P.D. 123 23 



Besides the Cape, a reconnaissance was made of practically the entire sea- 

 coast of the State north of the Cape and of a few places on Buzzards Bay. 

 The results were published in two reports, one on Cape Cod and one general 

 report. 



Cohasset filed a petition early in July. A hearing was held and the Board 

 advised that all the towns from Hingham to Plymouth should be included 

 in that project. 



Melrose petitioned in October. After examination and a hearing the 

 Board advised that the project should be extended to cover Maiden and 

 Stoneham and that other surrounding towns should be advised to also start 

 control work. 



The Board closes the year with anticipation that the mosquito control 

 movement will be rather general throughout the commonwealth. The 

 budget for the year was $5,500. 



REGULATORY WORK OF THE DEPARTMENT 



The record of prosecutions under the various laws which have been given 

 to the Department of Agriculture to enforce is not of a great numerical num- 

 ber. It is the purpose of the Department to serve the farmer in every 

 possible way and it is the policy of the Department to prosecute only when 

 other means fail in getting satisfactory co-operation in the compliance of 

 agricultural laws. 



More than 100 persons were summoned to appear before representatives 

 of the Department because of violations of the Massachusetts Apple Grading 

 Law. The greater number of these violations were found in Boston. A 

 most frequent violation was overfacing of boxes or the putting of the better 

 apples on the top of the box. Two of our most flagrant cases, wherein a 

 warning did not appear sufficient, were brought to the attention of the 

 Municipal Court of Boston and a fine was imposed in each case. Hearings 

 on minor violations of the Massachusetts Apple Grading Law were held 

 in Worcester and Springfield in order to bring to the attention of people in 

 these respective districts the need for more careful supervision of the apples 

 packed under their care and responsibility. 



Hearings were conducted in Boston, Wareham, Middleborough, Worcester, 

 Haverhill, and Fall River at which places more than 600 persons were sum- 

 moned to answer to violations of the corn borer law. It has been the policy 

 of the inspectors checking on corn borer violations to first visit the persons 

 who violated the law the previous year and the reports of the inspectors 

 indicate that no second offenders were found in their respective districts. 

 This fact indicates that the educational value of our hearings is bearing 

 fruit and the policy accordingly has been adopted that first violations will 

 not be prosecuted unless there appears to be a grave failure of co-operation. 



Oleomargarine violations to the number of 11 were brought to the atten- 

 tion of the various district courts, and in all cases substantial fines were 

 imposed. Hearings were held on minor violations of the oleomargarine 

 laws and storekeepers to the number of approximately 60 were directed to 

 appear at Boston relative to these violations. In all cases, definite instruc- 

 tion was given at the hearing for obtaining in each individual case a full 

 compliance with the law and subsequent inspection indicated that the 

 directions given were carried out in detail. 



The seed law became effective in 1927 and the enforcement program was 

 carried on with greater diligence during 1929. More than 400 official sam- 

 ples were collected by the inspectors and submitted to the seed testing 

 laboratory at Amherst, Massachusetts. A publication showing the result- 

 ing findings of the tests and analyses published by the Massachusetts Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station will be sent to all those from whom official 

 samples had been collected. 



Hearings were held on certain violations of the seed law reported by 

 inspectors and questions arose wherein the interpretation of the law did not 

 apparently satisfy the parties at fault with reference to the definition of the 



