Chap. 80.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act approved May 20, 1903, as
heretofore amended, entitled: An act defining the duties and powers of the
board of agriculture and immigration, so as to prescribe the powers and
auties of said board and said commissioner, and to repeal an act approved
February 29, 1888, entitled: An act to further define the duties and enlarge
the powers of the commissioner of agriculture, and an act approved March 5,
1888, entitled: An act to provide a Commissioner of Agriculture of Virginia
and making an appropriation therefor and to'repeal sections 1785, 1786, 1787,
1788, 1789, and 1790 of the Code of Virginia. .

Approved February 25, 1908.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That an act
approved May twentieth, nineteen hundred and three, as heretofore
amended, entitled an act defining the powers and duties of the board
of agriculture and immigration, and providing for the election of a com-
missioner of agriculture and immigration, be amended and re-enacted
so as to read as follows:

2. The department of agriculture and immigration shall be under the
management and control of a board of agriculture ‘composed of one
member from each congressional district, who shall be a practical farmer,
appointed by the governor for a term of four years, and confirmed by the
senate, but not more than two-thirds of the members thereof shall be-
long to one political party at the same time; and the president of the
Virginia college of agriculture and polytechnic institute, who shall
be ex-officio a member of the board: provided, that nothing herein con-
tained shall be held to vacate the office of any of the present members of
said board. All vacancies in the membership of the board shall be filled
by the governor for the unexpired term.

3. Meeting of the board; special session; how called.—The said board
shall meet three times a year for the transaction of business: provided,
that special meetings thereof may be had at any time upon the call of
the president of the board, the request of the commissioner of agricul-
ture, or a majority of the members of the board made in writing.

4. Officers of the board.—The officers of the board shall consist of a
president and a secretary, who shall be elected by the board, and shall
hold office during its pleasure,

The secretary of the board shall perform such duties as are usually
incident to such an office, and shall be entitled to receive such compen-
sation as the board may prescribe, not exceeding one hundred dollars per
annum.

5. Powers of the board.—The said board shall be charged with all
matters tending to promotion of the agricultural matters of the State.
It shall have power to receive and hold in trust any donation made to
it for the advancement of the agricultural interests of the State and to
administer the same.

The said board shall have power to purchase or lease land, not to
exceed one hundred acres, in any congressional district, for experimental
purposes in agriculture, and it shall regulate and prescribe the
salaries of such officers and employees of the department, who shall
be employed in such experimental work. All such employees shall have
had practical farm experience.

The said board shall appoint an auditing committee to consist of
three members, which shall be charged with the duty of auditing the
accounts of the department, and shall report thereon to the board at
a regular meeting of said board.

The board shall have control of all the funds of the department and
none of said funds shall be paid out except upon appropriations made at
a regular meeting of the board.

6. Compensation -of the board—The members of the board shall
receive no compensation, but shall be paid their necessary expenses
incurred in the performance of their duties. -

% The commissioner of agriculture and immigration—There
shall be a commissioner of agriculture and immigration, whose
term of office shall be four years, and who shall be elected by the
qualified voters of the State, and shall be vested with such powers and
duties as are herein set out, and such other powers and duties as may
be prescribed by law.

8. He shall be elected at the general election of the State officers, to
be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, nineteen
hundred and ynine, and every four years thereafter. He shall be voted
for on the same ballot as the other State officers are voted for, and any
vacancy in the office of the commissioner of agriculture and immigra-
tion shall be filled by appointment by the governor, such appointee to
hold office until the next general election for this office and the quali-
fication of a successor.
9. The salary of the said commissioner shall be two thousand eight
hundred dollars per annum, and he shall give bond with good security,
to be approved by the attorney general, in the penalty of thirty thousand
dollars, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his
office, as they.are, or may be from time to time prescribed by law.

10. Pawers and duties of the commissioner.—The said commissioner
shall be the executive officer of the board and shall see that
their orders are carried out, and shall have the immediate direction of
all the work of the department.

He shall, subject to the approval of the board, appoint the following
employees of the department, who shall be under his direction and con-
trol, and he shall have power to remove them, or any of them, at any
time he may think the interest of the department require such removal
and report to the next meeting of the board the cause for such re-
moval; provided, that the commissioner shall have the sole appointment
of the stenographers herein named.

One fertilizer clerk, whose salary shall be one thousand five hundred
dollars per annum.

One clerk, whose salary shall be one thousand five hundred dollars
per annum.

One assistant clerk, whose salary shall be one thousand four hundred
dollars per annum.

Two stenographers, one of whom shall be a bookkeeper, who shall be
paid a salary of seven hundred and twenty dollars each per annum.

One janitor, who shall be paid a salary of six hundred dollars per
annum.

One State chemist, who shall be paid a salary of two thousand dollars
per annum.

One assistant chemist, who shall be paid a salary of one thousand
five hundred dollars per annum.

One second assistant chemist, who shall be paid a salary of one
thousand four hundred ‘dollars per annum.

One third assistant chemist, who shall be paid a salary of one thou-
sand four hundred dollars per annum.

One fourth assistant chemist, who shall be paid a salary of one thou-
sand two hundred dollars per annum.

One janitor for the laboratory, who shall receive a salary of thirty-
five dollars per month, and who shall be appointed by the State
chemist.

All salaries and expenses of the department, and all expenditures shall
be paid out of the funds in the treasury to the credit of the department,
upon warrants drawn by the commissioner and countersigned by the
president of the board.

11. The commissioner of agriculture shall see to the proper execution
of the laws relating to the subject of his department, and he shall
investigate and promote such subjects relating to the improvement
of agriculture, the beneficial use of commercial fertilizer and compost,
and for the inducement of immigration and capital, and he shall be
especially charged with the supervision of the trade in commercial
fertilizers as will best protect the interests of the farmers with the en-
forcement of the laws which are or. may be enacted in this State con-
cerning the sale of commercial fertilizers, seed and food products, with
authority to make regulations governing the same, subject to the ap-
proval of the board, and publish them in bulletins.

He shall be charged with the inducement of capital and immigration,
by the dissemination of information relative the advantages of soil,
climate, healthfulness and markets of this State, and to resources and
industrial opportunities offered in the State, and he shall prepare a
handbook, giving the resources of the several counties of the State, in-
cluding the varieties of soil, and products, and such other information
as he may deem useful, and also with investigation adapted to promote
the improvement of the milch and beef cattle and other stock. He
shall investigate and report upon the conditions of timber in this State,
and recommend such legislation as will promote its growth and pro-
tection. He shall report on the extent and kinds of minerals in the
State, and, as far as possible, ascertain their value.

12. He shall have charge of the museum of the department of agri-
culture and immigration, and cause to be collected, preserved, and
exhibited therein specimens of the agricultural and horticultural pro-
ducts, minerals, flora, and fuana of this State and its woods, and shall
have such other powers and duties as are prescribed by law.

13. Farmers’ institute-—He shall hold or cause to be held, for the
benefit of the agricultural community, farmers’ institutes, from time to
time, in each congressional district, the said institutes to be conducted
under the joint direction of himself and the member of the board of agri-
culture and immigration from the district in which the same shall be
held, and he shall publish and distribute such papers, read or made at
these institutes, as in his judgment or in the judgment of the board of
agriculture and immigration, may be of value to the farmers’ interests
of the State. The expense of said institute and such publications shall
be paid out of the funds of the department as other expenditures are
made.

14. Report.—The commissioner shall annually submit to the board a
full report covering the operations of the department for the year, in-
cluding a detailed financial statement of all its receipts and expendi-
tures made under its direction, and giving such other information on
practical agricultural subjects as shall be helpful to the farmers of the
State, said report to be embraced in the annual report of the board to the
governor, which report shall be designated and printed as “the annual
report of the commissioner and of the board of agriculture and immigra-
tion.”

15. Be it further enacted that an act approved February twenty-
ninth, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, entitled, an act to further
define the powers and enlarge the duties of the commissioner of agri-
culture and an act approved March fifth, eighteen hundred and eighty-
eight, entitled an act to provide for a commissioner of agriculture
of Virginia and making an appropriation therefor and also sections
seventeen hundred and eighty-five, seventeen hundred and eighty-six,
seventeen hundred and eighty-seven, seventeen hundred and eighty-eight.
seventeen hundred and eighty-nine and seventeen hundred and nintey
of the Code of Virginia be, and the same are hereby, repealed.