Report of Verlett C. Beebe. 



Hon. Charles A. Wieting, Commissioner of Agriculture: 



Dear Sir — I have the honor to herewith submit my annual 

 report as Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture for the Seventh 

 Division for the year ending September 30, 1901. 



The year has been a busy one in our work. Several circum- 

 stances have made it more so than in the years immediately 

 preceding it. It is hardly necessary to say that the principal 

 part of such work has been required in the investigation of milk 

 and its products. The proximity of the district to the Pan- 

 American Exposition at Buffalo increased by much the ship- 

 ments of milk to that city. Much additional vigilance was en- 

 tailed on that account. The opportunity was at hand for those 

 disposed to violate the agricultural law to attempt to reap 

 richly from the sales. Mindful of this, during the exposition 

 much effort was centered in investigations along the lines of 

 railroads leading to that city. Violations were discovered, yet 

 the number was not large when considered in comparison with 

 the number and amounts of shipments. 



Again, more violations of the law were found throughout the 

 division than in any of the previous years of my connection with 

 the Department, and more cases were prosecuted to a success- 

 ful conclusion than during any year of such time. The new 

 duties required by the act of 1901 with reference to diseases 

 among domestic animals occasioned extra work, and during nine 

 months of the year I had the aid of but three agents in place 

 of four as heretofore. The extended sickness and death of Mr. 

 Charles J. Morgenstern, one of the agents, left the number such. 



"While an unusually large number of violations were found, I 

 do not attribute this to an increase in the actual number of such, 

 but rather to the increased skill of the agents, born of experi- 

 ence. At all times it has been our effort to teach and advise 

 the milk producers in the care of their product, and to instruct 

 the cheese makers along the same lines and in keeping their fac- 



