No, 7. DEPARTMENT OP" AGRICULTURE. 129 



REJPORT OF THK ECONOMIC ^OOIyOGIST. 



Harrisburg, Pa., January 7, 1900. 



Hon. N. B. Critchfield, Secretary of Agriculture, Harrisburg, Pa. 



Sir: It is my doty and pleasure to hand you herewilli the 

 report of the work of the Bureau of Zoology for the year 1908. 

 For convenience of reference, I beg to submit this under the 

 following headings: 



1. Letters Written. 8. Orchard Inspection. 



2. 'Bulletins Prepared. 9. Demonstration Orchards. 



3. Collections Made. 10. Demonstration Trains. 



4. Breeding Cages of Insects Kept. 11. Our Experiments. 



5. Insect Life in Pennsylvania. 12. Our Investigations. 



6. Bird Life in Pennsylvania. 13. Instruction. 



7. Nursery Inspection. 14. Recommendations and Needs. 



15. Proposed Development of Service. 



1. LETTERS WRITTEN. 



A very important feature of this oflice is the correspondence, 

 because this keeps us in touch with intorer>ted and inquiring ])ersons 

 throughout this Commonwealth, and even in several other states 

 and countries. We make it a rule to answer every letter promptly, 

 accurately and fully, and this service alone is enough to require 

 most of the time of two or three persons. However, it is certainly 

 highly appreciated, and our most successful agriculturists and 

 orcbardists are glad to know that they can obtain upon return mail 

 an accurate reply to almost any inquiry that they may have to make 

 concerning insect pests or plant diseases. We have observed that 

 the most successful and progressive orchardists of this State are 

 those who have written to us most frequently, and had we the time 

 and space we would take great pleasure in citing them in detail, as 

 examples of persons who have saved their crops through the aid 

 that it has been our pleasure and duty to give. The letters written 

 and copied during the year 1908 through this office numbered 7,380. 

 This docs not include those that were of little importance ^nd were 

 not copied. 



2. BULLETINS. 



The Zoological Bulletin of the Bureau of Zoology has been 

 ])reparod and issued monthly during the year. These included the 

 following subjects: For January, The San Jose Scale, Orchard 

 D('mo:!strations, Nursery Inspj'ction and Tree Dealers; for Feb- 

 ruary, Bird Preservation and the Report of the Ornithologist; for 

 March, Spraying and Report of Entomologist; for A])ril, Descrip- 

 (ions of Insects and Their Work. Insecticides and Index to the total 

 Annual Bulletin; for May, Spraying and Household Fumigation; 

 for June, Addresses by the State Zoologist at the State Horticul- 

 tural Meeting, and Paris Green Inspection; for July, Potato Beetle 

 Outbreak, Treatment of Declining Trees, and Correspondence; for 

 August and September, First Report of the State Zoologist on 



9—7—1908. 



