the Agricultural Schedule) filled up voluntarily by the occupiers
of all holdings over one acre.* This method of obtaining direct
returns in writing from the occupier is probably the most accurate
and reliable method of obtaining information of this type—
provided the occupier is willing to supply the information and to
take a little trouble in doing so. No one is in a better position
than the actual occupier to state the area under the different
crops growing on the farm or the number of live stock, and he
has no obvious reason for giving erroneous information. In
general, the particulars are supplied very willingly, the number
of actual refusals being relatively small. The results, moreover,
are not materially affected by these refusals, as in most cases
it is possible to get approximate information by local enquiry.
Small errors must naturally arise from mistakes in measurement
or other incorrect statements, but with the large number of
returns these inaccuracies should tend to balance one another.
The main difficulty in connection with the collection of these
annual statistics lies in ensuring that all holdings are enumerated.
The frequent changes in occupation, especially in recent years,
the combination or division of farms, and the withdrawal of
land for building or other purposes make the task of seeing that
all the agricultural land in the country is accounted for a very
serious one. A proportion of holdings do, in fact, escape enumera-
tion, especially in the case of the smaller occupations under five
acres, though the total area omitted from the returns in this way
is a very small proportion of the agricultural area of the country.
An essential feature of the Agricultural Schedule is that the
information asked for is such as the occupier is well able to
supply ; thus, the questions relate only to the acreage under the
various crops on the farm, the number of live stock of different
ages, the labour employed, or other facts which the occupier
either knows or can easily find out. The questions, moreover,
relate solely to the actual position on the farm at a given date,
viz., June 4th each year.
Estimates of production.—Annual estimates of the production
of the principal crops were first collected in 1884. There are
two methods by which knowledge of the total production of any
particular crop can be obtained. Application can be made to
the grower or an estimate can be made by a competent observer.
A variation of this is the sampling method by which the production
of numerous sample plots is ascertained each year and the
production of the country is calculated on the basis of the results
obtained from these sample plots. At first sight it would seem
* The Agricultural Returns Act, 1925, made these returns compulsory
but did not come into force until 1926. The annual returns were, however,
compulsory under the Corn Production Act, 1917, from the year 1918
until the Act was repealed in 1921.
The information obtained in connection with the Census of Production
has been obtained voluntarily on each occasion, as agriculture has not
been prescribed as a trade under the Census of Production Act. 1906.