ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT 



STATION— 1939 



INTRODUCTION 

 F. J. Sievers, Director 



The State of Massachusetts is a pioneer in the inauguration of legislation for 

 the regulation of sales of commercial fertilizers. This interest first expressed 

 itself in an Act passed in 1869 at the instigation of the State College after, in its 

 services to the agricultural industry, it became evident that great opportunities 

 for misrepresentation and fraud existed in the fertilizer merchandizing methods 

 then in operation. While this Act was intended to prevent the manufacture 

 and sale of adulterated fertilizers, it did not carry the enforcement provision to 

 make it effective. Later, when results from investigations conducted by the 

 Experiment Station provided a sound basis for determining fertilizer values and 

 requirements, additional legislation was urged by the College and in 1888 a law 

 was enacted which, with slight modifications, is still in effect. This law provided 

 the desired control and was recognized as sufficiently sound to give direction to 

 similar legislation now in force in every state in the Union. 



In some states, the authority for administering and enforcing this and other 

 regulatory acts is delegated to the state department of agriculture while in others, 

 of which Massachusetts is an illustration, this is the responsibility of the agri- 

 cultural experiment station. Irrespective of which method of administration 

 may at present be considered more desirable or effective, it is evident that the 

 long history of investigations conducted by the experiment stations in closely 

 related activities has contributed heavily to the intelligent interpretation of the 

 law, a matter very essential in a just enforcement program. Massachusetts has 

 been especially fortunate in having had agricultural regulatory services entrusted 

 to individuals who were not only keenly concerned wirh serving the interests 

 of the public but who were also sufficiently fortunate in personality to attract 

 the cooperation necessary to develop a scientifically sound and agriculturally 

 practical leadership. 



This discussion in the 1939 Annual Report is timely because the year covered 

 terminates almost coincidentally with the compulsory retirement date of Professor 

 Henri D. Haskins. Professor Haskins retired on December 27, 1939, after almost 

 fifty years of continuous service in the Experiment Station, during which he has 

 been identified with this particular control service since its inception and in direct 

 charge of its enforcement provisions for the major portion of the entire period 

 of its operations. 



It is not intended to evaluate the services of Professor Haskins or to evidence 

 the high esteem in which he is held by his associates, a recognition well deserved 

 and worthy of much more elaboration than is possible here. His exemplary ad- 

 ministration does, however, set a standard for idealism in public service which 

 not only warrants the enthusiastic support it has received from both farmers 

 and fertilizer dealers but also bears direct evidence that the legal regulation of 

 activities so closely related to agricultural practice may, for soundest interpreta- 

 tion and enforcement, be wisely delegated to the Agricultural Experiment Station. 



