8 ANNUAL IIKPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



lu'ccssaril.y be sohkw Imi in advance (»f the class i( is inlciidcd to 

 lu'iiefit, widioiii wliich il could not Iw a leader of tliought, but its 

 jMlvancomont will be largely regulated b,v the progress that is being 

 made by the jieitple it represents and in whose interest it is pub- 

 lished, il gives me great ])leasnr(» to speak of th(^ superiority of 

 the agi-icultural papers published in i'ennsylvania, and, believing 

 the proposition just stated to be correct, the pleasure is greatly 

 enhanced by ihe thought that this excellence is at least partially 

 One to a call that comes as the result of better training and better 

 conditions that are to be found u\)on the farms and in Ihe farm 

 homes of the State. 



WORK OF THE DEPARTMENT. 



The Department of Agriculture has a large tield to cover and its 

 olTJcers and agents have been kept busy during the year with the 

 many duties with which it is entrusted. The regular routine work 

 carried on under the special direction of the Secretary, consisling 

 of Special Examinations, Nursery Inspection, Inspection and Analy- 

 sis of Fertilizers, Concentrated Feeding Stutts, etc., together with 

 the publication of bulletins of information, has gone forward in 

 regular order during the year, each item recei\ing attention at its 

 ov;n apjaopriate time. 



The work of collecting samples of various kinds of Concentrat<'d 

 Commercial Feeding Stutl's found upon the market for analysis was 

 ])laced in tlu' hands of Mr. Fnos J>. ICngle. who is one of the regularly 

 emi)loyed agents of the Department. As Mr. Engle is a i)ractical 

 pomologist, part of his time is devoted to nursery inspection, a 

 work which has been assigned to the Division of Economic Zoology. 

 The season during which the inspection of nurseries must be made 

 in order to be etfectual being too short to enable one man to cover 

 the entire State within the period, the services of Professors Geo. 

 C. Bntz and W. A. Muckhont, both of whom are connected with the 

 I'ennsylvania State College, were secured and they were assigned 

 to the Division of Economic Zoology to assist in this special work. 



The period during which samples of Commercial Fertilizers may 

 be secured is necessarily limited to the short time immediately pre- 

 ceding the spring and fall seeding, at which time they may be found 

 in the warerooms of selling agents and upon I lie farms where they 

 are to be used. To accomplish this work in I lie short time that 

 could be given to il. Hie Stale was ilixided iulo iwehe sections and 

 an agent was eni|)lo\((I for each seciiou. I'.y this means the entire 

 State was gone over in aboul one nioiilli, and six hundred more 

 samples wer<' taken than were ever before taken in a single year. 



The acts 111 .\ssembly of IS7!» and I'.Mll regulating t he uianufacture 

 and sale of commercial fertilizers has jiroven of inestimable value 



