No. 6 UKPAKTMBNT OF AGKICULTURK 4il 



your Mineralogist long before a single plant had been put in opera 

 lion. There are now dozens of such plants from Monroe county to 

 Butler, and from Bradford county on the north, to Delaware county 

 on the south. Attention was also called before this Board to the 

 cultivation of nitrogenous bacteria; to electrical influence in stimula 

 ting the growth of crops; to the vast water-power of the Susquehanna 

 for electrical generation, and to the cadmium nitrate insecticide, all 

 of which are now being practically applied, in two instances, the 

 United States Government acting upon the suggestions set forth 

 in our reports of years ago. 



Among the latest mineral discoveries of importance, are very large 

 beds of peat in a number of our counties, especially in Dauphin, 

 Erie, Franklin and Lawrence; also of zinc ores in Franklin and Ful- 

 ton counties. From some ores of Fulton county that had been 

 melted down in a blacksmith shop, the "button" thus made gave 97 

 per cent, pure zinc. 



Some seem to have the impression that Pennsylvania has been 

 quite thoroughly developed in a mineral way, but the work is little 

 more than fairly begun. Every year something new and valuable 

 will be found, until we more fully understand why our Creator made 

 these lofty, rugged mountains, and beautiful, fertile valleys. 



This was followed by the Report of the Geologists. 



Col. H. C. Demming read his report as follows: 



REPORT OF THE GEOLOGIST. NO. 1. 

 / 



By Colonel H. C. Demming, Harrisburg, Pa. 



QUARTZ ROCK. 



In one of the counties of this State there is a farm which has been 

 under cultivation more than 100 years. For 14 years the owner 

 had much difficulty in making ends meet on account of its products. 

 Last July one of his men found and brought to him a piece of whitish 

 rock. It lay on the farm owner's table for weeks, with little or no 

 attention paid to it. A visitor dropped in, saw the whitish-colored 

 rock, picked it up, and examined it. Then he said to the owner, 

 "Have you much of this?" The reply of the owner was that he did 

 not know. Said the visitor, "Why don't you have your farm ex- 

 amined by an expert? This rock may prove to be of value." "Who 

 can make the examination?" A name was mentioned. "Why," says 

 the owner, "I have known that man for more than 20 years, and I 

 never thought of him in this connection." The man was sent for. 

 An examination of the rock deposit was made; samples were 

 analyzed. Then it appeared that the rock was quartz and quartz 

 crystal, and the total rock body more than 250,000,000 tons. The 

 analyses showed that it all yielded more than 99 per cent, silica, a 

 select piece 99.84 per cent. pure. More than a thousand tons were 

 quarried, and within three months thereafter the owner had in- 

 quiries and orders for the mineral to the extent of above 200,000 tons, 

 and at a profit of about $2 por ton. making him substantially n mil 



