No. 6. DEPARTMI]NT OF AGRICULTURE. 13 



our inspectors. The maguitnde of this feature of the Department is 

 apparent when it is to be considered that there are in Pennsylvania, 

 251 nurseries. 



Your Excellency's attention is called to the detailed report on bee- 

 keeping, the first' full report on this most important industry ever 

 made through this Department. 



Besides the regular work of tlie Bureau, much activity was given 

 to the study of obnoxious animals, birds, rabbits and other animals 

 and the preservation of beneficial species. Special emphasis has been 

 placed on the construction of bird nesting boxes and the people of 

 the State, especially the schools, are becoming deeply interested 

 in procuring shelter and food for our birds. 



REPORT OF THE STATE VETERINARIAN AND SECRETARY OF THE 

 STATE LIVESTOCK SANITARY BOARD 



By virtue of his office, the State Veterinarian is the Secretary of 

 the ' State Livestock Sanitary Board whose reports for the years 

 1914 and 1915 are incorporated in this Annual Keport of the Depart- 

 ment. Owing to the extensive outbreak of foot-and-mouth-disease 

 in the fall of 1914, and in view of the immense work it entailed upon 

 the Board, for its suppression, it was deemed inadvisable to issue a 

 report for that year, hence the reports of the operations of the Board 

 for the two years are combined. 



There is a misconception abroad throughout the State as to the 

 ]»ur])oses and work of the State Livestock Sanitary Board; that its 

 work is or should be specifically directed to the protection of public 

 health, notwithstanding the stupendous expense such a course would 

 eutail, running into the millions. The primary and essential duties 

 of the State Livestock Sanitary Board, as expressed in the law 

 charged to the Board for enforcement, is to protect the health of 

 domestic animals and the conservation of the livestock industry. 



The work of the Board, as in other years, was carried on under 

 six divisions, the division of Meat Hygiene being the first to be 

 treated in the report. It is a matter of note that the Meat Hygiene 

 law of Pennsylvania, approved in 1907, was the first State Hygiene 

 law enacted in the Union, and to-day is the only State that has such 

 a law on its statute books. In this respect Pennsylvania has taken 

 high ground in protecting the people of the State from dishonest and 

 unscrupulous meat dealers in placing upon the market diseased and 

 unwholesome meats. The elimination of filthy and undesirable slaugh- 

 ter houses and meat markets comes within the regulations of the law. 

 It should be noted, in tlie onforrement of the provisions of the law. 

 that the agents of the Board are not expected to do police duty, to 

 act as detectives in their work; but are expected to act in the capacity 

 of advisors, to spread the gospel of sanitation and cleanliness and 

 to show the difference between diseased and unwholesome meat and 

 the sound and wholesome product. This course pursued by the agents 

 is salutary and proving effective in removing unsanitary conditions 



