No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 11 



be interested in agricultural improvement. The work that is uow 

 being done in this direction by this Department, particularly 

 through the Zoological Division, is of inestimable value. Bulletins 

 of information on agricultural subjects should be secured by teach- 

 ers, and at certain periods, as the school work progresses, the 

 subjects of such bulletins should be taken up, one at a time, as 

 a general exercise, in which the entire school should take part. 

 The bulletin, if a short one, may be read by the teacher, and if 

 too long for a single reading, a part may be read and such explana- 

 tion as the teacher thinks necessary may be given. The pupils 

 may then be asked to get from every source within their reach as 

 much information as they can upon the same subject. As a general 

 exercise for another day, the same subject may be taken up and 

 the pupils examined upon it, calling out what they remember of 

 all they have heard upon the subject, and their own impressions 

 concerning it. Such exercises would be profitable as a means of 

 dispelling the monotony of the regular routine school work, and 

 would at the same time, awaken in the pupils an interest in such 

 subjects, that would be carried into all the homes of the district, 

 and that could not fail to produce good results. 



If county superintendents of schools should secure such bulletins 

 and send them to teachers in advance of the school visitations they 

 make, asking the teachers to take up certain subjects in the way 

 already described, and then at the time of visitation, if they should 

 spend a few minutes in examining each school upon the subject 

 assigned to it and giving some additional instruction upon it, the 

 interest of the entire count v would be awakened, which would lead 

 to the investigation of other kindred subjects and incalculable good 

 would be done. 



A State Fair: The failure to secure legislation during the last 

 session of our General Assembly, for the establishment of a State 

 Fair, can not be regarded otherwise than most unfortunate. Penn- 

 sylvania, notwithstanding her great mining and manufacturing in- 

 terests, stands among the very foremost states of the Union as an 

 agricultural state, and for the credit of the Commonwealth, if for 

 no other reason, she ought to maintain an annual fair worthy of the 

 position she holds. The maintenance of such a fair would bring 

 into our State exhibits of the best agricultural products, including 

 live stock, of the whole country. A friendly spirit of emulation 

 would be engendered, and a desire upon the part of Pennsylvania 

 farmers to excel what they see others are doing, would lead to 

 greater effort to secure the very best results attainable. Opportuni 

 ties would be open to Pennsylvania farmers, such as they do not now 

 possess, for introducing new blood into their herds and flocks, and 

 for securing new varieties of fruits, vegetables and seeds. I can 

 not take liji space in this report to enlarge upon the benefits to be 

 derived from such a fair, in which all the up-to-date farmers of the 

 State would be equally interested, but I trust that the matter may 

 be brought in proper form before the next Legislature, and that 

 some measure may be passed that will secure the desired end. 



Agricultural Journals: Tender the head of Evidences of Progress, 

 I have referred to the good work that is beinu done by Agricultural 

 Journals, and I wish here to say but a word concerning their help- 

 fulness to the farmer. Every professional and business man feels 



