No. fi. DEPARTMI':NT of AGRICUI/riTRK. n 



CORHESPONDENCE. 



The coi-respondcnci' of llic 1 )('])iiiinu'iil has j^rovvu Lo very larj^-e 

 proportions, a fact that 1 think sliows that farmers are apprecia- 

 linj; more and more the worlc that the State is doing, through the 

 Department, in tlieir behalf. Mneh of the corresjiondence goes 

 direct to the heads of the seveial Divisions, to which it properly 

 belongs. Requests for literature published by the Department are 

 answered by the clerks, and there is still left a large amount which 

 comes to the Secretary's desk, much of which has no very direct 

 relation to agriculture, but contains inquiries that are matters of 

 interest to farmers in other directions, and that, therefore, are 

 entitled to receive attention. 



AGRICULTITRAL ASSOCIATIONS. 



The work done during the year by the various agricultural asso- 

 ciations of the State has been very helpful. At the meetings of 

 these associations questions relating to the several farm industries 

 of the State are discussed by practical men. Many excellent papers 

 are read, upon topics interesting to farmers, wliereby the farm 

 literature of the State is greatly increased. On account of the 

 value of these papers and discussions to the agriculture of the State, 

 it is the policy of the Department to render these associations all 

 the assistance it is able to give, and appropriations have been 

 made during the year from the limited funds at the disposal of the 

 Secretary to aid in defraying the expense of such meetings and the 

 publication of their proceedings. The annual meetings of these as- 

 sociations are usually held in the first months of the year and the 

 reports made of the work done are in reality reports for the pre- 

 ceding year. It has been the custom of this Department to publish 

 such portions of the proceedings of these meetings as have been 

 heretofore published with its Annual Report, as a jiart of the 

 report for the year in which the meetings were held. This, it seems 

 to me, is not as it should be. For example: The last Annual INIeet- 

 ing of the Pennsylvania State Board of Agriculture was held on 

 the 2Tth and 28th days of January, 1904, but the reports of the 

 officers, consulting specialists and standing committees were made 

 for 1903 and related to work done during that year. It is evident, 

 therefore, that whatever report is published of that meeting should 

 be made a part of the report of the w^ork done in 1903. To with- 

 hold it for an entire year and then publish, would be to allow much 

 of the matter it contains, especially in the way of suggestions for 

 improvement, to lose its value. "With this view, such ])ortions of 

 the reports of these associations as it is tliought ]>roper to embody 

 in the report of this Department, are included in the present report. 



