AGRICULTURE, CENSUS OF. The term "census" originally was restricted to a periodical enumeration of the popu lation of a country by its Government, but its significance has widened. It is now applied to any systematic statistical enquiry, on a wide scale, into the economic or sociological conditions of the population or a section of it. Special enquiries in connection with agriculture have been made either annually or at less fre quent intervals in many countries for a considerable period (see AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS), but they were limited in scope. Usually they were confined to statistics of the number of farms or holdings, the acreage and yield of crops and the number of live stock. An agricultural census is more comprehensive. Its object is to obtain a complete return of the production from agricul tural land, and of the power—human, animal or mechanical— employed in the production.