226 Twenty-Second Annual Repoet of the 



ing and Grading law, is a great help in the Department work, and will be 

 taken up in all lines of Department endeavor. The plea of ignorance, after 

 such a plan is carried out, has less weight as evidence. Some people say that 

 it is education, and not prosecution, that is needed. I believe this is true 

 in the main, but in the enforcement of the Apple Packing law we have dis- 

 covered many cases which indicate that the latter, and not the former, is 

 necessary. I refer to those who have boasted of " getting by," when they 

 have a full knowledge of the requirements of the law. 



The first efforts of the Department in the enforcement of the law were 

 devoted to the question of the required markings on closed packages at many 

 and widely separated shipping points. The first two weeks' work semed to 

 show that most shippers did not comply with the law in respect to marking, 

 but in four to eight weeks great improvement in marking was reported. 



After the bulk of the strictly fall apples were marketed I increased the 

 force of inspectors, and efforts were made to examine shipments for the pur- 

 pose of detecting violations in packing, as well as marking. Here is where 

 our difficulties began. 



The color qualifications, notwithstanding the explicit terms given, have 

 proved apparently difficult for some packers to understand, or else the packers 

 have tried to see how close to the line they could sort and be just within the 

 law. 



Apple scab is perhaps the most serious problem discovered so far in the 

 work. The majority of the violations submitted for the action of our counsel 

 during the fall season was because of apple scab packed in excess of the 

 tolerance allowance in the several grades. 



Many individuals have opinions relative to the meaning of the words 

 " practically free," used in this law, but the Department inspectors have been 

 instructed that the meaning of the words " practically free " is as set forth 

 at page 7 in Circular 118, as follows: '"Practically free' means that apples 

 having small defects, so few in number as not to injure the appearance or 

 keeping quality of the fruit, are allowed in this grade. These defects are 

 allowed in addition to the tolerance percentage." On this subject the in- 

 spectors have been told to give the packer the advantage in doubtful cases. 

 Claim is made by some that apple scab develops or spreads in understorage 

 conditions. This subject is under investigation. The fact, however, remains 

 that it is the duty of the Department to make cases of violations of the law, 

 when apples are offered for sale, if the tolerance allowance is exceeded. 



To January 1st the Department has received from its inspectors working 

 on the Apple Grading law 2,400 formal reports of shipments. This number, 

 of course, is but a small portion of a large number of shipments that were 

 observed during the shipping season, but no report was made of such for the 

 reason that the marking and the packing were apparently in accordance with 

 the law. Nine hundred and fifty of these reports related to minor violations 

 of the law, such as incomplete or irregular branding. Two hundred and four 

 cases have been referred to the counsel, with proof of violation. 



Kumors have been afloat to the effect that the law was not being enforced, 

 and that a large portion of the apples going to market were not graded or 

 marked according to law. This did not conform to my belief in the matter, 

 as our records did not show it. I wanted to be certain, however, that the 



