REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 39 



the 23 Japanese poachers who were arrested on Laysan Island in the 

 act of killing birds was successfully prosecuted, the defendants being 

 fined and imprisoned. 



INSECTICIDE ACT. 



The appropriation for the enforcement of the insecticide act did 

 not become available imtil March, 1911. During the last four months 

 of the fiscal year several formal and informal opinions on the con- 

 struction of important sections of the statute were rendered, general 

 guaranties filed under section 9 of the act were examined, and con- 

 siderable correspondence was had with wholesalers, jobbers, and 

 dealers. 



PATENTS OBTAINED. 



Nine applications for letters patent on inventions of employees of 

 the department, for dedication to the public, were filed in 1910 and a 

 like number in 1911. Of the pending cases 10 applications were al- 

 lowed in 1911 as against 5 allowed and 1 disallowed in 1910. These 

 inventions cover a wide range, including a plant-trimming machine, 

 a process for wood impregnation, a camera support, a machine for 

 testing the life of typewriter ribbons, devices for marking meats, and 

 a method for constructing macadam roads. 



OTHER WORK. 



In addition to a compilation of references to the legislative history 

 of acts of Congress enforced by the department, for use in construing 

 any of the provisions of such statutes, and a revision of the Laws 

 Applicable to the Department of Agriculture, embracing a compila- 

 tion of existing statutes applicable to this department, the Solicitor 

 prepared 442 notices of judgment for publication under the authority 

 of section 4 of the food and drugs act, and prepared 20 circulars 

 embodying decisions of the courts construing statutes intrusted to the 

 department for execution. There is also in preparation a supplement 

 to the annotated edition of the 28-hour law, bringing the original 

 edition up to date. 



The foregoing summary of the legal business transacted by the 

 Office of the Solicitor scarcely conveys an adequate idea of the 

 volume and character of the work actually performed. An exam- 

 ination of the reports of the various United States attorneys for 

 the fiscal year 1911, made to the Attorney General, shoAvs that the 

 legal business of this department has increased in volume and im- 

 portance to a very marked degree during that period. These re- 

 ports, of course, make no mention of the legal business of the 

 department which is finally disposed of by this office, not being 

 ultimately referred to the United States attorneys. 



