INSECTICIDE AND FUNGICIDE BOARD. 653 



The campaign started during the fiscal year 1919 against insect 

 powders adulterated with daisy flowers and insect flower stems, was 

 continued during the fiscal year 1923. This campaign will be con- 

 tinued from year to year. 



These are a few of the more important activities of the board dur- 

 ing the year, in addition to which there was a large amount of in- 

 spectional work required to determine whether the more commonly 

 used remedies were being maintained at the proper standard to ren- 

 der them safe and effective. The inspectional records also reveal that 

 a large number of insecticides and fungicides that had not been pre- 

 viouslv brought to the attention of the board were collected bv our 

 inspectors during the year. 



It is the experience of the board that the consumers of this class 

 of materials are too ready to purchase untried remedies, which too 

 often results not only in the loss of the purchase price, but more im- 

 portant, the failure to control the conditions sought to be remedied, 

 with the attendant damage to crops or health. It would be well for 

 consumers to be assured of the safety and effectiveness of these new 

 preparations before substituting them for the standard remedies 

 Avliich have proved their worth under practical conditions. The 

 worth-while developments in insecticides and fungicides are practi- 

 cally invariably the result of study by trained investigators, and the 

 easy and simple control methods which frequently appeal to the con- 

 sumers are often advocated without a sufficient attempt to demon- 

 strate the real value of the treatment. Real progi^essiveness is de- 

 sirable and valuable, but the hasty conclusion which abandons the 

 old remedy for the new may too often result in great loss. 



There is still a large field for improvement in control methods, and 

 there are many losses being sustained by damage from insects and 

 diseases, but improvement can be looked for through the efforts of 

 the scientific investigators rather than through the discoveries of tlie 

 promoters of new theories of control who have not the proper basis 

 or training for demonstrating their theories through carefully con- 

 ducted experiments. 



INTERSTATE SAMPLES. 



During the fiscal year the board reported to the solicitor of the 

 department 71 cases presenting alleged violations of law, with recom- 

 mendations that the facts be transmitted to the Attorney General to 

 institute criminal action or seizure proceedings. Disposition was 

 made of 221 cases by correspondence with the manufacturers. These 

 cases presented violations which were technical only, not flagrant, or 

 cases in which the manufacturer gave reasonable and adequate ex- 

 planation of his failure to conform to the provisions of the act. 

 Action was taken to place in abeyance 693 samples which upon exami- 

 nation and test w^ere 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 1923, 91 cases were pending preliminary hearings or before the 

 board for final action, 107 were held in temporary abeyance pending 

 the receipt of further information or the outcome of prosecution 



