8o MAINE AGRICUIvTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I9II. 



10. Written guaranty, the dealers' safeguard. No prose- 

 cution will lie against any person handling commercial fertilizers 

 provided he obtains at the time of purchase a written guaranty 

 signed by the person residing in the United States from whom 

 the purchase was made to the effect that the commercial ferti- 

 lizer is not adulterated or misbranded within the meaning of the 

 Maine law regulating the sale of commercial fertilizers. After 

 a person has been notified by the Director of the Maine Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station that an article of commercial fer- 

 tilizer appears to be adulterated or misbranded the written guar- 

 anty will not protect further sales. 



11. Hearing. The person who is believed to have violated 

 the law regulating the sale of commercial fertilizer will be 

 granted a hearing at which he may appear in person, or by 

 attorney, or by letter. The notice of the hearing will name the 

 time and place of the hearing and a copy of the charge. Fail- 

 ure to appear will not prejudice the case. The hearing will be 

 private and every opportunity will be given for explanation and 

 the establishment of innocence. If the time appointed is not a 

 convenient one, postponement within reasonable limit will be 

 granted. 



12. Penalty. Violations of the law are punishable by a fine 

 not exceeding one hundred dollars for the first offense and not 

 exceeding two hundred dollars for each subsequent offense. 



13. Executive. The Director of the Station is directed to 

 collect and analyze sarnples of fertilizers on sale in the State; 

 tc publish the results of the analyses together with additional 

 information of public benefit ; and to diligently enforce the pro- 

 visions of the law. 



Fertility and Plant Food. 



To produce profitable crops and at the same time to maintain 

 and even to increase the productive capacity of the soil may 

 rightly be termed "good farming." Many farmers are able to 

 do this, and the knowledge of how to do it has been largely 

 acquired through years of experience, during which the char- 

 acter of the soil, its adaptability -for crops, and the methods of 

 its management and manuring have been made the subjects of 

 careful study, without, however, any definite and accurate 

 knowledge concerning manures and their functions in relation 



