Newspaper Page Text
PAGE FOUR
U. S. Conducts Fruit-
Vegetable Service
From Atlanta Office
Specially written for Georgia Farmer and
Fruit Grower
The present system of crop reporting in
the United States originated out of the
growing demand on the part of farmers
for current information prior to marketing
time as to condition and probable outturn
of the different crops. Following the or
ganization of the United States Department
of Agriculture in 1862, a system of month
ly reports, beginning in May, 1863, was
started under the direction of a statistician.
An attempt was made that year to esti
mate production of crops based on the cen
sus.of 1860.
Organization and Activities
The Georgia Office of Crop and Live
Stock Estimates is a State unit of what is
known as the Division of Crop and Live
Stock Estimates, a part of the Bureau of
Agricultural Economics. The Division per
sonnel at Washington consists of a Statis
tician in charge, a staff of eight or ten
experienced statisticians, and a corps of
statistical clerks numbering about 120. In
the field, the force consists of an agricul
tural statistician in each state or group of
States, an Assistant Satistician in the lar
ger States, and some agricultural heln,
lumbering in all about 60 statisticians and
60 field clerks.
These statisticians are in the Classified
Civil Service and are appointed only after
passing a rigid Civil service examination
to tssi their education and statistical quali
fications. Each must show, to be elegible
for this examination, that he has had at
least three years practical experience in
fair.ing and an ed ication equivalent to a
four year course in an agricultural col
lege, as well as some statistical training.
There are forty-four State offices operat
ing under the supervision of the main of
fice at Washington.
In addition to the Agricultural Statis
ticians and Crop Specialists, this work has
the cooperation of from several hundred
to several thousand voluntary crop corres
pondents, mostly farmers in each State.
These men are public-spirited citizens, who
serve without financial remuneration, en
joying the satisfaction derived from con
tributing information regarding local crop
conditions which is of practical and finan
cial value to themselves and other produc
ers. They receive for their services such
crop reports and Department bulletins as
may be available for distribution to them.
Os the 7,000 crop correspondents furnishing
their services to the Georgia office are a
number of men who have served since the
office was established fifteen years ago.
Many of the others have records of ten
years in the work. Based on agricultural
information from this corps of correspon
dents, supplemented by observations made
during field travel over the State, the State
Statistician, in conjunction with the central
office at Washington, issues monthly re
ports on the different crops of his particu
lar State. The central office has also an
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THE MANAGEMENT v
GEORGIA FARMER & FRUIT GROWER SECTION
Freezing Tests
lig
BlpV * ■
Messrs. Woodroof and Bailey, of the
Horticultural Department of the Georgia
Experiment Station at on their ex
periments with the fruits. They
are using peaches in the above illustration,
additional corps of correspondents known
as “Township” reporters, and whose infor
mation is alsft used in preparing crop re
ports. The Washington office also releases
consolidated"'reports for the entire United
States. Report dates are specified by the
Secretary of Agriculture and the character
of information released relates to acreage,
disease and insect damage, general progress
of crops, probably production, and crop
values. Considerable data is also issued-on
different classes of live stock. All reports
are, of course, furnished free of charge to
anyone requesting them.
A Criminal Statute prohibits a Federal
employee concerned in the preparation of
government crop reports (1) from speculat
ing in any product of the soil and thereby
becoming financially interested in the ef
fects of the crop reports on market prices,
(2) from knowingly compiling or issuing
any false statistics, and (3) from furnish
ing any information directly or indirectly
concerning the forthcoming crop report in
advance of the time specified by the Secre
tary of Agriculture for the publication of
the report. The penalty for the violation of
that statute is a fine not to exceed SIO,OOO,
or imprisonment not to exceed ten years,
or both.
Accuracy
The following table, showing December
estimates of cotton production in Georgia
as compared with final ginnings over a
period of years, will serve to illustrate the
accuracy of the estimates.
Estimates and Actual Final Ginnings of
Cotton in Georgia
® m ® •
5* £ m
.§ ft
£ —£ i> S
, ® « 5 o.E
« o .E g-gfe
£ Q Pm Q
1923 590,000 588,000 0.3% above
1924 1,000,000 1,004,000 0.4% below
1925 1,150,000 1,164,000 1.2% below
1926 1,475,000 1,496,000 1.4% below
1927 1,100,000 1,100,000 0.0%
1928 1,020,000 1,030,000 1.0% below
These figures, taken from the records of
the Georgia office of the division, are
given merely as a sample of the work be
ing done in other States. Acknowledge
ment is made to crop correspondents whose
splendid cooperation has made this stand
ard of accuracy possible.
Value of Crop Reports
A—To farmers:
Directly:
1. Guide to increasing or decreasing
acreage of particular crops.
2. Guide to marketing,—whether to
hold or sell.
Indirectly:
1. Prevent issuance of biased, false
and misleading reports, or minimize
their effects.
2. Reduce speculation. Increased
certainty of supply stabilizes prices
and reduces the speculative margins
necessary where uncertainty exists.
3. Aid transportation companies to
furnish proper supply of cars.
4. Make possible better distribution
of farm equipment and supplies.
B—To coperative Fanners Associations:
1. Enable them to formulate con
structive programs and policies, and
market their products intelligently.
C—To dealers and Handlers of Agricultural
Products.
D—To Agricultural Extension Workers:
s 1. Aid them in preparing corn pro
duction programs and in checking up
on results of various programs.
WATERMELON PRODUCTION
DELAYED FEW DAYS
(Continued from Page 1.)
more than 50,000 cars had been shipped.
There is no question that Imperial Valley
cantaloupes will be a stiff competitor for
watermelons this year although it now
looks as if the heaviest part of the canta
loupe season will be over before watermelon
shipments reach large porportions. Some
indications point to a rather long water
melon shipping season which, if true, will
prevent the movement fro mbecoming too
great at any one time. Lighter acreage
will also help to prevent over supplies.
While it is scarcely safe to Expect all fac
tors to be as favorable as they were last
year ,the prospects are, nevertheless, much
brighter than they have been in some past
seasons.
GEORGIA FARMERS BUY
USUAL AMOUNT FERTILIZER
(Continued from Page 1.)
there are approximately 9,500,000 acres
planted in field crop under cultivation in the
state.
Georgia farmers purchased 869,000 torts
of fertilizer in 1929; 883,000 in 1928, and
713,000 in 1927. The record year was 1920,
when more than a million tons were sold to
Georgia farmers.
E—To State Marketing Agencies and Bu
reaus:
1. Aid in developing state marketing
programs.
F—To Bankers and Financiers:
1. Enable them to provide in ad
vance funds needed to finance crop
production, storage and marketing.
G—To Railroads:
1. Enable them to estimate the num
ber of cars that must be provided to
move crops and livestock.
H —To Insurance Companies:
1. Furnish data on which to base
crop insurance.
2. Furnish data on which to place
farm loans.
I —To Manufacturers and Merchants:
1. Guide to determining quantities
to manufacture.
2. Enable them to make best geo
graphical distribution of products.
3. Show where to concentrate sell
ing campaigns.
J—To Advertising Agencies:
1. Show where to place advertising
to best advantage.
K—To Produce Exchanges, Boards of Trade
and Livestock Exchanges:
1. Furnish information as to supply,
thus permitting better adjustmept
from day to day of prices in accord
ance with facts of supply and de
mand.
L —Local Chambers of Commerce:
1. Furnish facts which can be used
in advertising advantages of their
communities.
M—Prospective Investors and Settlers:
1. Guide to relative agricultural re
sources and advantages of different
states and counties.
N—Legislators:
1. Provide basis for wise and con
structive legislation >vith respect to
agriculture.
O—Economists and Business Analysts:
1. Provide basic data for economic
studies of conditions.
P—To National Government in time of war
or financial stress.
Some Conclusions
It is probable that only a relatively small
percentage of the public fully realizes the
volume of information relating to agricul
ture that is being compiled annually, the
accessibility of the information, the appli
cation being made of it to the great prob
lems of the country, and the further fact
that the Crop Reporting Service of the
United States is more thorough and com
plete in its work than that of any other
country. The International Institute of
Agriculture at Rome, which is the clearing
house for the agricultural statistics of all
countries, has offered this tribute to the
efficiency of the United States Crop Re
porting Service.
Its extremely low costs are due to the
fact that the reports are supplied by the
leading citizens of each community gra
tuitously. It is one of the largest coopera
tive organization, in this respect, in the
country. It is the clearing house for the
statistical information contributed by those
interested in agriculture, and it is intended
to benefit all who study and utilize the ma
terial thus made available. Constructive
criticisms are helpful and are welcomed, in
order that they may be utilized in improv
ing the service and keeping it abreast of the
times. Destructive criticisms are largely
the result of error in interpreting the data,
misunderstandings, or absolute ignorance of
the facts.
That the service really accofiplishes its
purpose and is contributing materially to
the welfare of those engaged in agricultur
al pursuits, is amply attested by the large
number of letters received annually, setting
forth the individual advantages to the writ
ers. The demand for additional informa
tion and reports is increasing continually,
and exceeds the capacity of the Division of
Crop and Livestock Estimates to supply
the same under the present appropriations.
The crop and livestock statistical work has
been trebled during the last decade.
Tick Eradication Is
Back Os Dairy Change
By PROF. J. WILLIAM FIROR
Head Division of Agricultural Economics
and Marketing, Georgia State College
of Agriculture
The writer has been in agricultural work
in the southeast since 1911. During these
seventeen years certain fundamentally
economic changes have taken place in this
section in the production of dairy products.
First and most important has been the
elimination of the Texas fever tick from
most of the territory. It was practically
impossible improve the native cattle as
long as the fever carrying tick lurked in
the fields and woods. Furthermore, it was
costly to feed native cattle infested with
ticks even though the native stock had
developed an immunity to the fever.
Second, the application of scientific
breeding and feeding practices which have
come to the dairy industry throughout the
entire world enables the southern farmers
along with the dairymen of other states
and countries to get a larger unit yield
from less cows and less feed per unit. Dur
ing recent years advantage is being taken
of this change in the situation.
The third principal change has to do with
the old law of alternate crops. This old
economic law may be stated illustratively
as follows: As long as cotton yields could
be forecast by the individual farmer for
his own farm with a reasonable degree of
accuracy and as long as the labor supply
for meeting the exacting hand labor re
quirements of cotton was abundant and
used to a low cost standard of living, so
long southern farms had no economic incen
tive to develop other farm enterprises.
Since the coming of the boll weevil no man
can expect to forecast the cotton outturn
for his own farm with any reasonable de
gree of accuracy. After the passing of
the immigration laws, the industrial and
commercial center* drew heavily on the
surplus supply of labor of the South. Con
sequently, agricultural leaders are direct
ing their attention to the encouragement
of farm dairying. It is very likely to de
velop, at least, to a degree where the local
needs for fluid milk and butter will be
taken care of.
IMPORTS SPEEDED UF
DUE TO DUTY INCREASE
(Continued from Page 1.)
ally large as 290,000 bags of peas were im
ported during the same period in compari
son with only 94,000 last year.
Dairy products have also been rushed for
ward to avoid the increase in duty. Im
ports of butter during April amounted to
640,000 pounds, while another 100,000
pounds arrived early in May, mostly from
Denmark. This butter is used by a special
trade which will pay the price regardless
of duty but importers took advantage of a«t
low market abroad to lay in a large supply
in case the tariff on butter was raised twp
cents per pound.
Imported cheese, which is the most im
portant of the imported dairy products,
has been coming in larger volume during
the past few weeks and cargoes from Eu
ropean cheese exporting countries are heavy
at the present time.
Holland whole milk powder, which is used
largely in the confectionery tjade, has been
arriving in liberal quantities during the
past few weeks but importing is expected
to be about finished by the middle of May.
Argentine casein imports have been ac
celerated and almost every steamer from,
Buenos Aires during the past few weeks
have had several thousand bags of casein
for the American market.
Aside from the highly perishable pro
ducts a considerable portion of the imports
are being stored for future use. Most of the
trade anticipate that as soon as the higher
tariff goes into ecect prices will be automa
tically raised in the domestic market and
expect, therefore, that there will be a good
profit in importing and storing.
While the higher tariff will undoubtedly
curtail exports via New York it is not at
all certain that it will completely eliminate
them. Importers of beans, lemons, Swiss
cheese and potatoes do not expect that it
will cause any great upset in their business.
CANE MOLASSES
Tn feeding trials with dairy cows on ad
vanced registry test at the Beltsville (Md.)
Experiment Farm of the Bureau of Dairy
Industry, cane molasses fed at the rate
1.1 pound per cow per day to replace the
same quantity of hominy feed in the ration
proved slightly less valuable, pound for
pound, for milk production than the latter
feed. It was found also to be uneconom
ical for supplementing rations already sat
isfactory from the standpoint of feeds and
feed nutrients. However, cane molasses
has some value as an appetizer for very,
high producing cows on test arid for mixing
with unpalatable concentrates and rough
ages to obtain a greater consumption of
these feeds.
Georgia melon growers will not be affect
ed by the proposed changes in shipping
rates this year even if they are granted,
according to James A. Perry, chairman of
the Public Service commission, who receive
ed information to that effect from the
Interstate Commerce Commission,