THE SOLICITOR. 801 



PATENTS FOR DEDICATION TO THE PUBLIC. 



The work of this office m prosecutmg apphcations for patents for 

 employees of the department, to be dedicated to the pubhc (act of 

 Mar. 3, 1883, 22 Stat., 625), has been fully explained in the preceding 

 annual reports of this office. During the previous year 9 applications 

 for letters patent were filed and a like number were presented for 

 prosecution in the fiscal year 1911. Of the cases pending, 10 patents 

 were allowed. During the preceding year 5 patents were aUowed and 

 1 disallowed. At page 192 of this report will be found a table, setting 

 forth the details of the patent causes in which action was taken by 

 this office during the fiscal year 1911. As will be noted, the inventions 

 cover a wide range, including a plant-trimming machine, process for 

 wood impregnation, camera support, machine for testing the life of 

 typewriter ribbons, devices for marking meats, and a method for 

 constructing macadam roads. 



PUBLICATIONS OF THE OFFICE. 



In addition to the 442 notices of judgment published by authority 

 of section 4 of the food and drugs act and discussed in detail in 

 another part of this report, the oflice issued 20 circulars, embodying 

 decisions of the courts construing the statutes intrusted to the depart- 

 ment for execution. Eight of these embodied decisions on cases 

 arising under the 28-hour law, 6 under the food and drugs act, 1 

 under the live-stock quarantine act, and 3 of the acts of Congress 

 providing for the protection of the National Forests, 1 an opinion of 

 the Acting Attorney General, and 1 a decision in a case arising under 

 the Lacey Act. At the close of June 30, 1911, the office had in prepa- 

 ration a supplement to the annotated edition of the 28-hour law issued 

 on October 2, 1909, the purpose of which was to bring up to date the 

 original edition. There was also in preparation a revision of the com- 

 pilation entitled "Laws Applicable to the Department of Agriculture," 

 the first edition of which was published in 1908, and embraced a 

 compilation of all statutes, in effect at that time, applicable to the 

 Department of Agriculture. There was also being prepared a com- 

 pilation of references to the legislative history of acts of Congress 

 enforced by the department for use in connection with the construc- 

 tion of any of the provisions contained in such statutes. 



GENERAL AND SPECIAL ORDERS ISSUED BY THE SECRETARY 

 OF AGRICULTURE DURING THE FISCAL YEAR 1911. 



Department of Agriculture, 



Office of the Secretary, 

 Washington, B.C., September 9, 1910. 

 Special Order. 



To the chiefs of bureaus, independent offices, and divisions, the Forest Service: 



Section 4 of the act making appropriations for the legislative, executive, and judicial 

 expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1911, reads as follows: 

 'Sec. 4. That hereafter all supplies of fuel, ice, stationery, and other miscellaneous 

 supplies for the executive departments and other Government establishments in 

 Washington, when the public exigencies do not require the immediate delivery of the 

 article, shall be advertised and contracted for by the Secretary of the Treasury, instead 

 of by the several departments and establishments, upon such days as he may designate. 

 There shall be a general supply committee in lieu of the board provided for in section 

 thirty-seven hundred and nine of the Revised Statutes as amended, composed of 

 oflScers, one from each such department, designated by the head thereof, the dutiee 



23165°— agb 1911 51 



