10 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



amount. The large scale upou which market gardening is carried 

 on in this State is owing to the splendid home market we have for 

 everything the truck grower produces. 



Much as we are doing in this line, there are still reasons why 

 this industry should be encouraged and why more should be done. 

 With the large acreage of land we have that is peculiarly adapted 

 to truck farming and the transportation facilities we possess, there 

 is no reason why we should be dependent upon other states for veg- 

 etable products other than such as are received from the South in 

 the early spring, before our own products are ready for the market. 

 It is nevertheless true that hundreds of carloads are shipped into 

 Pennsylvania every year from New Jersey, Ohio and other bordering 

 states. 



The Department of Agriculture has at various times issued 

 special bulletins relating to Market Gardening and Truck Farming, 

 which have proved quite helpful to those engaged in the business, 

 and which to our certain knowledge have been instrumental in 

 turning the attention of others to this profitable branch of farm in- 

 dustry. 



The demand for such products is still on the increase, and with 

 the undeniable evidence before us that truck farming properly con- 

 ducted, pays several fold more than raising the ordinary farm crops, 

 the wonder is, that there should not be more interest taken in scien- 

 tific market gardening. 



Our State College has recognized the importance of this industry 

 and "has provided a special course of training for young men who 

 expect to engage in it. A large part of the instruction is given 

 in the field where the work is done and where every scientific prin- 

 ciple involved can be more fully and satisfactorily explained than 

 is possible in the class room. 



POULTRY. 



Pennsylvania holds a high rank among the leading states in the 

 production of eggs and poultry. 



The publications issued by the National and State Departments 

 of Agriculture, relating to poultry husbandry, are in great demand. 

 The constant presence of the lead pencil and vest pocket note book 

 that every institute lecturer has for years been insisting that the 

 farmer must always have with him, has, in recent years, induced 

 many farmers and farmers' wives to keep records of what it costs 

 to keep their flocks, and the returns they are receiving, and results 

 have proved so encouraging as to induce many of them to prepare 

 for keeping larger flocks and to enter upon poultry culture on a much 

 larger scale than had been customary. 



It has been but a few years since the flocks of poultry on the 

 average farm were quite small, and farmers had doubts as to wheth- 

 er there was any profit in what were kept. At the present time it 

 is not uncommon to find farms on which several hundred fowls of 

 the different varieties are kept and in every instance where they 

 are given proper attention and care, they are found to be a profita- 

 ble source of income. 



In the poultry business as in other branches of farming, there are 

 those who are after the largest profits which they manage to secure 

 by selling pure bred stock and eggs, but the majority depend en- 

 tirely upon the ordinary poultry and egg market which is usually 

 found quite satisfactory. 



