A number of proposed orders of the Secretary of Agriculture to establish, and of regulations to enforce, quarantines under the law were examined as to their legal form and sufficiency. Nine opinions on questions arising under the law were rendered at the request of the Federal Horticultural Board. Forms were drafted showing information necessary before presenting a case for prosecution and forms for report on the character of the evidence available. COURT DECISION OF INTEREST. In United States v. Adams Express Co. (230 Fed., 531), it was held that an information charging a violation of the plant quarantine act need not be sworn to where no warrant of arrest is sought; also that where the regulations or notice of quarantine did not specify deciduous nursery stock, shipment thereof without inspection was not a violation of the act. THE LACEY ACT (35 STAT., 1137). Fifty-one cases were reported to the Department of Justice. At the close of the preceding fiscal year 37 cases were pending, of which 36 were closed during this fiscal year, 16 by convictions and the imposition of fines, 1 by sentence to three months in jail, 1 by directed verdict of not guilty, and the remainder by dismissal for want of sufficient evidence, inability to identify defendants, and removal of defendants from the district. Of the 51 cases reported during the year 19 were closed, 15 by convictions and the imposition of fines, 1 by sentence to 13 days in jail, 1 by suspended sentence, and 2 by dismissal. Thirty-three cases were pending at the close of the year. Fines were imposed as follows: In addition to the fines and jail sentences, defendants were compelled to pay substantial costs. PROTECTION OF BIRD RESERVES LAW (35 STAT., 1104). There were no prosecutions under this statute during the year. THE MIGRATORY BIRD LAW (37 STAT., 847). Twenty-five cases reported during the previous fiscal year were 'pending at the close of this fiscal year. The case of United States v. Shauver (214 Fed., 154), involving the constitutionality of the migratory bird law, which was removed to the Supreme Court of the United States on the Government's writ of error, was argued on October 16, 1915. On February 28, 1916, it was restored to the docket for reargument, and was pending reargument at the close of the year. Owing to the pendency of this case in the Supreme Court, 72412°-AGR 1916- -24 no violations of the statute were reported to the Department of Justice during the year. Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture has continued its investigations of violations and, awaiting report to the Attorney General if the Supreme Court decides the Shauver case in favor of the Government, has in hand evidence of a number of violations. Numerous letters were written in response to requests from various sections of the country for information as to the law and the regulations. MARKETS AND RURAL ORGANIZATION. In cooperation with the Office of Markets and Rural Organization, four amendments to the regulations under the United States cotton futures act, amended forms for use in its administration, and drafts of orders and notices establishing and promulgating 11 standards of color for cotton of certain grades were prepared. Assistance was also rendered in preparing opinions, distributed through that office, on various questions arising under the act, and in comparing or revising articles for Service and Regulatory Announcements on the official cotton standards of the United States, a history of the movement to secure universal cotton standards, the determination of disputes under the act, and other related matters. Assistance was given in the consideration and disposition of 422 disputes under the act, involving 27,200 bales of cotton, referred to the Secretary. Costs aggregating $9,322.55 were assessed in accordance with the act. Two suits attacking the validity of the cotton futures act were filed during the fiscal year 1915 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. On October 13, 1915, the court held in the first, Hubbard v. Lowe (226 Fed., 135), that the statute was a revenue measure; the bill from which it resulted, within the meaning of Article I, section 7, clause 1, of the Constitution, originated in the Senate, not in the House of Representatives; and the act was, therefore, unconstitutional. The decision in the second followed that in the first. The first case is pending on writ of error in the Supreme Court. A motion by defendants in error to advance it for early argument was denied. The statute, with amendments, was reenacted as Part A of the agricultural appropriation act for the fiscal year 1917, approved August 11, 1916 (Public No. 190). A compilation relating to future trading in grain, prepared in the Bureau of Plant Industry, was considered and revised. The legality and form of the plans for the formation and operation of eight cooperative organizations connected with the marketing of farm products were passed upon. Additional material relating to the general welfare clause of the Constitution was collected for use in complying with the requests of committees or Members of Congress for the preparation of, or reports on, bills upon various questions affecting agriculture. GENERAL STATUTES. At the close of the previous year there were pending 16 cases of violations of the general criminal laws of the United States reported to the Attorney General. During the present year 13 such cases were reported to the Attorney G neral. Of the cases reported this year and coming over from previous years, 16 were disposed of. Four were abandoned for lack of sufficient evidence; in 2, orders of nolle prosequi were entered; in 1, the grand jury refused to indict; in 1, upon a plea of guilty, the defendant was sentenced to 30 days' imprisonment for threatening Bureau of Animal Industry employees and interfering with the discharge of their duties; in 1, the defendant was discharged, on payment of costs, on account of his mental condition; in 2, the defendants were fined $100 each; in 2, the defendants were fined $50 each; in 2, the defendants were fined $25 each; and in 1, the defendant was fined $10. In one case, against two defendants, one of the defendants pleaded guilty and was fined $75. The other defendant has not been apprehended and the case is, therefore, pending as to him. At the close of the year 13 cases were pending in the courts. PATENTS. Twenty applications for letters patent on inventions of employees of the department for dedication to the public were prepared and filed. During the year 7 were allowed, and none disallowed. The following table shows the status of applications on June 30, 1916: AGREEMENTS FOR THE SEVERAL BUREAUS, DIVISIONS, AND OFFICES. The following table shows the number of contracts and leaves prepared or examined for sufficiency and proper execution for the various bureaus, divisions, and offices of the department: There were also prepared 63 bonds, 315 renewals, and 40 notices of terminations of contracts. PUBLICATIONS OF THE OFFICE. There was prepared a compilation of all the Federal laws applicable to the creation and administration of the National Forests, annotated by references to decisions of the courts, opinions of the Attorney General, decisions of the Secretary of the Interior and of the Comptroller of the Treasury, and opinions of the Solicitor construing these laws. The article prepared during the last fiscal year containing a brief statutory history of the Department of Agriculture, with a discussion of the constitutionality of the organic act creating the department and of the various acts of Congress upon which the activities of the department are based, was published in the February and March, 1916, issues of "Case and Comment." Under the authority of section 4 of the food and drugs act and section 4 of the insecticide act there were issued 640 notices of judg ment. Office circulars were issued containing decisions of the courts in the following cases: Armour & Co. v. United States (Circuit Court of Appeals, Glaser, Kohn & Co. v. United States (Circuit Court of Ap- Seven Cases and Six Cases of Eckman's Alterative v. United United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca Eleven Gross Packages of Dr. Williams Pink Pills v. United REPORT OF THE INSECTICIDE AND FUNGICIDE BOARD. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, INSECTICIDE AND FUNGICIDE BOARD, Washington, D. C., September 14, 1916. SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith a concise report on the work of the Insecticide and Fungicide Board for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1916. Very respectfully, Hon. D. F. HOUSTON, J. K. HAYWOOD, Secretary of Agriculture. The Insecticide Act of 1910 was designed to regulate the interstate shipment, and to prevent the importation into the United States, of adulterated and misbranded insecticides and fungicides, and also to control the manufacture and sale of such products in the District of Columbia and the Territories. INTERSTATE SAMPLES. During the fiscal year the Board reported to the Solicitor of the department 116 cases presenting alleged violations of law and with recommendations that the facts be transmitted to the Attorney General to institute criminal action or seizure proceedings. Disposition was made of 242 cases by correspondence with the manufacturers. These cases presented violations which were technical only, were not flagrant, or cases in which the manufacturer gave reasonable and adequate explanation of his failure to conform to the provisions of the act. Action was taken to place in abeyance 847 samples, which upon examination and test were shown to be in compliance with the provisions of the law, or were from shipments of the same goods made prior to shipments for which the manufacturer had been convicted and had after citation conformed to the requirements of the law. On June 30, 1916, 87 cases were pending preliminary hearings or before the Board for final action, 316 were held in temporary abeyance pending the receipt of further information or the outcome of prosecutions based on the same product, or correspondence with the manufacturers, and 821 samples were undergoing analysis and test. The inspectors and sample collectors of the Board, operating throughout the United States, collected 1,487 samples during the |