8 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc, 



tendency to diminish local slaughtering and thereby lessen the 

 market for beef prepared in our own State. For this reason, and 

 also more particularly on account of the hygienic and sanitary im- 

 portance of meat inspection, it is to be hoped that the coming legis- 

 lature of 1907 will give careful consideration to a proposal to 

 establish a State .meat inspection service. 



THE MAGNITUDE OF OUR AGRICULTURE. 



Pennsylvania is commonly regarded as an essentially industrial 

 state. When the industries of the State are passed in mental re- 

 view, one thinks of the great manufacturing enterprises, the steel 

 mills, the mines of bituminous and anthracite coal, the oil and gas 

 wells and the great natural deposits of iron ore, limestone, cement, 

 rock and slate. In the minds of many people, agriculture is an after 

 consideration. The industries mentioned are so large, and many of 

 them are so much greater than similar industries in other states 

 that the actual and intrinsic importance of our agriculture is not 

 generally realized. 



If Pennsylvania had no more than the usual quota of mineral 

 deposits and of manufacturing plants, she would still occupy a 

 distinguished position among her sister commonwealths on account 

 of the extent and value of her agriculture, Pennsylvania is second 

 in the production of hay. The crop for the year 1906 amounted to 

 3,993,627 tons and was worth $33,514,602. Pennsylvania is also 

 second in the production of buckwheat; the crop for 1906 amounted 

 to 4,788,000 bushels, and it is second in the production of potatoes, 

 producing during the past year 23,856,918 bushels. The value of 

 the winter wheat croi> was -f22,095,623 and was surpassed by but 

 five states. In rye, Pennsylvania led all other states with a crop of 

 6,025,0-11 bushels. The value of the oat crop was |12,090,268 and 

 the corn crop .f30,139,324. The value of the farm products of Penn- 

 sylvania is just about equal to the value of farm products of some 

 of the great agricultural states of the West, The most productive 

 and the best farmed agricultural county in the United States is the 

 Count}^ of Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, which sells from its farms 

 products valued at about |10,000,000 a year. 



In livestock husbandry, Pennsylvania holds a very important 

 position. More market milk is produced in this State than in any 

 other, and there are, upon the farms of Pennsylvania, 1,097,590 

 milch coAvs, the estimated value of which is !|;37,640,337, There are 

 in Pennsylvania about 750,000 horses and mules, worth about |75,- 

 000,000, The horses of Pennsylvania are 40 per cent, more numerous 

 and worth 100 per cent, more money than the horses of Kentucky, 

 a leading horse state, Pennsylvania has more than a million sheep; 

 more, in fact, than the states of Illinois or Wisconsin and .more than 

 Missouri and Kansas combined. 



The sheep industry of Pennsylvania would be more highly devel- 

 oped and more productive than it is if it were not for the pest of dogs. 

 Some legislation should be enacted to eliminate the worthless and 

 ownerless dogs that are of no value whatever and that inflict 

 extreme injury upon this important industry. 



There are about 1,000,000 swine in Pennsylvania, valued at |8,- 

 447,313. The swine industry is capable of profitable extension. By 



