SEED INSPECTION 5 



Section 261H. The commissioner of agriculture, either in person or by his 

 assistants, shall have free access at all reasonable hours to each building or other 

 place where agricultural seeds or mixtures thereof are stored, sold or offered or 

 exposed for sale for the purpose of inspection of such seeds and, upon tendering 

 the market price, tusly take samples of such agricultural seeds or mixtures thereof 

 for tests and analyses. Such samples shall be thoroughly mixed and two official 

 samples taken therefrom; each official sample shall be securely sealed. One of 

 these official samples shall be held by the commissioner or his authorized agent 

 at the disposal of the person named on the label as the vendor of the agricultural 

 seed sampled, for six months after the results of the analysis have been reported 

 as provided in the following section, and the other sample retained by said com- 

 missioner or agent for analysis. 



Section 2611. The commissioner of agriculture shall cause such tests and 

 analyses as he may specify to be made of samples collected under the preceding 

 section in order to determine the quality of the seeds contained in such samples. 

 To enable said commissioner to determine the trueness to type or variety of 

 vegetable and other seeds he shall provide that field tests be made of such samples 

 of seeds as he may designate and may publish the results of all such tests and 

 analyses as are made in accordance with the provisions of this section. 



Section 261J. The word "approximate" as used in sections two hundred and 

 sixty-one A to two hundred and sixty-one L, inclusive, shall be defined in rules and 

 regulations promulgated by the commissioner of agriculture. 



Section 261K. Any person residing or doing business in this commonwealth 

 shall have the privilege of submitting to the commissioner of agriculture samples 

 of agricultural seeds for test and analysis, subject to such rules and regulations as 

 may be adopted by said commissioner, including a reasonable charge or fee for 

 such test and analysis. Receipts under this section shall be paid into the treasury 

 of the commonwealth. 



Section 261L. Whoever sells, offers or exposes for sale, any lot of agricultural 

 seeds, or mixtures of agricultural seeds, without complying with the requirements 

 of sections two hundred and sixty-one A to two hundred and sixty-one K, inclusive, 

 or falsely marks or labels such agricultural seeds or mixtures thereof or vegetable 

 seeds, or impedes, obstructs or hinders the commissioner of agriculture or any 

 of his duly authorized agents in the discharge of the authority or duties conferred 

 or imposed by any provision of said sections, shall be punished by a fine of not 

 more than five hundred dollars. 



Section 3. This act shall take effect on November first, nineteen hundred and 

 twentj'-seven. 



Approved April 18, 1927. 



Results of Inspection 



Seeds are examined by the seed analyst in order to determine if they meet 

 with the requirements of the seed law for purity and germination. In some 

 instances this work may be supplemented by field tests in order to determine if 

 they are also true to declared type and variety. 



The purity analysis discovers the percentage of inert material (chaff and dirt) , 

 the presence and amount of foreign seed including noxious weeds, and if necessary 

 the amount of unnamed crop seeds present. An examination for purity is of 

 special value for grass seeds and grass seed mixtures. 



The germination test determines the percentage of seed that will germinate 

 under laboratory conditions which as nearly as possible duplicate conditions 

 actually found by the germinating seed in the field. A statement of germination 

 is not required or applied to mixtures of more than two kinds of seeds unless 

 requested by people submitting seed samples for examination. 



On account of the fact that at its inception any control law must pass through 

 a period of acquainting both seller and purchaser with the intent and purpose of 

 the law it has not been thought wise to publish the detailed analyses of the 240 

 official samples. These were, however, reported to the dealers where samples 

 were collected and attention called to any irregularities which might be in conflict 

 with the requirements of the act. In some instances guarantees could not be 

 obtained. 



