Patents applied for by members of the department-Continued.

REPORT OF THE INSECTICIDE AND FUNGICIDE BOARD.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,

INSECTICIDE AND FUNGICIDE BOARD,

Washington, D. C., September 24, 1920.

SIR: I have the honor to submit, herewith the report on the work of the Insecticide and Fungicide Board for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1920.

Respectfully,

J. K. HAYWOOD,
Chairman of Board.

Hon. E. T. MEREDITH,

Secretary of Agriculture.

The board was inaugurated to assist the Secretary of Agriculture in the enforcement of the insecticide act of 1910. The purpose of this act is to prevent the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded Paris greens, lead arsenates, and other insecticides, and also fungicides (including disinfectants), and for regulating traffic therein. The act has been in effect since January 1, 1911, and the enforcement has resulted in greatly improving the quality of proprietary insecticides and fungicides and in making their labels truthful representations of their efficiency.

The industry regulated by this act has experienced a tremendous growth, with a consequent increase in the work of the board. It has developed from a side-line business to one attracting the investment of a large amount of capital and the erection of many plants for the manufacture of an increasing variety of preparations. Through the efforts of scientific investigators new methods of controlling insects and fungi have been developed and the industry is of constantly increasing economic importance. The overcoming of losses to crops and animals through the application of proper remedies has come to be regarded as an important part of commercial farming and stock raising, and the use of the materials controlled by this act has consequently become more general and the tonnage entering interstate commerce is now very large.

New household insecticides and general disinfectants are constantly found on the market, and their use appears to be increasing every year. Large quantities of cattle dips, sheep dips, and preparations for use on poultry and domestic animals are found on the market which require inspection, and the facilities of the board are fully employed in collecting and examining samples of the various preparations, many of which contain new combinations of ingredients.

During the year it was noted that a considerable number of disinfectant manufacturers were adulterating their so-called "pine oil" disinfectants with mineral oil; also some manufacturers of so-called "coal-tar disinfectants" were adulerating these with mineral oil. Several cases involving such adulteration were referred to the Department of Justice to institute prosecution.

The campaign started during the fiscal year 1919 against insectpowder adulteration with powdered daisies was continued during the fiscal year 1920. As a result of this campaign this form of adulteration appears to have markedly decreased. Since the price of insect powder has been so high there has been a marked tendency for certain manufacturers to adulterate their insect powder with insect flower stems or other cheap adulterants. A considerable number of such cases as this have been forwarded to the courts for prosecution.

The campaign against adulterated and misbranded disinfectants has been continued during the year, and a considerable number of disinfectant cases have been forwarded to the courts for prosecution. In some of these the manufacturers claimed phenol coefficients much higher than were shown by a test of their goods; in others preparations were recommended as disinfectants which in fact possessed no disinfecting qualities; but the principal fault in these preparations lay in the very exorbitant and faulty claims made for the products in the labels and literature. While a considerable improvement in the preparation and labeling of disinfectants has been brought about as a result of the enforcement of the insecticide act, this class of preparations should and will receive further control and regulation under the provisions of the act.

The campaign to improve the quality of Bordeaux and Bordeauxlead arsenates sold on the American market and secure such correction of the labeling of these products that they will be effective as fungicides when used at the dilutions recommended has been continued. A marked improvement in the quality and labeling of these preparations has been brought about as the result of the activities of this board. However, some of these preparations are still of poor quality and will not do what is claimed for them. Field tests are being made to enable the board to proceed against such of the Bordeaux and Bordeaux-lead arsenates on the market as are misbranded or adulterated, or both, under the provisions of the insecticide act. During the fiscal year 1919 a campaign was inaugurated which had for its purpose the inspection of calcium arsenate used for cottonboll-weevil control. After years of experimentation on the part of the Bureau of Entomology, a remedy for the cotton-boll weevil was finally found in the product calcium arsenate. However, such calcium arsenate, when applied as a dust, in order to be effective against the cotton-boll weevil and yet not injurious to the cotton plant, must be up to a certain standard for total arsenic, must not contain more than a very small amount of arsenic in water-soluble forms, and must be of about a certain density. As a result of the discovery that calcium arsenate would control cotton-boll weevil, about 3,000,000 pounds of it were manufactured and shipped to the South during the 1919 cotton-growing season. The campaign carried on to control the purity under the provisions of the insecticide act showed that

many of the shipments of calcium arsenate contained so much watersoluble arsenic that they would seriously injure or kill the cotton plants on which they were used, and some shipments contained much less than the standard amount of total arsenic pentoxid, the constituent which measures the insect-killing power of the article. A considerable number of seizures were made, thus preventing the use of this substandard material, and the manufacturers were, or are, being prosecuted.

During the 1920 cotton-growing season it is estimated that fully 10,000,000 pounds of calcium arsenate have been shipped to the South for cotton-boll-weevil control. In the early summer of 1920 all the inspectors who could possibly be spared were directed to give their entire attention to the calcium-arsenate situation, working in cooperation with the field agents of the Bureau of Entomology. They have covered all the Southern States where calcium arsenate is sold and have sent in samples for chemical analysis in order to determine its standard and purity and for test in the field by the Bureau of Entomology in order to determine its burning properties. The calcium-arsenate inspection work up to date clearly indicates that a very extensive and complete control will have to be maintained over all the calcium arsenate sent to the South. While, as a whole, this commodity appears to be less seriously adulterated and misbranded than it was in 1919, yet a considerable number of shipments, in whole or in part, are below standard in some respect. It is the intention of the board to continue its practice of inspecting shipments of this insecticide with a view to recommending the seizure of all such as are found to be injurious to the cotton plant or ineffective against the weevil.

INTERSTATE SAMPLES.

During the fiscal year the board reported to the Solicitor of the department 124 cases presenting alleged violations of law, with recommendation that the facts be transmitted to the Attorney General to institute criminal action or seizure proceedings. Disposition was made of 120 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 explanation of his failure to conform to the provisions of the act. Action was taken to place in abeyance 524 samples which, upon examination and test, were 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, 1920, 79 cases were pending preliminary hearings or before the board for final action, 251 were held in temporary abeyance pending the receipt of further information or the outcome of prosecutions based on the same product or correspondence with the manufacturers, and 415 samples were undergoing analysis and test. The inspectors and sample collectors of the board, operating throughout the United States, collected 717 samples during the year. A general classification of the articles represented in the collection is as follows: