Xo. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 175 



of the writer and the other the subject or subjects. Although we 

 issue many publications, it becomes necessary to meet the needs of 

 individual" inquirers through a very specific and often voluminous 

 correspondence. It can be seen that the correspondence of this of- 

 fice must, according to its specific nature, be much more extensive 

 than general business correspondence. 



(2) FILING 



Systematic filing of letters, index cards, literature and reports of 

 inspectors demands considerable attention. It should be remem- 

 bered that the reports of the orchard inspectors, nursery inspectors, 

 and those of the apiary inspectors come to this office for the atten- 

 tion they should have. This necessitates extra correspondence in 

 sending out to owners of orchards or apiaries statements of pests 

 found, literature on methods of their suppression, and also the 

 proper filing of these reports in systematic manner. LikeAvise re- 

 ports of the work done in the demonstration orchards and super- 

 vision orchards are filed in order, and in addition to this service 

 record is kept of all expenses of all employes, and of all services 

 daily rendered by each person not engaged in the ofiice work. We 

 also receive all Bulletins published by the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, and by all the State Experiment Stations, and other 

 Departments of Agriculture, and indeed most such literature from 

 other countries. This must all be scanned in order to keep up with 

 the times in most modern methods of pest suppression, and must 

 also be filed and indexed for future reference. 



At this office we receive the Index Cards of the U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture, indexing all literature of the Federal Government 

 and of the various Experiment Stations. These likewise are filed, 

 and accessible to all interested persons, as it is very valuable and 

 important, being, we believe, the only file of such Index Cards be- 

 tween State College and Philadelphia. 



(3) COLLECTIONS 



This Bureau has one of the largest collection of insects, both bene- 

 ficial and injurious, that is found in Pennsylvania, and one of the 

 very best collections, in regard to carefulness of preparation and 

 full data, that is to be found anywhere in the world. Eminent au- 

 thorities have said they wished they could afford such system as we 

 started in this collection, and have endeavored to maintain. It is 

 very important that we have a full collection of the insects of Penn- 

 sylvania in their different stages, also showing the work they do. 

 Daily we are liable to receive specimens which can best be named by 

 comparison. Until the name is ascertained we can not cite literary 

 references, nor find statements concerning the habits of specimens in 

 question. The collection is very valuable. It is also used in con- 

 nection with illustrations for educational addresses, photographs for 

 publications, and exchanges with other collectors, especially with 

 high school teachers in this State. It is our earnest desire to see it 

 made as complete as possible at an early date. In this connection 

 we have run a series of breeding cages, and have worked out the life 

 histories and habits of numerous species of insects of importance. 

 We have bred several species of parasites of the San Jos6 scale, and 

 have reared other insects which could not otherwise have been deter- 

 mined. The breeding cage work in the insectary is very important. 

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