No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 157 



Our most careful and earnest investigations in regard to the San Jos$ Scale 

 have proven more conclusively tlian ever before that we were right in advo- 

 cating the Lime-sulfur Wash as the best possible remedy to be used, as well 

 as the cheapest that can be obtained. A significant development during the 

 year has been the commercial aspect of this material, and the fact that sev- 

 eral firms are now making it and placing it on the market. We predict that 

 the time will come when the oils, as spray liquids for insects, will be reduced 

 to a decidedly secondary place, and orchardists will agree upon the home- 

 made or commercial Lime-sulfur Wash, not only as an insecticide but also as 

 a fungicide. 



SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS. 



Among the important special investigations which we are now planning to 

 undertake are the experiments in conjunction with the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture on the enemies of the grape and peach. These are to be 

 undertaken at North East, in Erie county, Pennsylvania, where the United 

 States Department last year conducted an experimental and demonstration 

 vineyard and orchard and also maintained a laboratory for scientific studies. 

 We have arranged to station a man there during the coming year to aid in the 

 solution of some problems of the growers of grape, peach and other fruits in 

 this State. 



PUBLICATIONS. 



Our publications have consisted of twelve regular numbers of the Monthly 

 Bulletin of the Division of Zoology, and a regular Annual Report. The Quar- 

 terly Bulletin was dropped over a year ago, although we yet have many re- 

 quests for it. Our mailing list has grown since June 1st at the rate of fourteen 

 thousand per year. Early in the year we revised the mailing list in order to 

 reduce it, and found it possible to throw out about four thousand names of 

 persons who did not return their special applications to be kept on the list. 

 (Since then it has again grown from twenty-six thousand to forty thousand, 

 which it contains at present.) The Bulletins were sent only to persons who 

 requested them, and there are unmistakable evidences that this is the most 

 important means of aiding the public in preserving valuable property in this 

 State from destruction by insects and plant diseases. These Bulletins are 

 used not only by farmers and fruit growers, but by agricultural and horticul- 

 tural organizations, nature study clubs, and teachers in schools. In many 

 cases they have been requested as aids in school work, and appear to have a 

 distinct field of usefulness and a practical and educational value. We have 

 taken great pains to have them accurate and reliable in every regard, and 

 while the burden of their preparation has been great, indeed, we have the 

 conviction that the public appreciates what we have accomplished for them. 



The chief subjects of the Bulletins (Volume V) issued last year were as 

 follows: 



Number 1, May, Formulae and Insect Pests. 



Number 2, June, Formulee and Insect Pests — Concluded; Potato Blight. 



Number 3, July, Homoptera: The Study of Economic and Systematic Ento- 

 mology. 



Number 4, August, Nursery and Orchard Inspection; Directions In Economic 



Entomology. 



Number 5, September, How to Make Insect Collections. 



Number 6, October, The San Jose Scale. 



Number 7, November, Scale Insects: Part IV of "A General Systematic 

 Study of Insects." 



Number 8, December, The Lizards of Pennsylvania. 



Number 9, January, The San Jose Scale: Orchard Demonstrations; Nursery 

 Inspection and Tree Dealers. 



Number 10, February, Bird Preservation. 



Number 11, March, Spraying; Report of Entomologist. 



Number 12, April, Insects and Their Work; Insecticides; Index to Volume V. 



Our May and June numbers give detailed formulae for insect pests and have 

 been requested to such an extent that the edition of forty thousand was prac- 

 tically exhausted at once. The September number on Methods of Making an 

 Insect Collection and Preserving and Sending Insects was found so useful to 

 teachers of schools that the entire edition was exhausted at once. The call 

 for the October number on the San Jose Scale was so great that the supply 

 was soon exhausted and it was found necessary to repeat the chief features 

 of the directions in the January and March Bulletins. The July and November 

 numbers were the third and fourth, respectively, in our series on "The Gen- 

 eral Systematic Study of the Insects of Pennsylvania," considered in the order 

 of their systematic classification, with special reference to food, economic 

 features and remedies. These are to be continued until all Orders of insects 

 are discussed. We have had many calls for these from other states and coun- 



