No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 269 



In 1905 Iowa produced 14,000,000 bushels of wheat, and you are 

 thinking of Iowa as a great wheat state — as one of the great gran- 

 aries of the Union, and it is; but while Iowa produced 14,000,000 

 bushels, Tennsylvania produced 28,000,000 — just twice the amount; 

 and while the gross value of the wheat per acre in Iowa was ten 

 dollars, in Pennsylvania it was fifteen dollars. There are eleven 

 states that produce more bushels of corn than Pennsylvania, Iowa, 

 for example, producing six times as much; but when it comes to 

 the average value per acre of corn in these eleven states, the highest 

 one is only sixteen dollars and a quarter, whereas in Pennsylvania 

 it is twenty-one dollars. Illinois raises three and a half million tons 

 of hay, Pennsylvania raises four and a half million tons. The value 

 in Illinois in 1905 was eight dollars per ton; in Pennsylvania it was 

 twelve dollars, hi 1900 the average price of all staple crops in 

 Pennsylvania was higher than that of the United States, with the 

 single exception of buckwheat. 



I do not make these comparisons for the purpose of making in- 

 vidious distinctions between states. I simi)ly call these things to 

 your attention for the purpose of impressing upon you the greatness 

 of the agriculture of this great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 

 and the wonderful opportunities that are within her borders. 



Now, what are the advantages in the State of Pennsylvania? 

 Briefly, the soil and the climate in Pennsylvania is adapted to the 

 growing of two things — trees and grass. These are the things for 

 which the State of Pennsylvania is especially adapted. If you do 

 not believe it, take a ride on the trolley cars, or on the steam cars, 

 and observe the scenery. There are 28,000,000 acres of land in Penn- 

 sylvania; 5,000,000 are'in crops other than grass; 23,000,000 acres in 

 the State of Pennsylvania are either in grass land, waste land, tim- 

 ber land or city property. 



What are the investments possible upon trees and grass, for- 

 estry, fruit-raising and animal and dairy husbandry. The forestry 

 problem is one of the greatest national problems of the United 

 States, and nowhere is it, perhaps, more acute, than in the State of 

 Pennsylvania. The price of lumber in the United States, due to the 

 increased consumption, is increasing 3 per cent, per annum. The 

 transmission of the flow of water is another one of the Forestry De- 

 partment problems. This is dependent upon the growth of trees, 

 and it becomes a problem of constantly increasing importance. It 

 has been already agreed that electric cars shall run from Niagara 

 Falls to Albany, across the State of New York, and the motive 

 power will be falling water. No coal, no oil, no gas, no wood, will 

 be burned up. Why do we today enjoy luxuries not given to other 

 generations? It is because we have harnessed coal and oil and gas 

 to do the work, and what animals, coal, oil and gas do, man does not 

 need to do. The high degree of prosperity of these states of Ohio, 

 Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois, is in a large part due to the fact 

 that we have large stores of fossilized carbon to draw on. Now, 

 these states, which have these large supplies of coal, are the states 

 which have wonderfully progressed and developed, and don't you 

 see now that we are getting to this new point of view, or harnessing 

 another natural agency — that of falling water for the new motive 

 power? And in these two states of Pennsylvania and New York, 

 where we have this flow of falling water, if this flow is maintained 



