No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 19 



plow a straight furrow in which the corn may be dropped by hand, 

 than is needed to drive a spilie in a railroad tie or pull a rod of iron 

 through the rolls. For this reason, the class of foreigners, usually 

 employed as laborers, will not meet the pressing need. 



In some sections of the country, the experiment was tried, but 

 with rare exceptions, none but immigrants from Northwestern Eu- 

 rope where farming is intelligently practiced, were able to render 

 satisfactory service. And, unfortunately for Pennsylvania, such im- 

 migrants all come to America with their destination fixed for some 

 point in the Middle West or Northwest of our own country. 



This very economic question is receiving the careful attention of 

 both National and State officials, and it is to be hoped that some 

 measure of relief may be worked out in the near future. 



FORESTRY AND AGRICULTURE. 



The farmers of Pennsylvania have a deep interest in the conser- 

 vation of the forests of the State. This interest was recognized by 

 the General Assembly when the act creating the Department of 

 Agriculture was passed, and as the result of this recognition, a Com- 

 missioner of Forestry was named as one of the officers of the De- 

 partment. 



With the increased public interest manifested in forestry, it was 

 found necessary to create a separate Department of Forestry, in or- 

 der to best promote such interest and carry forward the work so 

 important to all the people of the Commonwealth. The creation of 

 the new department, however, has not in the least degree dimin- 

 ished the interest that all farmers should take in the subject. The 

 effect that large bodies of standing timber has upon the climatic 

 conditions of the adjacent country, is too well understood to re- 

 quire any discussion. 



No public money was ever expended to better advantage than the 

 limited amount that has thus far been paid for the purchase of 

 mountain lands, not suited to agriculture, upon which the timber, 

 found at the time of purchase, is being scrupulously preserved and 

 cared for, and where young forest trees suited to the locality and 

 other conditions of these lands are being planted, so that it will be 

 a matter of only a comparatively few years until these lands will 

 again be covered with forest trees. 



Keference is made to this matter in this report for the purpose of 

 calling the attention of farmers to its importance, and in the hope 

 that wherever they may be able to do so, without decided pecuniary 

 loss, they may spare the forest trees growing upon their own lands 

 and if possible be induced to take an active interest in the general 

 observance of Arbor Day, the day set apart annually by the proc- 

 lamation of the Chief Executive of the Commonwealth for planting 

 trees. 



The custom of planting trees on Arbor Day should be established 

 and observed in every community and by every land owner who has 

 room upon which such trees can grow. With the present whole- 

 sale destruction of timber, not only in our own State, but through- 

 out the entire country, the question of forest conservation is 

 more important than the unthinking, whose attention is not called 

 to it, are likely to suppose. No greater evil can befall any people 



