28 P.D. 123 



our policy to bring second offenders into court and this past year our record of 

 no prosecutions is indicative of the effort made by our corn growers to comply 

 with the law. 



The Farm Products Grading Law 



Our Farm Products Grading Law is a permissive law, in that the producers 

 voluntarily request permission to use certain legal grades, and in the event that 

 they are authorized to use the grades, they must then conform with all the grade 

 requirements. The law gives to the Commissioner of Agriculture the right to 

 revoke or suspend the permission to use the grades in the case of wrongful use. 

 During the past year it has not been necessary for this Department to revoke or 

 suspend a single authorization. Several persons have been warned that their 

 graded products must conform more fully to the requirements of grade, and in 

 all cases there has been an immediate response to our suggestion for better quality 

 products in the labelled containers. 



The Oleomargarine Law 

 Our inspectors are constantly on the alert relative to the violations of our Oleo- 

 margarine Law, and are. at frequent intervals, watching the activities of certain 

 peddlers and dealers in our large cities. With the price of butter at a low level, 

 there is not quite the stimulus to enter into the business of illegally selling oleo- 

 margarine. AVe are confident, however, that no considerable amount of oleomar- 

 garine products will be sold in this State unless the provisions of our Oleomargarine 

 Law are complied with. 



The Seed Law 



Our Seed Law, which has been in operation for three years, has resulted in the 

 sale of better quality seed throughout the State. Our inspectors have collected 

 approximately 500 official samples during the present year, and these samples have 

 been tested and analyzed at the seed laboratory of the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Experiment Station at Amherst. The official bulletin of the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural Experiment Station will be published within a short time, and it will 

 be the policy of this Department to call into hearings parties selling seed in this 

 State where the labelled analysis differs to any considerable extent from the analysis 

 found by our seed analyst. 



Information on General Laws 



The enforcement of our other laws have not necessitated much regulatory 

 action in connection with their proper compliance. Occasionally there has been 

 a hearing on account of damage in connection with apiary inspection or the unlaw- 

 ful transportation of uninspected nursery stock. These apparent violations are 

 occasioned through lack of knowledge on the part of the parties concerned, and it 

 has been our policy to explain the law in these instances and suggest such co- 

 operation from them in the future that violations of this kind will not occur. 



Though most of the regulatory laws administered by the Department contain 

 clauses providing for the punishment of offenders, the Department's enforcement 

 policy emphasizes service rather than punishment. Sometimes, of course, legal 

 action is necessary. In most cases, however, the purpose of the law is fulfilled 

 not by a mechanical enforcement of its provisions, but by an educational and 

 helpful policy which assists producers and all others concerned to comply with 

 its requirements. 



