No. 5. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 125 



REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF STATISTICS 



Harrisburg, Pa., January 1, 1915. 



Hon. N. B. Critclifleld, Secretary of Agriculture: 



Dear Sir: — I have the honor to submit herewith a report of the 

 Bureau of Statistics of the Department of Agriculture for the year 

 ending December 31, 1914. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 



It will be observed that this Bureau is now only a little more than 

 a year old. Much of our work during the year has been of a pre- 

 liminary character. The early part of the year was almost entirely 

 consumed in completing an enumeration of the farmers of the State. 

 While this caused work and consumed time, it is a valuable asset 

 and permits the Department to reach the farmers in every section 

 of the Slate 



Considering that the Bureau is yet in its infancy and our office 

 force small, we think we have made a good start, and with proper 

 effort, we hope to improve its efficiency and usefulness. 



ABANDONED AND UNOCCUPIED FARMS 



Owing to the fact that much has been said and written about 

 abandoned and unoccupied farms in Pennsylvania; and many in- 

 quiries coming to the Department for information concerning this 

 class of farms, we determined to prepare and publish a bulletin giv- 

 ing this information to the public, providing, the owners of such 

 farms desired to sell the same and would furnish us a descriptive 

 application. 



We had a notice to this effect inserted as a news item in nearly 

 all the newspapers of the State. We only received a little over a 

 hundred applications and these were of unoccupied farms. It is safe 

 to say that Pennsylvania has no abandoned farms. 



The bulletin was given to the public during the summer and we 

 are pleased to report that we have had many applications for copies 

 of it as well as notices of a number of sales. 



My thought is that we should follow the example of our neighbor- 

 ing states and publish a bulletin, during the coming year, not only 

 of unoccupied farms, but of all classes of cheap farms that are for 

 sale. We believe this will be time and money well spent and will 

 improve the efficiency of the farmers of the State, and result in the 

 occupation of many of these farms by persons who will turn their 

 energy toward helping to meet the demand of our people for food 

 supplies in a more substantial way than is being done by the present 

 occupants. 



