Massachusetts flower growers and vegetable growers who produce bedding 

 plants need to use plastic greenhouses rather than those traditionally 

 constructed of glass, because plastic greenhouses are less expensive to fabri- 

 cate and are more energy-efficient than glass greenhouses. Chapter 67C of 

 the Acts of 1983 acknowledges this technological development. 



Chapter 285 of the Acts of 1983, which protects pure maple syrup, provides 

 that no person shall manufacture, label, package, sell or offer for sale any 

 food article or food product branded as maple, including syrup, candy, cream, 

 butter or sugar, which is not made from pure maple syrup derived from the sap of 

 the maple tree. 



Chapter 585 of the Acts of 1983 gives the Department responsibility to 

 license persons engaged in the hearing dog business. A hearing dog Is a dog 

 that is professionally trained to aid deaf and hearing-impaired individuals. 



The regulatory work of the legal department Included the dismissal without 

 prejudice of an adjudicatory proceeding against six milk dealers, and the conduct 

 of hearings on milk price regulations and on proposed regulations to deter the 

 sale of mflk below cost, culminating in the issuance of such regulations. Other 

 projects included the exploration with industry representatives, of a possible 

 milk advertising take-out to retain a portion of the federal milk advertising 

 take-out in Massachusetts; representatives of the Department in the bankruptcy 

 of the Great Barrington Fair and Amusement Co., Inc.; review of the operations 

 of the Division of Fairs and the Standardbred and Thoroughbred breeding 

 programs, resulting In a general tightening of procedures; and establishment of 

 procedures for the Pesticide Bureau to gather evidence in a form and manner to 

 enhance legal enforcement action. 



It was my privilege as General Counsel to testify before the Agriculture 

 Plank Subcommittee of the Democratic National Platform Committee, to testify 

 before the Internal Revenue Service on regulations on charitable deductions for 

 gifts of conservation easements (including agricultural easements), and to par- 

 ticipate in the Feathered Pipe Conclave in Montana to draft proposed revisions 

 to those regulations; to speak before numerous commodity groups, including the 

 Massachusetts Fruit Growers Association and the Massachusetts Farmers' Market 

 Federation; and to conduct milk pricing hearings. 



** 



In Memoriam: With deep regret we report that Peter F. Hines, Associate 

 Counsel (formerly Counsel to the Milk Control Commission), died on October 

 8,1984, of cancer, after a brief illness. He was responsible for the Spence 

 case, which is of great iinportance to farmers, and was in daily contact with 

 members of many commodity groups on matters of concern to them. 



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