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The fire which destroyed the State Capitol was disastrous for dus 

 division of the Department of Agriculture, and its chief, D. J3. H. 

 Warren, lost a portion of his private library, note books and statistics 

 which had been collected with considerable labor during the preceding 

 year. 



Dr. Warren reports that during the past year he received 357 speci- 

 mens (embracing 39 species), of insects, which were sent by farm- 

 ers and others for identification; in addition to these, his report states 

 that 78 specimens of birds, of 45 different species, were sent in and 

 identified by the division. 



Considerable attention has been paid to the collection of data and 

 information relative to wild animals destroyed by forest fires, and to 

 the loss by the destruction of birds and their nests by the same agency. 



The attention of Dr. Warren having been called to the increase in 

 the amount of bounties paid by different counties in the State, he has 

 collected, and will embrace in his annual report, a large amount of 

 statistics relating to this economic question so little understood, and 

 to the too often foolish payment of money in the form of bounties for 

 animals and birds which in realiiy are the friends of the farmer, and 

 which should be preserved in order to retain that balance of power 

 which nature has established between the crops and their insect ene- 

 mies, and which is so often disturbed, to the great loss of the agricul- 

 turist, by the destruction of insect-eating birds. 



In the line of special investigations the force of the division has 

 been directed to the following topics : 



1. Field mice and best methods for their destruction. 



2. Grasshoppers, and how to get rid of them. 



3. Lice and other insects which annoy cattle. 



4. The English sparrow and its relation to agricultural interests. 



5. Currant, grape and gooseberry destroying insects. 



6. The wheat weevil and wheat midge. 



In the investigation into the habits of the English sparrow and its 

 vuVrts upon agricultural interests, a large number of circular letters 

 of inquiry have been sent out and replies received from farmers and 

 others interested. The Zoologist and his assistants have made a 

 number of examinations of (lie stomachs and other organs of this 

 sparrow, and have, in this manner,, been furnished with evidence as to 

 the character of its food and the VfrVff'wliU'b it,Wther directly or indi- 

 rectly, exercises upon the agricultural interests, of ;thef,State. 



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