In submitting this, the Fourth Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture, permit me to say that I assumed the duties of office on the 1st day of May, 1896, so that I have personal knowledge of the work from that time forward. When I took charge I found that the State for the purposes of the work had been divided into ten divisions, as follows:

First Division.- Comprising the following counties: Albany, Otsego, Schenectady, Schoharie, Rensselaer and Washington. Second Division.- Comprising the following counties: Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk, and one-half of Westchester.

Third Division.- Comprising the following counties: Columbia, Delaware, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and one-half of Westchester.

Fourth Division.- Comprising the following counties: Essex, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Montgomery, Oswego, Oneida and Warren.

Fifth Division.- Comprising the following counties: Clinton, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence.

Sixth Division.- Comprising the following counties: Broome, Chenango, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga, Tioga and Tompkins. Seventh Division.- Comprising the following counties: Chemung, Genesee, Livingston, Schuyler, Steuben and Wyoming. Eighth Division.-Comprising the following counties: Cayuga, Monroe, Ontario, Seneca, Wayne and Yates.

Ninth Division.- Comprising the following counties: Erie, Niagara and Orleans.

Tenth Division.- Comprising the following counties: Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua.

A careful examination of the divisions as above set forth has convinced me that some of them should be changed; I have, however, been so busy with other matters up to the present time that I have not given this subject the consideration that would be necessary to determine just what the changes should be.

I also found that the employes or agents in the different divisions were under the civil service rules, and that these places had to be filled from the eligible list of the Civil Service Commission; the assistant commissioners at that time, however, were exempt; since coming into office I have received the resignations of the different assistant commissioners, with the exception of Mr. Geo. L. Flanders, of the First Division, who has been assistant commissioner since the formation of this department, and whom I have reappointed; and Mr. J. P. Clark, of the Tenth Division, whom I have also reappointed. In the other divisions I have made new appointments, so that the assistant commissioners are now as follows:

First Division.-Geo. L. Flanders, Albany, N. Y.

Second Division.-Frederick J. H. Kracke, New York city.
Third Division.-Henry S. Ambler, Chatham, N. Y.
Fourth Division.-T. Jas. Owens, Steuben, N. Y.
Fifth Division.-S. B. Richardson, Lowville, N. Y.
Sixth Division.-Chas. R. Payne, Hamilton, N. Y.
Seventh Division.-Verlett C. Beebe, Arcade, N. Y.
Eighth Division.-Wm. T. Hughes, Rochester, N. Y.
Ninth Division.-Asa L. Twitchell, Springville, N. Y.
Tenth Division.-J. P. Clark, Falconer, N. Y.

I have made but few changes in the employes. The appointments that I have made in adding to the force have been by selec tions from the civil service list in conformity with the civil service rules and the laws of the State. I find that the demand for work along our lines in the different portions of the State is increasing gradually as knowledge of the Department becomes more extended.

Frequent conferences have been held with the assistant commissioners for discussion of the important questions coming up from time to time before them in their different divisions with the idea of better promoting uniformity and efficiency in the work, and I have thereby put myself in close touch with the work throughout the State.

Reports of the work of the men as performed weekly are made to this office, and I am of the opinion that every man now in the Department is actively engaged in the prosecution of the work.

The reports of the several assistant commissioners are submitted herewith and show that the results produced are in the interest of the consuming public.

GENERAL WORK OF DEPARTMENT.

The general work of this Department may be divided as follows:

First. The enforcement of the milk law.

Second. The enforcement of the oleomargarine or imitation butter laws.

Third. The enforcement of the cheese law.

Fourth.-The enforcement of the law relative to the care and feed of cows from which milk is drawn for sale.

Fifth. The enforcement of the vinegar law.

Sixth. The enforcement of the law relative to the diseases of domestic animals.

Seventh. The enforcement of the law relative to the prevention of diseases among bees and fruit trees.

Eighth. The distribution of money among the agricultural societies of the State.

Ninth.- Conducting the work of Farmers' Institutes. (The institute work.)

Tenth. The enforcement of the law relative to Geneva and Ithaca agricultural experiment stations. (Such supervision and direction of the work of these stations as is required by the Agricultural Law.)

MILK.

The enforcement of the milk laws as provided in sections 20, 22 and 23 of chapter 338 of the Laws of 1893, which are as follows:

Section 20. Definitions.-The terms, butter and cheese, when used in this article, mean the products of the dairy, usually known by those terms, which are manufactured exclusively from pure, unadulterated milk or cream or both, with or without salt or rennet, and with or without coloring matter or sage. The terms oleomargarine, butterine, imitation butter or imitation cheese, shall be construed to mean any article or substance in the semblance of butter or cheese not the usual product of the dairy, and not made exclusively of pure or unadulterated milk or cream, or any such article or substance into which any oil, lard or fat not produced from milk or cream enters as a component part, or into which melted butter in any condition or state, or any oil thereof, has been introduced to take the place of cream. The term adulterated milk, when so used, means:

1. Milk containing more than eighty-eight per centum of water or fluids.

2. Milk containing less than twelve per centum of milk solids. 3. Milk containing less than three per centum of fats.

4. Milk drawn from cows within fifteen days before and five days after parturition.

5. Milk drawn from animals fed on distillery waste or any substance in a state of fermentation or putrefaction or on any unhealthy food.

6. Milk drawn from cows kept in a crowded or unhealthy condition.

7. Milk from which any part of the cream has been removed. 8. Milk which has been diluted with water or any other fluid, or to which has been added or into which has been introduced any foreign substance whatever.

All adulterated milk shall be deemed unclean, unhealthy, impure and unwholesome. The terms, pure milk or unadulterated milk, when used singly or together mean sweet milk not adulterated, and the terms pure cream or unadulterated cream, when used singly or together mean cream taken from pure and unadulterated milk.

§ 22. Prohibition of the sale of adulterated milk.-No person shall sell or exchange, or offer or expose for sale or exchange any unclean, impure, unhealthy, adulterated or unwholesome milk or any cream from the same, or sell or exchange any arti cle of food made from such milk, or of or from cream from the