204 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Chaiimau of the Committee of Aj^iiculture. He is now serving his 

 third term as Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, and Director of 

 Farmers' Institutes. In this position he has given his best ser- 

 vices to the worl^, and under his direction, the institutes have 

 become very efficient and Tennsyivania owes to him a great deal 

 for its high position along this line. With him is a body of teach- 

 ers and instructors that are good, if not the best of their kind that 

 any state has in its employ. It is a long list and to mention 

 them would take a great deal of time, and if I would mention 

 Bob Seeds' name and omit Joel Herr, Joel would be be cross, and 

 if I would mention Prof. M»enges' name and omit Mr. Philips, Mr, 

 Philips would be cross, and so it would be all through the list. 

 In their respective places, they have all rendered valuable service. 

 Those of you who are present will become acquainted with these 

 ladies and gentlemen, and after you have listened to their ad- 

 dresses, you then can form a better opinion of their worth and effi- 

 ciency, than I can give you in this short talk this evening. 



The question may come to your minds, Why do we give instruc- 

 tions in agriculture? and this is an important question and one 

 that should be answered. Our forefathers farmed successfully 

 forty or fifty years ago without this vast corps of men traveling up 

 and down our State. They did not have experiment stations or 

 State Colleges or Departments of Agriculture, giving out informa- 

 tion. They plowed, sowed, reaped and slept; but today conditions 

 have changed, and these conditions have to be met. Twenty years 

 ago, ten years ago, we did not liave what was known as scientific 

 agriculture or book farming, as some of our farmers call it. Our 

 forefathers would say .that it was theory, but practice is what made 

 the farmer. But today we have to have theory and practice com- 

 bined and science and practice combined, and science is nothing 

 more or less than the knowledge of agriculture. We have enemies 

 to combat today that were not known thirty or forty years ago 

 We have all kinds of insect enemies that spring up and injure the 

 vegetation, and follow the crops until they are garnered. 



The State of Pennsylvania has a Division in the Department of 

 Agriculture, known as Economic Zoology. You might ask what 

 Economic Zoology is. I would answer you in the language of the 

 distinguished Governor, my friend, Daniel H. Hastings, who signed 

 the law. He said he knew what it was to be economic, but he 

 could not understand this word Zoology. It is one that covers a 

 vast field, and to fully explain it, it would take Prof. Hunt or some 

 other of our scientists all evening to tell you the full meaning of 

 the word. This Division is headed by one of the greatest bug 

 catchers known in the United States, and his warfare is waged all 

 through our commonwealth with great success, and we wish him 

 God speed in his undertaking, and hope that he may live long 

 enough to see the last enemy vanquished from the field. 



The question with the farm is, How can I grow better crops? 

 How can I till my soil with less labor? These are the two most 

 important questions that confront him, and he has to call on the 

 scientist to give him instruction. That is one of the advantages 

 of the experiment stations, which have been located throughout 

 the different states by the National Government. We have one 



