Report of B. F. Van Valkeiiburgh. 



Hon. Fred. C. Schraub, Commissioner of Agriculture: 



Dear Sir. — I have the honor to submit my twelfth annual re- 

 port as assistant commissioner of agriculture, giving a detailed 

 statement of the work performed in this division of the depart- 

 ment during the year ending September 30, 1895. The work has 

 been actively prosecuted during the year, special attention having 

 been given to violations of the agricultural laws relating to 

 the fraudulent sale of oleomargarine and adulterated milk. I 

 have given less attention than usual to enforcing the vinegar laws, 

 by reason of the fact that I have been unable to get a large num- 

 ber of cases tried that were brought to the attention of the courts 

 during the summer of 1894; therefore, I concluded that it was 

 useless to continue making cases until such time as the cases 

 already made were tried. 



Oleomargarine. 



The surreptitious sale of oleomargarine continued to increase 

 during the fall and winter months, as stated in my last report, 

 owing to the effect of the original package decision by the United 

 States Supreme Court in 1890. 



This increased sale continued until the United States Supreme 

 Court rendered a decision in the Massachusetts case in March last, 

 which practically reversed the former decision by that court. 

 Since that time the sale of oleomargarine has materially decreased, 

 and up to the date of this report there has been but little effort on 

 the part of manufacturers and dealers to introduce their goods, 

 but as butter advances during the fall and winter there will, with 

 out doubt, be a greater effort made to introduce these fraudulent 

 goods, and it will require the utmost vigilance on the part of those 

 employed in this division of the Department to prevent an in- 

 creased sale. 



