No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 13 



TE)NTH ANNUAL REPORT OF FARMERS' INSTI- 

 TUTES FOR THE YEARS 1903-4. 



Harrisburg, Pa., February 1, 1905. 

 To the Honorable N. B. Critchfield, Secretary of Agriculture: 



Sir: I have the honor to present herewith the Tenth Annual 

 Report of the Director of Farmers' Institutes. 



Volumes might be written naming the advancement in agriculture 

 during the last decade resulting directly from the teachings and 

 object lessons developed by the farmers' institutes of Pennsylvania. 

 Through this medium, to a great extent, the farmer has learned many 

 things regarding the soil he cultivates, which, in former years, were 

 not even considered. He has learned to carefully handle his barn- 

 yard manure, so as to reduce the loss of ammonia by evaporation, 

 and leeching out of that valuable portion, potash, through badly 

 constructed stable floors and barnyards, thus materially adding to 

 the productive power of the soil by carefully saving this most valu- 

 able farm product and returning it to the soil, having preserved 

 therein all the original parts, viz: Nitrogen, potash and phosphoric 

 acid. 



In animal industry, he has learned the importance of thorough- 

 bred stock, so that today I cannot recall a single important herd 

 of dairy or stock cattle that has not placed at its head a thorough- 

 bred sire. The same is true in sheep husbandry and swine breeding, 

 for both stock and market purposes. The call for approved methods 

 in the management of poultry, for the production of eggs and early 

 chickens for market, in itself demands the employment of many 

 experts. The bee-keeping industry, which is so important to agri- 

 culture, especially to the growing of fruits and vegetables, is right- 

 fully demanding that lessons be given for the apiary, particularly 

 by experts acquainted with certain diseases which infest the bee, 

 the most deadly of which is foul brood. 



In horticultural lines, instruction has been given in the selection of 

 a location for an orchard, the preparation of the soil for plant- 

 ing, pruning, spraying and marketing of the fruit. Hundreds en- 

 gaged in this branch of agriculture have so profited by institute 

 instruction as to bring about results at once satisfactory and profit- 

 able. Among the more striking examples of reward for persevering 

 effort in spraying to destroy the San Jos6 Scale and fungi, I might 

 mention the names of Mr. J. H. Ledy, Marion, Franklin county, who 

 marketed the past year over |3,000 worth of peaches, and in apples, 

 plums and peaches, his net sale was over |5,000. Equally as good 

 report comes from Dr. J. H. Funk, of Boyertown, Berks county, who, 

 by adopting the most approved methods, was rewarded by an abund- 

 ant harvest of excellent fruit, while other orchards almost adjoin- 

 ing his, which were neglected, gave but little fruit and no profit. 

 In no other state do we find a greater variety of farm industries. 



