No. 6. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 5 



"That the Secretary may at his discretion employ experts for 

 special exaniiDatious or investigations, the expenses of which shall 

 be paid by the State Treasurer in the same manner as like expenses 

 are provided by law, but not more than five thousand dollars shall be 

 so expended in any one year." 



To these duties thus prescribed, the Legislature has from time to 

 time, by direct enactment, amplified their scope and added new items 

 not originally included in the law. 



The Legislature, in creating the Department, realized that the 

 needs of agriculture are almost illimitable, that agricultural people 

 have to do with soils, with crops of every kind, with animals and 

 their products, with fertilizers, implements and machinery, conta- 

 gious diseases among animals, insects, beneficial and injurious, fun- 

 gous diseases among plants, forest growth and protection, the purity 

 of food, soil moisture, roads, schools, taxes, etc. 



Upon all of these subjects they need information, and it is made 

 the duty of the State Department of Agriculture to furnish this in- 

 formation, so far as the discoveries of science and experience have 

 made it possible. 



They realized that the crying need of agriculture is for accurate 

 information. Knowledge of the plants best adapted to the soil in 

 each locality; what new plants can be profitably introduced; how the 

 diseases that attack crops can best be controlled; how the insect 

 enemies of plants can be restrained or overcome; what fertilizers 

 can be used to best advantage in each locality; how tuberculosis, 

 anthrax, blaek-leg and other diseases among domestic animals can 

 be treated and prevented; what fruits are best to grow in the several 

 districts; how forests may be preserved; how moisture sulficient for 

 the growth of crops can be secured; the principles of taxation that 

 should be adopted; how better roads can be built; how rural schools 

 can be improved; how country children can be better educated; how 

 local agricultural organizations can be made most useful; what ad- 

 ditional legislation is needed for agriculture, and how it can be se- 

 cured. The duty, therefore, of this Department is not only to carry 

 into effect the laws committed to it for enforcement, but also to dis- 

 cover and disseminate truth in regard to all of the agricultural prob- 

 lems that arise. 



It has been the aim of this Department to endeavor to fulfill these 

 requirements, to discover the needs of agriculture and provide for 

 their supply, to keep in iouch with the best scientific and practical 

 people, with the view of securing their assistance in the work of ad- 

 vancing the interests of agriculture in the State. 



What has been done during the past year for the accomplishment 



