Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 October 1879 — Agricultural Statisties for the Next Census. [ARTICLE]

Agricultural Statisties for the Next Census.

A recent Washington dispatch says: General Francis A. Walker, Superintendent of Census, with a view to securing greater accuracy and uniformity in the agricultural statistics to be oompiled for the tenth census, has just issued a circular setting forth the aims and wishes of the bureau with regard to the method of arranging such statistics. The agricultural schedule annexed to the act of 1850, which is also made a part of the act of March 3, 1879, providing for the tenth census, requires a report of dm chief productions of agriculture “during the year ended June 1.” There is, however, no distinct agricultural year which ends on the Ist of June, and there is reason to believe that the statistics of agriculture from 1850 to 1870 in regard to many of the principal products embraced portions of two different crops, inasmuch as the enumeration was protracted three, four, and even five months. By the act approved March- 8, 1879, it is provided that the tenth oensus shall be taken and completed during the month of June, 1880. This provision greatly reduces the liability to error which has been noted.

As the enumeration begins On the Ist of June and closes on or before the 30th, all the crops which are gathered once a year will fall pretty clearly on one side or the other of the dividing line. Thus, the cotton crop reported in the census will be that of 1879, gathered in the fall of that year, while the wool clip or “wool crop” will be that of the spring of 1880, exoept in portions of California and Texas, wnere both a fall and a spring clip are secured. For certain agricultural products, however, there is no harvest in the usual sense of that term, but the product is gathered week by week or day by day as it matures. Milk, butter, cheese and meat belong to this class.

In view of the requirements of the law and the great importance of accurate statistical information relative to agriculture, it is deemed highly desirable that farmers should prepare themselves in advance to give the information with promptness and accuracy. It is urgently recommended, therefore, that agricultural journals and the officers of agricultural societies and clubs give publicity- to the announcement, and that all persons engaged in agriculture who shall receive this circular, or see it in the public prints, make notes from time to time of the quantities and values of their several crops gathered, and the number of acres <3 land planted, in order that their statements, when made to the enumerators, may be of the highest possible value. To remove any doubts that may arise concerning the crops to be returned in the census, the following list presents the several crops specifically mentioned in the agricultural schedule, arranged as they fall into the calendar year 1879, or that of

1880, or are to be returned for the twelve months beginning June 1, 1879, and closing May 31, 1880. Of the crop of the calendar year of 1879: Wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, rioe, tobacco, cotton, potatoes, peas and beans; orchards, vineyards, small fruts, hay, cloverseed, grass-seed, hops, hemp, flax, flaxseed, sugar-cane and sorghum, acres and quantity; bees, number of hives, pounds of honey and wax. Of the crop of the calendar year 1880: Wool, number of fleeces and pounds; maplo-sugar, pounds; maple-molasses, gallons. Of the yield of the twelve months ending May 31: Butter, cheese and milk sold, quantity; animals slaughtered, value; forest products and home manufactures, value. It is believed that by calling the attention of those interested to the subject the efforts of the bureau will be greatly facilitated.