No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 489 



lating our useful plants to their most vigorous growth. Specifics 

 have small place in weed killing. 



From time to time I get specimens of grass containing ergot or 

 spurred rye. So characteristic and so plain are such diseased grains 

 that it seems strange so few farmers or farmers' boys recognize them 

 on sight, the more so since ergotted grains are such insidious 

 poisons and in all probability are the frequent causes of the sickness 

 of animals and sometimes of their death. It is true that well con- 

 ditioned animals with a liberal food supply are generally discrimi- 

 nating enough to reject ergot, but it must sometimes happen that an 

 over hungry animal or a weaker animal crowded by its fellows may 

 snatch, hastily masticate and swallow the ergotted material which, 

 if at ease and leisure, it would reject. 



In the last few j^ears I have had several cases of ergotism re- 

 ported to me, and your veterinarian has likewise recorded a number 

 of very pronounced examples. I shall not take your time to rehearse 

 them, but should any of you be directly interested you will find 

 these cases in former volumes of your proceedings ; my own in Eeport 

 of Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, 1906, page 340, and that 

 of Dr. Pearson in the Eeport for 1902, Part 1, page 161. 



Few instances could more conclusively show the value of some 

 practical knowledge of botany and zoology. We are making some 

 progress in getting such facts as these before the people, and in 

 getting the people stirred up to pry into such matters for them- 

 selves. But the losses to farmers due to ignorance of natural 

 phenomena and natural principles is still appalling. 



REPORT OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGIST 



By DR. ISAAC A. HARVEY, Lock Haven, Pa. 



Speaking in a general sense, perhaps no other branch of natural 

 science is so much neglected, and hence so vaguely comprehended, as 

 geology. This fact may be due, in a great measure, to the broad 

 range of its meaning and the wideness of its scope, by association 

 with the other sciences, as well as the difficulty of attaining an intelli- 

 gent knowledge of its details, and from the fact that, commonly, we 

 are more interested or anxious to learn or know more al)out those 

 certain branches of knowledge or science that can be more readily 

 learned or utilized and afford promise of more immediate pecuniary 

 profit or advantage. 



Will it pay ? is a query that seems to dominate the average Ameri- 

 can mind and explains much of the indifference with which we regard 

 one science and the zeal or earnestness with which we pursue or 

 study another. Tlencc, when IIm^ question of the mineral resources 

 of a given locality or district arises, in very many instances, the resi- 

 dents and land owners are not prepared or much concerned to in- 

 vestigate, estimate or even conjecture what minerals of commercial 

 or economic value may be obtained in the rock strata as they may 



