12 .ANNUAL REPORT OF THB Off. Doc. 



Department lias been obliged to move with caution, and institute 

 proceedings only in cases \\'hei'e a disposition to defraud seems plain. 

 If an appropriation were made by the Legislature to suffiC'iently in- 

 crease the funds now available for the enforcement of the law to 

 warrant the employment of a general agent whose duty it should 

 be to bring prosecutions, secure witnesses and attend hearings 

 before local magistrates and follow cases where necessary into 

 court, I have no doubt that in many instances the fertilizers upon 

 the market would be greatly improved. Such legislation is recom- 

 mended to the careful consideration of the General Assembly of the 

 Commonwealth. 



I desire also to renew the recommendation made in last year's 

 report that manufacturers of fertilizers sold within the State be 

 required to supplement the statement they now make concerning the 

 fertilizing ingredients their products contain, by a statement of the 

 sources from which such fertilizing ingredients are derived. This is 

 something the farmer needs to know, in order that he may apply 

 his fertilizers intelligently. The laws regulating the sale of fer- 

 tilizers in some of the states, require this information to be given; 

 and in a state like Pennsylvania where the amount expended for 

 fertilizers runs into millions of dollars, this information ought not 

 to be withheld. 



Investigations have been made during the year, under the pro- 

 vision of the Act of March 13, 1895, relating to the following sub- 

 jects: "Poultry in Pennsylvania," "Market Gardening," and "Fruits 

 of Pennsylvania." 



The changing conditions in the agriculture of the State is direct- 

 ing the attention of many of our farm people to subjects of this kind, 

 and in each instance, a successful speeialist in his particular line, 

 whose premises were visited and whose operations were carefully 

 scrutinized by the Head of the Department, was employed to make 

 the investigation and prepare a bulletin for the information of the 

 public, giving the result of his investigation and his methods of 

 operation. 



Other bulletins published during the year are "Proceedings of 

 the 29th Annual Meeting of the State Board of Agriculture," "Con- 

 centrated Feeding StuiTs of Pennsylvania," "List of Local Agricul- 

 tural Fairs for 19U6," "Keport of Bee-Keepers Association," "Analy- 

 sis of Commercial Fertilizers, Spring Samples for 1906," "Farmers 

 Institutes in Pennsylvania, 1906-1907," "Proceedings of Spring 

 Meeting of State Board of Agriculture and Farmers Normal Insti- 

 tute," and "Analysis of Fall Samples of Commercial Fertilizers." 



For all these bulletins as well as all the bulletins issued by the 

 Department from its organization to the present time, there is a 

 great demand not only from the citizens of our own State, but from 

 other states as well as foreign countries. It is a matter for regret 

 that in the early years of the existence of the Department, before 

 the value of these bulletins had become to be fully appreciated by 

 the public, the number that could be legally published was entirely 

 too small, so that the supply of many of them is quite, or nearly, 

 exhausted, and yet the demand for them continues. With the in- 

 creased number that may be published under the Act of 1903, the 

 supply is still insufficient to meet the demand, and I would re- 



