Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 105, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 April 1920 — CROP ESTIMATES COVER WIDE AREA [ARTICLE]

CROP ESTIMATES COVER WIDE AREA

Functions of Important Government Bureau Explained. GATHER FACTS ABOUT CROPS

Scope of Informatioi. Contained In Reports of Bureau of Crop Estimates Cover* Cereals, Forage, Fruits, Vegetable*, Live Stock and Miscellaneous —Report* Made at Various Time* in Year on Condition of Crop*. (Prepared by 'the Unlto4 Btatea Depart- = " m*nt OF Agriculture.) While the public has some idea of the functions of the bureau of crop estimates of the United States departement of agriculture, inquiries frequently received indicate that many persona still have little conception of the great field covered byj the bureau. The scope of information contained In several crop reports of the bureau may be indicated under the following Cereals, forage (grasses), fruits, vegetables, live stock, and miscellaneous. In the case of many of the subject* listed below, the bureau undertakes to estimate crop condition several times during the season. Thus from May until October the condition of from 20 to 30 products is reported on monthly. In December more than a score of final estimates, including acreage, production, and values, are issued, and on the majority of the products the prices are supplied each month throughout the year. Mass of Information Furnished.

Under cereals the bureau furnishes a great mass us ■inforuiHlßm>t various times in the year concerning the condition of barley, buckwheat, corn, oats, rye, and spring and winter wheat. The estimates regarding forage crops Include alfalfa hay and alfalfa seed, clover hay, clover seed, field peas, tame hay and wild hay, grain sorghums, etc., meadows, millet, pastures, and timothy hay. ~ The subheadings under fruit are even more numerous, there being 16 in all, Including apples, cantaloupes, grapes, lemons, oranges, pears, prunes. Ten different vegetable products are reported on at various times of the year, namely, dry beans, lima beans (California), cabbages, cauliflower (California), celery (California), field beans, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes. The live stock estimates include in most cases the condition of the stock, losses from diseases, losses from exposure, the number of animals, and prices at certain seasons. Figures are compiled regarding horses, mules, milch cows, and other Attle, sheep, lambs, swine, and colonies of honey bees. Other Commodities Covered. Reports of farm prices are also obtained monthly for butter, eggs, chickens, milk, veal calves, timothy seed, cottonseed, cottonseed meal, and bran; for soy beans in January, February, October, November, and December; for black waluuts, hickory, nuts, pecans, and turkeys in January, October, November, and December; for turnips and pop corn in January, February, November, and December; for maple sugar and sirup in March, April, May, and June, and for chestnuts in October, November, and December.