REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER. 9 



true of those people who are attempting to market seed potatoes 

 in the South. I find a continual inquiry from every source, 

 asking for these disease-free seed, and lauding the results that 

 they have obtained by using it. The potato seed trade for the 

 State of Maine is one of the big items of our potato industry, 

 and every efiort should be made, not only to encourage its 

 growth for shipment abroad, but for its use at home, for what 

 is good for other sections of the country is especially true of 

 our own. Less attempt has been made to improve the seed of 

 other crops ; field corn has been largely replaced by sweet corn 

 and the packers themselves prefer to furnish their own seed 

 sweet corn. With oats this work is being done by developing 

 new and more prolific varieties, and is conducted by the Experi- 

 ment Station. This work has not received the attention in the 

 past that its merit demands. I have attempted to systematize 

 it, and have succeeded in doing so to a great degree. 



Bureau of Inspection. 



The bureau of inspection has been under the able manage- 

 ment of A. M. G. Soule, who has been chief of this bureau 

 since its creation. This Department has widened its scope so 

 as to undertake work that is of the greatest importance to all 

 consumers of food. It has also broadened and paid more atten- 

 tion to plant food, inasmuch as the inspection of fertilizer is 

 under this bureau. The unfortunate conditions that we found 

 prevailing in the fertilizer situation in 191 5 has been very much 

 corrected in 1916, and the brands of fertilizer for sale in the 

 State of Maine have been more nearly in compliance with the 

 guarantees that are found upon the outside of the package than 

 ever before. The law specifies that the guarantee shall be upon 

 each package. Heretofore, ten packages have been broken for 

 a sample ; during the past year but one package has been broken 

 for each sample. The manufacturers felt as though this would 

 work a hardship on them, but we are glad to notice that, in 

 almost every case, the analysis has equalled or exceeded the 

 guarantee. The former method of forwarding these samples 

 to the Experiment Station with the name of the manufacturer 

 and the guarantee that was given on the package has been dis- 

 continued. It seemed to me proper to withhold this in forma- 



