Cherokee scout. [volume] (Murphy, N.C.) 188?-1961, 1891-08-04
CROP REPORTS.
AN IMPORTANT WORK of THE
AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT,
The Reports Are Obtained From
10,ooo Correspondents-M
Up and Distributing the
REPORTS.

The material for the monthly crop bull
letin is gathered for the Agricultural De-
parment by an active corps of more than
$1,000 uupeid agents. In every pro.
dneiHg county in the United States is a
correspondent of the Agricultural De-
partmeut, and each of these correspond
ents has three assistants. There are now
about 1850 of these correspondents. They
and their assistants receive fo eompensa-
ton, bus they get full sHppiy Of de-
pattment 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 is
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 a 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 tho department d
rfrcAlaf containing ceftafns questions. In
lFebrusry these concern only liva stock.
In March, the month which practically
winds up the crop years record, gthe
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 6and
November the department. inquiries
about the probable yield per acre. = In
December its inquiries are for q. final es-
innate of the product of the year.
Thosel uestions require, usually, mathe-
r1atical answers. Taking 100 per cent.
as the normal condition, the correspAnd-
ents are asked To Indicate the condition
of the crops in their vicinity by figures
based on this percentagbs2 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 false
that of the large CUES. Thesayerage of
each county is multiplied by the proper
ton of the crop grown in that county,
and thus aA ttextended average" is OBJ
tanned which gives approximately COR
rect idea of the product.
With such an enormous corps of
correspondents it would be impossible
for any collision to exist which would
affect or control the market by the max
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 1880 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 conine 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 wa
the newspapers and gather in every
other possible way all indications which
may be of value, and to make up his
average from all the information i'm 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 LIST of the month. These reports
begin to come in on the 2Sth, and every
mail is heavily laden with them for more
than 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 a 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 veriies 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
Sth the statistician takes hold of these
reports and &C over them. The re-
ports of the important 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 h3nds o6the Statistician and his as
sistant, 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 atteste d-aby the ex-
act agreement of the figures of the Stale
agent with the figures made up in the
depaEtment from the reports OF the
county coTFespondents. az
] On the morning of the 10th the final
figures are made ups The cotton re-
port is given out at noon on the 10th;
the grain report at four o'clock in the af-
ternoon 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 in written. In max
ing up the last report he was not able to
.flL in the final figures until most of the
report had been written. There are
about 300 words in the report as, given
out at noon. AS Mr.. Dodge writes il
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