No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 671 



PREFATORY. 



By HON. N. B. CRITCHFIKLD, Secretary of Agriculture. 



There is at the present time no more common subject of complaint 

 among farmers than the scarcity and consequent high price of farm 

 labor; and it therefore seems like a very opportune time to call at- 

 tention to the industrious little toilers who are ready to work with 

 untiring energy for all who are willing to provide them with good 

 homes and healthful surroundings, and who make no greater de- 

 mand for payment for the service they render than that they may 

 retain for their own use enough of the wealth they accumulate to 

 provide for their own subsistence and comfort. 



Bee-keeping is regarded by those who have given the subject care- 

 ful and painstaking attention, as being profitable, as well as pro- 

 ductive of much pleasure. The demand for honey at the present 

 time is largely in excess of the supply, and there is very little reason 

 to believe that our markets will ever be over-stocked with the gol- 

 den nectar so grateful to the palate, and still less reason to fear 

 that the supply of pasturage for the busy workers that gather it may 

 ever run short. 



The State of Pennsylvania abounds with the richest sources from 

 which great supplies of honey may be drawn. On every hand, in 

 forest and field, in valley and upon mountain top, the benevolent 

 hand of Nature is holding out these supplies and inviting all who 

 will to send out ready workers to gather them in. Beginning with 

 the arbutus and maple in the early spring and ending with the 

 asters and golden-rod in the late autumn, a constant variety of flow- 

 ers yield their sweet treasures to the cheerful laborers, who never 

 tire while there is work to do and weather fair in which it mav be 

 done. 



Why then should we complain that help is hard to secure as long 

 as we are unwilling to set to work whole communities of these 

 busy toilers, who, when tried and properly cared for, have never vio- 

 lated the confidence of their friends. 



It is a source of gratification to this Department to know that in- 

 terest in Bee-Culture is reviving and that we have in the State of 

 Pennsylvania an active Bee-Keepers Association. This Association 

 was organized at Williamsport, Pa., on the 12th day of April, 1904. 

 and held its first meeting at Harrisburg, December 6 and 7 of that 

 year. The addresses delivered and the papers read at that meeting 

 are of too much value to be lost, and in order that they may be pre- 

 served, they are published in the Annual Report. 



