Milk Dealers Financial Reports 

 The 1929 Legislature passed a law requiring all licensed milk dealers pur- 

 chasing milk from producers within the Commonwealth to file with the 

 commissioner of agriculture, a complete financial report during the month 

 of September. The list of licensed milk dealers was secured from milk 

 inspectors. A total of 608 reports have been filed as a result of this law. 

 These are open to inspection by the public. Because this is a new law, only 

 a few farmers have availed themselves of this opportunity of checking up 

 on the financial standing of their milk dealer. 



Inspection 

 Less time was spent on checking up the illegal sale of oleomargarine than 

 in previous years. Eleven cases of violations were discovered on eight of 

 which fines were secured and three were appealed. A total of 1,980 stores 

 and restaurants were inspected. There were 387 stores inspected under 

 the seed inspection law and 416 seed samples collected which were sent to 

 the seed laboratory at Amherst for examination. 



1929 Ton Litter Contest 



During the past four years a Ton Litter Contest has been conducted an- 

 nually in an effort to improve the methods of raising hogs in the State. Very 

 satisfactory improvement in the efficiency of pork production has been 

 noted on State Institution farms that have consistently competed in these 

 contests. The object is to raise a ton or more of pork from one litter of 

 pigs, starting at birth and finishing at six months of age. Better breeding 

 animals have been purchased and more care used in selecting brood sows, 

 with the result that the pigs made more rapid gains and reached killing 

 weight at an earlier date. 



The Northampton State Hospital won the 1929 Contest with a total 

 weight of 3,085 pounds for eleven pigs, or an average of 280 pounds per pig. 

 Grafton State Hospital was second and third with litters weighing 2,820J^ 

 pounds and 2,746 pounds of twelve pigs each, or an average of 235 pounds 

 and 229 pounds respectively. 



The following are the weights of the winning litters for the four years: 



1926 

 2,385 lbs. 



1927 

 2,939 lbs. 



1928 

 3,1763^ lbs. 



1929 

 3,085 lbs. 



Increased Activity in Sheep 

 In the spring of 1929 we were able to reach a much larger number of farmers 

 who had early lambs for sale, and keep them posted on the market price. 

 The price averaged higher as the supply of nearby early lambs was far below 



