178 FORESTRY INVESTIGATIONS U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



lauds would ho suitable for a State forest reserve; and further, should the lands belonging to the Common wealth 

 be insufficient for such purpose, then to ascertain and report wliat other suitable lands there may be within the State, 

 their extent, character, and value. The linal report of the said commission shall be presented to the legislature not 

 later than March 15, 1895. 



SEC. If. The said commission shall have power to appoint one competent person to act as statistician, whose duty 

 it shall be to compile the statistics collected by said commission, under their direction mid supervision, whoso salary 

 shall be one thousand dollars per annum, with necessary expenses, to be paid in the same manner as is hereinafter 

 provided for the payment of the forestry commission. 



Sue. 4. The commissioners appointed hereunder shall be entitled to receive by i|uarterly payments a compen- 

 sation as follows: The engineer, twenty-live hundred dollars ($2,500) per annum ; the botanist, twenty-five hundred 

 dollars ($2,500) per annum, with necessary expenses; and the sum of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) is hereby 

 appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be paid by warrant drawn by the 

 auditor-general. 



Before the report of this commissiou was published the legislature of 1805 provided for an 

 executive department of agriculture, and included in its organization a provision for a division of 

 forestry, the botanist member of the previous commission, Dr. J. T. liothrock, being appointed 

 commissioner of forestry : 



The law creating a department of agriculture was approved by the governor March 13, 1895. 

 The chapters referring to forestry are as follows: 



lie it enacted by the senate #n<J house of representatives of the Commonwealth of 1'i'nmylraiiia in general axtembly met, 

 and it is hereby enacted by authority of the same: 



SECTION 1. That there be, and hereby is, established a department of agriculture, to lie organized and admin- 

 istered by an officer who shall be known as the secretary of agriculture, who shall be appointed by the governor, 

 by and with the advice and consent of the senate, for the term of lour years, at an annual salary of three thousand 

 five hundred dollars, and who, before entering upon the duties of his office, shall take and subscribe the oath pre- 

 scribed in article seven of the constitution. Said secretary shall be ex officio secretary of the State board of agri- 

 culture, and shall succeed to all the powers and duties now conferred by law upon the secretary of said board. 



SEC. 2. That it shall be the duty of the secretary of agriculture, in such ways as he may deem tit and proper to 

 encourage and promote the development of agriculture, horticulture, forestry, and kindred industries, to collect and 

 publish statistics and other information in regard to the agricultural industries and interests of the State. 

 In the performance of the duties prescribed by this act the secretary of agriculture shall, as far as practicable, 

 enlist the aid of the State geological survey for the purpose of obtaining and publishing useful in forma li. u 

 respecting the economical relations of geology to agriculture, forestry, and kindred industries. He shall make an 

 annual report to the governor, and shall publish from time to time such bulletins of information as he may deem 

 useful and advisable. Said report and bulletins shall be printed by the State printer in the same manner as other 

 public documents, not exceeding five thousand copies of any one bulletin. 



SEC. 3. That it shall be the duty of the secretary to obtain and publish information respecting the extent and 

 condition of forest lands in this State, to make and carry out rales and regulations for the enforcement of all laws 

 designed to protect forests from fires and from all illegal depredations and destruction, and report the same annu- 

 ally to the governor, and, as far as practicable, to give information and advice respecting the best methods of pre- 

 serving woodlands and starting new plantations. He shall also, as far as practicable, procure statistics of the 

 amount of timber cut during each year, the purposes for which it is used, and the amount of timber land thus 

 cleared as compared with the amount of laud newly brought under timber cultivation, and shall in general adopt 

 all such measures as, in his judgment, may be desirable and effective for the preservation and increase of the timber 

 lands of this State, and shall have direct charge and control of the management of all forest lauds belonging to the 

 Commonwealth, subject to the provision of law relative thereto. 



SEC. 4. There shall be one deputy secretary, who shall be appointed by the governor for the term of four years, 

 at a salary of three thousand dollars a year, who shall also be director of farmers' institutes. The other officers of 

 the department shall be appointed by the governor for the term of four years, and shall be an economic zoologist, a 

 commissioner of forestry, a dairy and food commissioner, who shall have practical experience in the manufacture 

 of dairy products, and a State veterinarian, who shall be a graduate of some reputable veterinary college, who shall 

 receive an annual salary of twenty-live hundred dollars each. * The governor is hereby authorized to 



appoint one chief clerk of the department, at an annual salary of sixteen hundred dollars, a stenographer, at a 

 salary of eight hundred dollars a year, and one messenger, at a salary of six hundred dollars a year, aud the dairy 

 and food commissioner, the commissioner of forestry, and the economic zoologist shall each have a clerk, who shall 

 l>e appointed by the governor and who shall serve under the direction of the respective commissioners aforesaid and 

 receive a salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year each. 



SKC. 6. That the secretary may* at his discretion, employ experts for special examinations or investigations, 

 the expenses of which shall he paid by the State treasurer in the same manner as like expenses are provided by 

 law, but not more than live thousand dollars shall be so expended in any one year. In this annual report to the 

 governor lie may include, so much of the reports of other organizations as he shall deem proper, which shall take the 

 place of the present agricultural reports and of which thirty-one thousand six hundred copies shall bo publisl ed 

 aud distributed as follows: To the senate, nine thousand copies; to the house of representatives, twenty thousand 



