisticien takes hold of these
reports and goes over them. The re-
ports of the unimportant crops are sent
into another Office where the average is
worked out. No Interests could be af-
fected by the publication of this infor-
nation, and so the same is not exercised
in guarding it. The reports of the
wheat, cotton, and oat crops remain in
the hands of the Statistician and his as.
eistant, Mr.. Snow. The reports of the
State agents also are in Mr.. Dodge's
hands for the comparison with the aver
ages made up from the reports of the
county agents. The accuracy of these
reports is frequently attestcd by the ex-
act agreement of the figures OF the State
agent with the figures made up in the
department from the reports of the
county correspondents.
On the morning of the 10th the final
figures are made up. The cotton re-
port is given out at noon on the 10th {;
the grain report at four o'clock in the af-
tsrnoon of that day. Usually Mr.. Dodge
knows the average condition of the cot
ton crop more than an hour before the
time when the report is written. In max