52 CONTROL SERIES No. 74 



person selling or offering or exposing for sale the fertilizer sampled, or of a repre- 

 sentative of such person. Broken packages shall not be sampled, and all samples 

 shall be taken by means of a sampling tube so designed as to remove a core extending 

 from the top to the bottom of the package, from substantially ten per cent of the 

 fertilizer to be sampled, except that if fertilizer is sold or offered or exposed for 

 sale in bulk ten single samples shall be taken from as many different portions of 

 the lot. An unbroken package of fertilizer, not exceeding twenty-five pounds, may, 

 upon tendering the market price, be taken for the purpose of analysis and the contents 

 thereof shall constitute a suitable and legal sample for said purpose. All samples 

 taken shall be thoroughly mixed and divided into two nearly equal samples, 

 placed in suitable vessels, and marked and sealed. Both shall be retained by the 

 director, but one shall be held intact by him for one year at the disposal of the 

 person named in the label of the fertilizer sampled. 



Disposition of Fees, etc. 



Section 259. All fees for analysis, or otherwise, under any provision of sections 

 two hundred and fifty to two hundred and sixty-one, inclusive, shall be collected 

 by the director and paid to the commonwealth. 



Rules and Regulations. Complaints. 



Section 260. The director shall enforce sections two hundred and fifty to 

 two hundred and sixty-one, inclusive, and may prescribe and enforce such rules 

 and regulations as to the sale of commercial fertilizers as he deems necessary to 

 enforce said sections, and may prosecute or cause to be prosecuted any person 

 violating any provision of said sections. No complaint based upon an analysis 

 of samples shall be made for any violation of any provision of said sections if 

 samples are taken otherwise than as provided therein. No complaint shall be 

 made for the failure of any fertilizer or brand of fertilizer to meet the guaranteed 

 analysis thereof if the analysis made by the director of such fertilizer or brand 

 shows the amounts of its constituents to be substantially equivalent to the per- 

 centages stated in the label. 



Penalty for Hindering, etc.. Director, etc. 



Section 261. Whoever hinders or obstructs the director, his inspector, or 

 deputy, in the discharge of any authority or duty conferred or imposed by any 

 provision of sections two hundred and fifty to two hundred and sixty-one, inclu- 

 sive, and except as otherwise provided in section two hundred and fifty-six, who- 

 ever violates any provision of sections two hundred and fifty to two hundred and 

 fifty-four, inclusive, shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty nor more than 

 two hundred dollars. 



Recent Rulings and Regulations. 



Certain fertilizer materials, such as nitrate of soda and potash salts, have in 

 the past been registered by the importers. This is supposed to relieve the fer- 

 tilizer manufacturer, who may be the retail distributor, from this obligation. 

 Unfortunately, however, in some instances, particularly with nitrate of soda, 

 there is but little cooperation between the importer and manufacturer to see 

 that lots which are sold in the unmixed condition are properly branded as pro- 

 vided by law. In most of the cases that have com? to our notice the fault has 

 been with the importer, who has made shipment direct to the local distributor 

 on order from the manufacturer but has neglected to attach the label to each 

 package. The manufacturer who took the order may not have seen the material 

 at any time during the transaction. In other cases the manufacturer may have 



