14 LAWS APPLICABLE TO DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



REV. ST. SEC. 526. 



Duties of the Commissioner [Secretary]. 



Sec. 526. The Commissioner of Agriculture shall procure and 

 preserve all information concerning agriculture which he can obtain 

 by means of books and correspondence, and by practical and scientific 

 experiments, accurate records of which experiments shall be kept in 

 his Office, by the collection of statistics, and by any other appropriate 

 means within his power ; he shall collect new and valuable seeds and 

 plants; shall test, by cultivation, the value of such of them as may 

 require such tests; shall propagate such as may be worthy of propa- 

 gation ; and shall distribute them among agriculturists. 



See note under Rev. St. sec. 525. above, as to change of designation of 

 Commissioner to Secretary of Agriculture. 



ACT AUGUST 2. 1886, c. 840. (24 Stat. 209.) 



Commissioner [Secretary] of Agriculture a member of board of appeals from 

 decisions as to £i:tEtances in imitation of butter. 



The Commissioner [of Internal Revenue] may also decide whether 

 any substance made in imitation or semblance of butter, and intended 

 for human consumption, contains ingredients deleterious to the public 

 health ; but in case of doubt or contest his decisions in this class of 

 cases may be appealed from to a board hereby constituted for the 

 purpose, and composed of the Surgeon-General of the Army, the 

 t!»urgeon-General of the Navy, and the Commissioner of Agriculture; 

 and the decisions of this board shall be final in the premises. 



Act August 2, 1886, c. 840, s. 14, 24 Stat. 212. 



ACT JUNE 6. 1896, c. 337. (29 Stat. 253.) 



Secretary of Agriculture a member of board of appeals from decisions as to 

 ingredients of filled cheese. 



Sec. 15. That the Commissioner of Internal Revenue is authorized 

 to have applied scientific test?, and to decide whether any substances 

 used in the manufacture of filled cheese contain ingi'edients deleterious 

 to health. But in case of doubt or contest his decision in this class 

 of cases may be appealed from to a board hereby constituted for the 

 purpose, and composed of the Surgeon-General of the Army, the 

 Surgeon-General of the Navy, and the Secretary of Agriculture, and 

 the decision of this board shall be final in the premises. 



Act June 6, 1896, c. 337. s. 15, 29 Stat. 256. 



This is a section of "An act defining cheese, and also imposing a tax 

 upon and regulating the manufacture, sale, importation, and exportation 

 of ' filled chees(.' " cited above. 



ACT AUGUST 10. 1912. c. 284. (37 Stat. 269.) 



Secretary authorized to investigate cost of food supplies. 



And the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized to continue 

 investigations on the cost of food supplies at the farm and to the con- 

 sumer, and to disseminate the results of such investigations in what- 

 ever manner he may deem best. 



Act August 10. 1912, c. 284, 37 Stat. 300. 



This is a provision of the agricultural appropriation act for the fiscal 

 year 1913, cited above. 



