46 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



good results. While the circuit of apple-grading demonstra- 

 tions conducted by the Board in 1915 had brought this law to 

 the attention of probably a majority of our farmers, still a 

 number had not even heard of the existence of the statute, and 

 so a large amount of educational work was carried on again this 

 year. Demonstrations of the law were given by the Board's in- 

 spectors in the following towns : — 



Amesbury. 



Amherst. 



Ashfield. 



Blandford. 



Brimfield. 



Bolton. 



Boxborough. 



Colrain. 



Dalton. 



Fitchburg. 



Franklin. 



Freetown. 



GranviUe. 



Greenfield. 



Groveland. 



Hathorne. 



Haverhill. 



Hopkinton. 



Leominster. 



Marlborough. 



Marshfield. 



North Brookfield. 



Northampton. 



Pepperell. 



Petersham. 



Segreganset. 



Springfield. 



Topsfield. 



Worcester. 



In addition, a number of demonstrations were held by the 

 Farm Bureaus and at the Agricultural College in connection 

 with the annual apple-packing school. 



In September regular inspection work was begun. The 

 method pursued was as follows: inspectors are furnished with 

 blanks on which to report lots of apples inspected. These are 

 returned to the office, and in cases where the apples are found 

 to be incorrectly graded or branded a letter is sent the offender, 

 pointing out where the mistake was made and warning that 

 packages must be properly marked in the future. Fourteen 

 hundred and fifteen inspections of this sort were made from a 

 total of 396 growers and packers. Of the violations discovered, 

 practically all were cases of incorrect marking, i.e., some of the 

 required marks on the barrels had been omitted, evidently 

 through ignorance of the law and its regulations. In some 

 cases, instead of a letter being sent to a grower, an inspector 

 would make a personal visit and straighten the matter out in 

 that way. A large amount of this personal work was done. 



