MILK HYGIENE Under the act approved March 30th, 1905, and by request of the properly authorized officials of the city, this Board undertook the work of inspecting the farms from which the milk supply of Philadelphia was derived. The main objects of the inspection were to determine what proportion of the supply was coming from bad dairies and to what extent the supply would be reduced by eliminating these, and whether such inspection could be made sufficiently educative to induce the careless dairyman to produce a higher grade article, which latter proved to be the case. The results of this inspection are tabulated in the report and they show according to the requirements of the score card, also included in the report, that about 9 per cent. of these dairies produce milk that is prejudicial to public health. On October 1, the entire work of dairy farm inspection was transferred to the State Livestock Sanitary Board. With our previous experience of the inspections conducted in the vicinity of Philadelphia, we were capable to formulate plans to make a systematic inspection of the entire State and make it an educational campaign, and likely in the near future safeguard the general milk supply of the State as well as foster and encourage the dairy industry. It is impossible to estimate the value of this service to the State, and the possibilities for its future usefulness are still greater and an appropriation for its maintenance should be as liberal as its service is valuable. REPORT OF THE ECONOMIC ZOOLOGIST The report is divided into ten sections: First. Correspondence, examining specimens, and answering questions. Second. Investigations and experiments. Third. Publications. Fourth. Lectures. Fifth. Inspection of nurseries and private premises. Sixth. Inspection of imported plants, seeds and fruits. Seventh. Making collections. Eighth. Inspection of orchards. During the year 8,530 letters were written from this office, made up of general correspondence, 6,215 letters, model orchard correspondence, 1,347 and inspectors letters, 963. By far the largest number of the letters of general correspondence are in answer to questions in regard to insect pest suppression, the spray materials to use for this suppression, the kind of apparatus, and orchard management. INVESTIGATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS The concentrated home-made lime and sulphur is advanced as the best material for San Jose scale, made according to the formula of one pound of lime, two pounds sulphur and one gallon water, boiled one hour and diluted with approximately seven gallons of water. This same solution with one ounce of Lead Arsenate to the gallon is advocated for flat headed apple tree borers. The highly dilute, or about one gallon of concentrated solution to forty gallons water, is advocated to take the place of Bordeaux mixture for all fungicidal sprays except potato blight and for grapes. PUBLICATIONS The regular monthly bulletin of the Bureau was changed to a bimonthly at the beginning of the year and six issues were sent out during the year. Beside this bi-monthly bulletin, circulars treating on a number of phases of the work of this Department were sent out during the year, and also weekly press letters appropriate to the season of the year when published, were sent to the newspapers of the State. LECTURES Besides the addresses given by the orchard demonstrators and inspectors, the Economic Zoologist delivered 45 lectures throughout the State during the past year, many of them illustrated with lantern slides from photos of this Department. INSPECTION OF NURSERIES Two hundred nurseries were inspected in the State in the last year, covering 3,130 acres. This inspection is made twice a year, during mid-summer and again in the latter part of the winter. The reports state that the attitude of the nurserymen is favorable to this inspection and that they regard it as a benefit to themselves as well as the tree buying public. INSPECTION OF IMPORTED PLANTS In order to prevent the importation of all obnoxious and injurious pests, all plants and seeds in so far as possible are inspected before being planted after unpacking. Dr. L. O. Howard, United States Entomologist, and the United States Custom House officers regularly inform this Bureau of all nursery stock, cuttings, bulbs, seedlings, etc., coming into any port of entry destined for Pennsylvania. In this way we keep in touch with what is being done. MAKING COLLECTIONS During 1911 there were added 1,000 specimens to our zoological collection, 1,026 insect specimens, 75 invertebrates other than insects, 15 fishes and reptiles, 8 birds, 3 mammals, and equally as much material not pertaining to any of these classes. INSPECTION OF ORCHARDS During the year 1911 twenty-five regular orchard inspectors were kept in the field and they inspected 3,037 premises and 9,416 orchards. Among these were 245 demonstration orchards in which 930 demonstrations were given, attended by 14,092 people, and there were beside these 1,064 supervision orchards which were visited 1,972 times by the inspectors. EXHIBITIONS At the request of a number of County Fair Associations to make exhibits of the work and methods of this Bureau, four such exhibitions were made consisting of charts of many species of insects greatly enlarged showing their life history, photographs of orchards properly pruned, cultivated and sprayed trees, fruit of many kinds, spraying apparatus, chemicals for spraying, specimens of beneficial and injurious insects, mounted birds and mammals. The work of this Bureau has been very helpful and should be supplied with appropriations to maintain its efficiency. DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY The Division of Chemistry was under the direction of Mr. Jas. W. Kellogg, Chief Chemist, from whose report I take the following statements: The work of this Bureau, as in former years, has been that of collecting and analyzing samples of feeding stuffs and linseed oil, and sending out reports, copies of bulletins, and answering requests for information. One thousand samples of feeding stuffs were collected and analyzed during the year; 327 towns in 56 counties were visited to make these collections. Forty prosecutions for violation of the feeding stuffs law were ordered; $300.00 were secured for fines and costs from cases ordered to be prosecuted in 1910, and $957.98 for prosecutions in 1911, making a total of $1,237.98 for the year. The quality of feeding stuffs has improved, as is evident from the fact that no adulterations with rice hulls, corn cobs, and peanut shucks were detected during the year. 189 special samples sent in by dealers were analyzed, for which $187.00 was received. As provided by the law, and in compliance with requests from the Bureau 450 manufacturers of feeding stuffs registered with the department during 1911. Reports showing results of analyses for 1910 to the number of 6,000 were sent to manufacturers and dealers in feeding stuffs. 150 samples of linseed oil were analyzed during the year, of which 14 were found to be adulterated and for which prosecutions were ordered, and for which $258.72 were received in fines and costs. $200 were turned into the Treasury from fines and costs from prosecutions for adulteration of linseed oil brought in 1910. The adulteration of linseed oil has increased during the year, which is due to the fact that the last Legislature did not allow an appropriation for the examination work, which is now working and will still more in the future, work a hardship upon the honest manufacturers of paint, and on those who are using it, which should include all citizens and all owners of buildings. No work was done in the enforcement of the Paris Green law because the last Legislature did not make an appropriation to continue this work. It is certainly to be deplored that when this Department is endeavoring to induce farmers to improve and beautify their premises and take more pride in their homes, make these homes look inviting, and improve and increase their crops, that on account of the Legislature failing to appropriate a few thousand dollars, these people who want to improve their surroundings and kill the insect pests that infest and destroy their crops can have imposed on them paints that will fade and wash away with the first winter's and spring rains, and poisons that will neither kill nor destroy. FERTILIZER CONTROL WORK This work was under the special supervision of Mr. Harry E. Klugh from whose report the following extracts are made: Fifteen agents of the Department canvassed the entire State during the months of April and May and collected samples for analysis, from the fertilizers exposed for sale for the Spring trade, and again during August and September, collecting samples from fertilizers for the Fall trade. 3,257 samples of mixed fertilizers and fertilizing materials were collected during the year, of which 1,229 were subjected to separate analysis. Where two or more samples of the same brand were reported, equal parts of each sample were united and the composite sample was analyzed, full information of which appears in Bulletins Nos. 212 and 218. Where more than three samples of the same brands were sent in it was necessary to discard the same on account of the reduced appropriation made for this work. In making up the composite sample we have followed the practice of former seasons in the selection of individual samples, so as to have, as nearly as possible, three different sections of the State represented. Where deficiencies occur in these composited samples, a separate analysis is made of the remaining parts of the individual samples entering into the composite sample, and the deficiency is traced to the particular single sample that was below guarantee. The legislation of 1909 has made needful some additional tests. Section 4, of the act of May 1st, 1909, prohibits the sale of pulverized leather, hair, ground hoofs, horns, or wool waste, raw, steamed, roasted, or in any form, as a fertilizer, or as an ingredient of a fertilizer or manure, without an explicit statement of the fact. All nitrogenous fertilizers were therefore submitted to a careful microscopic examination, at the time of preparing the sample for analysis, to detect the presence of the tissues characteristic of the several materials above named. The act of April 23, 1909, makes it unlawful to use the word "bone" in connection with, or as part of the name of any fertilizer, or any brand of the same, unless the phosphoric acid contained in such fertilizer shall be the product of pure animal bone. All fertilizers in whose name the word "bone" appears, were therefore examined by microscopic and chemical methods to determine, so far as possible with present knowledge, the nature of the ingredient or ingredients supplying the phosphoric acid. It is a fact, however, well known to fertilizer manufacturers and which should be equally understood by the consumer, that it is, in certain cases, practically impossible to determine the source of the phosporic acid by an examination of a fertilizer when it is ready for the market. The microscope shows clearly the structure of raw bone, but does not make it possible to discriminate between thoroughly acidulated bone and acidulated rock. The ratio of nitrogen to phosphoric acid in a raw bone and only such bone as has not been deprived of any considerable proportion of its nitrogenous material by some manufacturing process can properly be called "pure animal bone"-is about 1:8; in cases where the ratio of nitrogen to phosphoric acid exceeds 8, it is clear that part, at least, of the phosphoric acid has been supplied by something else than pure animal bone; but, inasmuch as nitrogen may have been introduced in some material other than bone and no longer detectible by the microscope, the presence of nitrogen and phosphoric acid in the proportions corresponding to those of bone is not proof positive that they have been supplied by bone. Finally the differences in the iron and silica content of bone and rock respectively afford means of distinction useful in some cases. The usefulness of this distinction is limited, however, by the facts that kitchen bone frequently contains earthy impurities rich in iron and silicia, and that earthy fillers can legally be used in fertilizers and are in fact considerably used therein both as "make-weights" and as "conditioners," or materials introduced to improve the drilling qualities of the goods. The fact that the phosphoric acid in bone and rock are identical in character is probably so well known as to require no detailed consideration in this connection. The cases of departure of goods from guaranty, where the deficiency was two-tenths per cent., amounted to 38 per cent. which in my judgment is due to improper mixing or a separation of the mixed materials in transit. Many of the fertilizers were found short in one element but over in the other guaranteed elements, yet these fertilizers are not exempt from being classified with the more deficient samples, which materially increases the percentage of deficient samples. Where it was believed that fraud was attempted or gross carelessness was permitted among manufacturers, from the samples showing a marked deficiency, the manufacturers or the venders were prosecuted. During the year the Department instituted 16 proceedings for the violation of the Fertilizer Law, and recovered $389.33 in fines and costs which were paid into the State Treasury, as required by law. For a clear understanding of the above, I submit herewith for comparison a table of average composition and average guaranty for the year 1911: Phosphoric Acid: Total, Potash, Nitrogen, Average composi tion. Per cent. The following statement made by Dr. Wm. Frear, Chief Chemist of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station, who had charge of the analytical work, in a report to this Department, is self explanatory: |