No. 5. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. " 123 



Dealers or Growers located in the State may send samples of seeds 

 to the Department to be tested for the fee of 25c per sample. The 

 number of such special samples sent in to be tested for purity, to- 

 gether with the fee charged, was 376, making a total of 578 samples 

 of Seeds which were tested for purity during the year. This work 

 is necessarily tedious and must be carried out in a very careful man- 

 ner, and because of the large number of special samples received, it 

 was not thought advisable for the Special Agents to secure a larger 

 number of official samples. It is felt by the Department, from the 

 work already accomplished, that the Seed Law has been of great 

 benefit to the farmers and seedsmen of the State, as it has enabled 

 them without much trouble to learn the quality of the seeds covered 

 by the Law, for a small fee. The results of tests for purity made on 

 the official samples show that the quality of seeds being sold in the 

 State, as judged from these samples, are well above the standards 

 of purity set forth in the Law. The same conclusion can also be 

 drawn from the results obtained on the 376 special samples tested 

 during the year. Of the number of official samples received, 15 kinds 

 of Seeds covered by the Law, were represented, and in every case the 

 average of these tests for purity were above the standard for each 

 kind of Seed. Both official and special samples consisted mostly of 

 Red Clover, Alsike Clover, Alfalfa and Timothy Grass Seed. 



A Bulletin is in the course of preparation which will give in de- 

 tail the results of all the work accomplished in carrying out the 

 provisions of the Seed Law. There is no doubt in the minds of the 

 offiicials in charge of the enforcement of the Seed Law that it will 

 work a great benefit to farmers and seed dealers throughout the 

 State, and will tend to raise the character or quality of the seeds 

 offered for sale. The fact that samples of seeds can be tested for 

 purity for a small fee will make it easy for those interested to de- 

 termine whether or not the seeds which are being sold or offered for 

 sale will meet the standards set forth in the Law and also will give 

 an index to as their quality. 



Officials of the Department attended the annual meeting of the 

 Association of Feed Control Officials, held in November and took 

 part in the discussions. The meetings held by this body of State 

 Officials of the various states, engaged in Feeding Stuffs work, are 

 a source of valuable information. Definitions have been adopted for 

 nearly every product used for feeding purposes, and a better under- 

 standing of the many brands of feeds and their source of prepara- 

 tion, has resulted from these meetings. 



The amount of money appropriated for the two fiscal years, June 

 1st, 1913, to May 31st, 1915, for carrying out the provisions of the 

 Feeding Stuffs, Linseed Oil and Seed Laws was as follows : — 



Feeding Stuffs, $30,000.00 



Linseed Oil, 4,500.00 



Seeds, 4,000.00 



The amount of money expended to December 31st, 1914, out of 

 these funds were as follows: 



Feeding Stuffs, .f20,722.39 



Linseed Oil, 2,686.11 



Seed, 1,659.29 



