24 N. H. EXPERIMENT STATION [Bulletin 202 



whcm they purchase these packets mark them properly; other- 

 wise the dealers themselves will have to do it. In any event the 

 dealers will be held responsible for the proper marking of the 

 packets. 



Andrew L. Felker, 



Concord, N. H., Commissioner of Agriculture. 



September 1, 1921. 



ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAW. 



The Commissioner of Agriculture, whose duty it is to en- 

 force the seed law of the state, has experienced considerable 

 difficulty in securing satisfactory results, owing to certain weak- 

 nesses in the old law. 



These have been corrected in the new law. Chapter 80 — 

 Session Laws of 1921, and under it all parties concerned may 

 expect that an honest effort will be made to correct any vicious 

 practices that are discovered. 



The increased appropriation available for the work will 

 make it possible to handle the seed sampling and testing to much 

 better advantage, and should tend toward better protection for 

 both the farmers who buy the seed, and the honest dealers who 

 sell it; at the same time it will make possible the conducting of 

 a campaign against apparently unscrupulous merchants who 

 seem to have regard neither for the quality of the seed they 

 sell, nor for the rights of the individuals who buy. 



The unanimous opinion of the members of the Advisory 

 Board of the Department of Agriculture is that hardly a greater 

 injury comes to the farmers than through the purchase of seed 

 possessing a low percentage of viability. Losses from this 

 source are heavy to the farmers of New Hampshire. 



It should be of vital concern to the dealers, in the interests 

 of agriculture, to sell none but the choicest seeds and to adver- 

 tise them as such by means of reliable and up-to-date tests, 

 properly displayed. This would result in an increased pro- 

 duction of agricultural products, and when such production fell 

 short of a reasonable standard, the cause would be easily traced 

 to the farmer's lack of proper planting, cultivation, fertiliza- 

 tion, etc., or to a poor natural condition of the soil for the crops 

 produced rather than to the seed used. 



However, if poor seed is to be sold it must be sold under 

 tests, showing reasonably close, the germinating power and 

 purity it possesses and not under ancient and unreliable tests 

 made several months prior to the offering of the seed for sale. 



