174 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



EEPORT OF THE ECONOMIC ZOOLOGIST. 



Hon. Charles E. Pattoii, Secretary of Agriculture, Harrisburg, Pa. 



Dear Sir: I have the honor to submit the report of the Economic 

 Zoologist for the year 1915. 



The services of the Bureau of Zoology of the Department of Agri- 

 culture have been rendered through the two branches of (A) Office 

 Work and (B) Field Work. I have reason to believe that they have 

 given highly satisfactory results to all persons concerned and have 

 stimulated tlie interest in pest suppression according to most modern 

 methods, curtailing the loss of millions of dollars worth of agricul- 

 tural property in this State, and especially resulting in better or- 

 chard methods which have given fruits of very high quality. A 

 detailed report of this Bureau should, therefore, be given under the 

 following respective heads: 



(A) OFFICE WOEK 



The office work was continued during the year by the usual force 

 of employes. Mr. John K. Musgrave, of Pittsburgh, resigned as 

 Assistant Economic Zoologist in order to devote his attention to 

 advanced professional studies, and Mr. P. T. Barnes, of Harrisburg, 

 was appointed Acting Assistant. Mr. Enos B. Engie, of Chambers- 

 burg, continued as Chief oS^ursery Inspector, with a desk in this of- 

 fice, and other office emploj-es are as follows: 



Miss Katharyn P. First, of Harrisburg, Chief Stenographer; 



Miss Helen M. Nesbit, of Lewisburg, Stenographer and Account- 

 ant. 



Miss Mary E. Evans, of Harrisburg, Stenographer; 



Miss Annie L. Boyer, of Harrisburg, Clerk in Charge of Files and 

 Reports ; 



Prof. V. A. E. Daecke, of Harrisburg, Clerk in Charge of Collec- 

 tion and Scientific Identification of Insects; 



Mr. Harry B. Kirk, of Harrisburg, Assistant Clerk in Charge of 

 Collections, Investigations and Inspections, and in Charge of Pho- 

 tography ; 



Mr. Albert Sawyer, of Harrisburg, Assistiint, aiding in the work 

 of Mr. Kirk and Prof. Daecke; 



Mr. J. C. Simmons, of New Cumberland, Messenger. 



(1) CORRESPONDENCE 



The chief feature of the office work has been the correspondence 

 as shown by the fact that during the year 7,377 letters were written 

 in this office, which were of sufficient importance to justify copies 

 being retained, besides tens of thousands of circulars and mimeo- 

 graphed letters. Most of these were personal letters in response to 

 letters of inquiry which are kept on file in such systematic manner 

 as to be found for immediate reference. The range of subjects of 

 this correspondence is remarkable, as it includes almost all topics 

 to which the mind of man can turn; but our method is to refer to 

 specialists all subjects not within our professional scope. We make 

 a special effort to help inquirers find the answer to their questions 

 when not wathin the field of our own profession, and this service 

 seems to be particularly valued by our citizens. 



All letters are indexed with a double index ; one giving the name 



