No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 97 



REPORT OF THE ECO.VOMIC ZOOLOGIST. 



Harrisburg, Pa., March 17, 1905. 

 Hon. N. B. Critchfield, Secretai'y of Agriculture, Jlarriiiburg , Pa : 



Sir: I have the honor to submit the following as my second annual 

 report in the Division of Zoology of the Department of Agriculture, 

 this being for the year 1904. 



I beg to submit this report under the following heads, in accord- 

 ance with the plan indicated in our first Zoological Monthly Bulletin, 

 May 1, 1903 : 



1. Examining specimens and answering questions sent us. 



2. Personal work, investigations and experimentations. 

 .3. Publications. 



4. Lectures. 



5. Inspections of nurseries and private premises. 



6. Inspection of imported plants, seeds and fruits. 



7. Making collections. 



8. Insect record in Pennsylvania. 



9. The needs of the Division. 



1.— EXAMINING SPECIMENS AND ANSWERING QUESTIONS SENT US. 



The most important work of this Division has been in coming; 

 directly into contact with individual citizens who need help with the 

 kind of services that v>e are able to render. Our correspondence has 

 been tremendous, and has steadily increased. Our letters that were 

 of sufficient importance to justify their preservation as copies, have 

 numbered over four thousand for the year, besides the hundreds 

 that were not copied. These have been upon nearly all subjects 

 that one could imagine, but we have made an effort to place in the 

 hands of specialists those referring to special topics, and have tried 

 to develop the features of entomology, general zoology, plant dis- 

 eases, insect remedies, bird preservation and crop protection. A 

 great deal of our correspondence has pertained to the economic feat- 

 ures and the natural history of mammals, birds and reptiles, while 

 the great bulk has been upon insects, particularly upon the very 

 important subject of scale insects. As a result of this kind of ser- 

 vice, thousands of j^ersons have written to us expressing high appre- 

 ciation of the aid rendered by this Division of the Department of 

 Agriculture. These letters have been spontaneous and of such cor- 

 dial and sustaining nature that we have preserved them and have 

 Ihem on file where th(\y may be inspected by any one interested. 

 To say the least, they are highly cherished, as it is a great support 

 to an official who is trying hard to do his duty to know that his 

 efforts are appreciated by the persons in behalf of whom he is labor- 

 ing earnestly. 



A practical result of our correspondence is shown in the great num- 

 ber of letters that we have received from persons who say that their 

 crops have been protected, which their enemies destroyed, or their 

 7—7—1904 



