REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER. 23 



very little could be accomplished. As soon as our staixlards 

 were complete I sent notices to the twenty cities of the State, 

 asking them to send in their city standards of weights and 

 measures to be sealed. Nine cities responded, and out of all 

 that were sent in from the nine cities one could not get a com- 

 plete outfit that would be sufficient for taking up the work of a 

 sealer of weights and measures. This will give an Idea of the 

 condition of the weights and measures of the cities of the State. 



I also sent out a recommendation to the towns, giving them a 

 list of what would be required to make a complete outfit for a 

 town in order to seal the weights and measures and to do the 

 work correctly. I also advised the towns to cooperate, by 

 four or five towns getting together to purchase a set of stand- 

 ards and having one man do the sealing, so that each town 

 would not be obliged to go to the expense of purchasing an out- 

 fit, as many of the towns have only a few places where meas- 

 ures and scales are used. 



There was an interesting exhibit of condemned weights and 

 measures and a splendid lecture given by Mr. A. S. K. Clark, 

 a deputy state sealer of Massachusetts, at our Dairy Meeting 

 held in Saco December 12th, which can be seen in another part 

 of this report. 



I hope the coming legislature will make an appropriation so 

 that a man can be put on this important work, to protect the 

 honest dealer and the consumer, as well as the farmer who sells 

 the product of the farm to the dealer. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 



In consideration of the splendid assistance that has been 

 rendered me as Commissioner of Agriculture, I wish to ac- 

 knowledge my appreciation as follows : 



To the Governor and Council for their approval and support 

 in so many dififerent branches of my work that are for the 

 benefit of those interested in agriculture as well as the State 

 and her people. 



To the Attorney General, Hon. W. R. Pattangall, who has 

 rendered me such valuable assistance in the interpretation and 



