lowers them in seasons of scant production; whether the annual carry-over influences the prices of the marketings of the production of the following year.

FRUITS AND NUTS.

In the interest of the citrus fruit growers, this division entered into a thorough examination of the surplus production of citrus fruits and their products in foreign countries, and of the destination of the exports. Upon the completion of this work, similar investigation was directed to other fruits and to nuts-an undertaking that is yet to be completed. Accessory to the foregoing was an inquiry concerning the freight rates for the transportation of citrus fruits in Europe. Connected with this undertaking is a compilation of the exports and imports of fruit and nuts in the foreign trade of the United States, with specification of countries to and from which consigned.

OTHER SUBJECTS OF INVESTIGATION.

Other subjects of work have been pursued by this division when time has permitted, and among these are a compilation of the prices of farm products as far back in time as sources of information can be found; the production, foreign trade, and consumption of farm products from the earliest available date to the present; the revision of the more important and permanent bulletins prepared in this division and their extension to present time. The resources of this division have been so largely employed during the year in official services for providing information to Senators and Representatives in Congress that other special investigations have been somewhat delayed.

WORK OF THE DIVISION OF RESEARCH AND REFERENCE.

The division heretofore named the Editorial Division and Library has, for formal reasons, been changed in designation to the Division of Research and Reference. Its functions, however, have remained practically the same, and consist of: (1) Reading and revising all manuscript prepared in the bureau for printing; (2) compiling, reducing to equivalents in United States units and coordinating, for publication in the Yearbook, the official statistics of foreign governments on the area and production of certain crops; (3) the preparation of reports, for publication in the Crop Reporter and in monthly circulars, respecting agricultural conditions in foreign countries, special attention being paid to the increase or decrease of areas under the principal crops, their condition of growth and healthfulness at regular intervals, yields when harvested, foreign trade, etc.; (4) the assembling of statistical and other data and the composition of text for bulletins and circulars; (5) the compilation of statistics from records of the Treasury Department relative to the domestic production of tobacco and the consumption of hops by domestic brewers; (6) the preparation of answers to requests received by the bureau from other departments, other bureaus of the department, statesmen, economists, statisticians, educators, commercial exchanges, and business men, for statistics relating to agricultural, commercial, economic, and other subjects; (7) translations from foreign languages for the use

of the bureau, and, when requested, for other branches of the department; (8) the management and care of the bureau's statistical library, including the maintenance of a card catalogue of the agricultural statistics contained therein; (9) stenography and typewriting for the bureau and occasionally for other bureaus of the department. The manuscript of 9 bulletins, 2 circulars, and 12 monthly editions of the Crop Reporter have been reviewed, either wholly or in part, in the division during the year. Of the bulletins, 6 were prepared in other branches of the bureau; the data for 3 bulletins and 2 circulars were assembled and the writing thereof done in this division. The present status of this feature of the division's work is that 7 bulletins are in press and 2 in process of review; the 2 circulars have been published.

Of the bulletins prepared in the division during the year, one, entitled "Russian Cereal Crops, area and production by governments and provinces," is in press; two, entitled "The World Production, Trade, and Consumption of Coffee," and "The World Production, Distribution, and Trade in Coconuts," are in process of review, the work having been delayed by a lack of sufficient assistance.

The remaining work of the division has varied little from the usual routine; the usual statistical tables have been compiled for publication in the Yearbook, showing, by countries, the reported world area and production of corn, wheat, oats, barley, rye, and flaxseed, and the production of coffee; by courtesy of the Office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue comprehensive statements have been tabulated relative to the sales of tobacco by domestic growers and the consumption of hops by domestic brewers, the former for use in the bureau in connection with its estimates on tobacco production, and the latter for publication in the Crop Reporter; among the most important functions of the division has been extensive research into foreign and domestic official and unofficial publications for diverse statistical data relative to areas, yields, commerce, prices, etc., of agricultural products in the United States and foreign countries, this information being for the most part required in preparing answers to the voluminous requests made upon this bureau by legislators, professional and business men for data of this character.

Constant improvement is being made in the management of the library. The actual number of bound and unbound volumes contained therein June, 1911, was 8,034, and pamphlets, 1,283. The number of daily domestic and foreign publications received is 43, monthly 70, weekly 78, and quarterly 23.

FARM VALUES AND PURCHASING POWER OF FARM PRODUCTS.

In my report of 1910 I showed that the value of 1 acre of the farmer's crops in 1909 was 72.7 per cent more than in 1899; that the cost of articles purchased by farmers had increased about 12.1 per cent; and, consequently, the purchasing power of the produce of 1 acre in 1909 was about 54 per cent greater than the purchasing power of the produce of 1 acre in 1899.

This statement is in harmony with reports recently issued by the census relating to farm values; according to census reports land values have increased 109 per cent from 1900 to 1910, as is shown in the comparative table on page 15.

The census of 1910 was taken at a time when farmers were in the zenith of their prosperity. For several years preceding crops were good and sold well. This is shown in the following table, which gives the average value per acre yearly since 1866 of 10 crops combined

Chart showing value of the produce of 1 acre (wheat, corn, oats, barley, rye, buckwheat, potatoes, tobacco, hay, and cotton) combined, for 95 per cent of area of full crops.

(wheat, corn, oats, barley, rye, buckwheat, potatoes, hay, cotton, tobacco); they include about 95 per cent of the total crop area of the United States, and closely approximate the average value of all crops.

The above table shows that from the year of greatest depression, 1896, to 1909, there was a practically constant yearly increase in value of the output of an acre of produce, the total increased from $7.94 to $16.42, being nearly 107 per cent. In 1910 there was the first reduction from the preceding year since 1898-a reduction from $16.42 per acre to $15.49, equivalent to 5.7 per cent; however, values per acre in 1910 were 69.7 per cent higher than in the census year of 1899. The following table shows acreage, yield, and value of specified crops in 1910, 1909, and 1899:

Acreage, yield, and value of specified crops in 1910, 1909, and 1899.

The statistics given above show that the value of 1 acre of the farmer's crops in 1910 was about 5.8 per cent less than in 1909, but 62.7 per cent more than in 1899.

An extensive inquiry has been made by the Bureau of Statistics among retail dealers doing business with farmers relating to prices paid by farmers for articles usually purchased by them. From this inquiry it appears that most articles purchased by farmers cost more in 1910 than in 1909, the average increase being about 1.5 per cent. Therefore the purchasing power of produce of 1 acre in 1910 was about 7.3 per cent less than in 1909, but still about 44.1 per cent more than in 1899. The purchasing power of an acre of corn in 1910 was about 13.3 per cent less than in 1909 and 39.2 per cent more

than in 1899; the purchasing power of an acre of wheat in 1910 was about 20.2 per cent less than in 1909 and 53.2 more than in 1899; and the purchasing power of an acre of cotton in 1910 about 9.5 per cent more than in 1909 and 44.1 per cent more than in 1899. Detailed statistics follow:

Comparative prices of articles purchased by farmers in 1910, 1909, and 1899.