254 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



struction of liarinfnl and injurious insects and fungus diseases. The 

 annual report of the Secretary of Agriculture for 1905 stated that the 

 investigations of the department had shoAvn that many of the insecti- 

 cides offered to the farmers of this country are of little value and 

 that the price demanded and the value of the goods are not always 

 proportionate. Samples of insecticides widely in use were examined 

 in the Bureau of Chemistry and found not only to want the efficacy 

 ascribed to them, but also to be themselves more destructive than the 

 insects or diseases they were intended to destroy. The act follows in 

 substantial form the provisions of the food and drugs act of June 

 30, 1906, and is intended to suppress interstate commerce in adul- 

 terated and misbranded insecticides and fungicides. 



There have been reported to the Attorney General for prosecution 

 and for seizure of adulterated and misbranded goods 58 cases, and 

 convictions have resulted in 7 cases. 



PLANT QUARANTINE ACT. 



The plant quarantine act of August 20, 1912, is the successful out- 

 come of a number of attempts since 1899 to secure the enactment by 

 Congress of a comprehensive law which would enable the Federal 

 Government to prevent the importation into the United States from 

 foreign countries of nursery stock infested with injurious insects 

 or affected with plant diseases, and also to prevent the spread of 

 insect pests and plant diseases from one State to another. The act 

 in its general scheme follows the cattle quarantine law of 1905, and 

 under its provisions the Department of Agriculture, by regulations 

 promulgated by it, now has the power to control plant diseases and 

 parasites coming into the United States, as well as those which 

 originate in or are indigenous thereto. 



TRESPASSES ON NATIONAL FORESTS. 



The creation of National Forests out of lands in the public domain 

 suitable for the purpose was authorized by the act of March 

 3, 1891, and the jurisdiction over them was conferred upon the 

 Secretary of the Interior by the act of June 4, 1897. This jurisdic- 

 tion continued until February 1, 1905, when it was transferred to 

 the Secretary of Agriculture. Since the transfer of this jurisdiction 

 the National Forests have multiplied in number and increased in 

 territory until, at the present time, there are nearly two hundred 

 million acres of public lands reserved as National Forests. 



From February, 1905, until December, 1908, the department en- 

 deavored to administer the forests from Washington, but the increase 

 in extent of the forests and the increasing use of the lands for pur- 

 poses authorized by law plainly indicated that the only successful 



