Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 March 1900 — FACTS ABOUT THE CENSUS. [ARTICLE]

FACTS ABOUT THE CENSUS.

It is important to the agricultural interests of the United States that an accurst* census of farm products should be taken. W. H. Lloyd in the National Rural presents some valuable bints that will aid in the work of the next enumeration if heeded by the farmers of the tyA “farm” is all the-land cultivated or held for agricultural purposes under one management, whether In a single body or separate parcels. Tax assessors,' collectors and equalizers cannot ierve as enumerators, or haveaccess to the census returns, or to tbe ; information therein contained. There are-more than 5,000,000 farms, plantations, randies, stock ranges and, market gardens in the United States, all of which, for census panftses, wdl bo designated as “farnis." The first really valuable census of agriculture in the United States was taken in 18o<k of the crops of 1849. The next enumeration of agriculture will be taken in June, 1900, of the products of 1899. If every farmer wiU begin at once to prepare a careful record of all the facts which the enumerator will be instructed to record in June, 1900, he will, save time for himself and the officer, and insure more accurate returns to the Uovernment.

Instead of recording several farms on one schedule in the twelfth census, as heretofore, each farm will be accorded a separate blank, the entries on which will not be known to any save sworn officers of the department. No names will be published in connection with information secured from the people. The enumerator will ask for the size and value of each farm, the value of buildings, and the aggregate value of all machinery, implements, vehicles, harness, etc., used thereon; and the amount of land owned and leased, respectively, by said occupant. He will also ask for the acreage and value of each crop, and the acreage of Improved, unimproved and irrigated lands. The designation "each crop” includes an grains, cotton, corn, rice, sugar cane, sugar beets, sorghum, hay, clover, wild grasses, gathered forage, flax, hemp, hops, peanuts, tobacco, seeds, nuts, tropical fruits, small fraits, orchard fruits, nursery and greenhouse stock, broom corn, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams, all vegetables, including the product of all family, truck and market gardens, etc.; also new or unusual crops, when fonnd.

If a person who moves from a farm between the end of the crop year 1899 and Jane 1, 1900, will leave a written record of the prodnets and crops of that farm for 1899 where it will reach the appropriate enumerator, the statistics of his operations for that year will not be lost. He will be required to give the enumerator of the district in which he lives on Jane 1,. 1900; the acreage, value, buildings, machinery, implements and live stock of the farm he then occupies. The enumerator will ask for the number and value of the live stock on the farm Jane 1,1900, which will be reported under a number of heads, such as horses, colts, moles, asses, cows, heifers, steers, calves, bolls, ewes, rams, lambs, swine, goats, chickens (including guinea fowl), turkeys, geese, ducks, bees, etc. He will also ask for the quantity and value of milk, cream, butter, cheese, raisins, prunes, molasses, sirup, sugar, eggs, beeswax, honey, wool, wine, cider, vinegar, dried and evaporated fraits, forest products, and, generally, all articles made at home, or for the home, from farm materials in 1899.