198 maine agricultural experiment station. i915. 



The Seed Inspection Law. 

 The first law regulating the sale of seeds; was enacted by the 

 Legislature of 1897. This was revised by the Legislature of 

 1905. This was again revised by the Legislature of 191 1 so as 

 to conform with the requirements recommended by the x\sso- 

 ciation of Ofificial Seed Analysts and agreed to by the Ameri- 

 can Seed Dealers Association. The chief requirements of. the 

 law follow. The full text of the law will be sent on request 

 to the Commissioner of Agriculture, Augusta. 



1. Kind of seeds coming under the law. The law applies to 

 the S;ale, distribution, transportation, or the offering or exposing 

 for sale, distribution, or transportation of the seeds of alfalfa, 

 barley, Canadian blue grass, Kentucky blue grass, brome grass, 

 buckwheat, alsike clover, crimson clover, red clover, medium 

 clover, white clover, field corn, Kaf^r corn, meadow fescue, 

 flax, hungarian, millet, oats, orchard grass, rape, redtop, rye, 

 sorghum, timothy and wheat for seeding purposes. 



2. The brand. Each lot or package shall be plainly marked 

 with the name of the seed and its minimum percentage of 

 purity. 



3. Mixtures. Mixtures must be plainly marked with the 

 name of the seed and the percentage of purity. In case the 

 mixtures contain seeds not included in i these need not be 

 named, (e. g., a mixture consisting of half redtop, 90 per cent 

 pure, quarter Kentucky blue grass, 85 per cent pure and the 

 remainder seeds not named in the law, could be marked "Red- 

 top 45 per cent pure, Kentucky blue grass 21 per cent pure." 

 The statement of the remaining constituents may or may not be 

 named.) 



4. Adulteration. A seed is adulterated if its purity falls 

 below its guaranty or if it contains the seed of any poisonous 

 plant. 



5. Misbranding. A seed is misibranded if the package or 

 label bears any statement, design or device which is false or 

 misleading in any particular, or if it does not carry the state- 

 ments named in 2. 



Results of the Inspection. 

 The inspectors visited most of the handlers of seeds in the 

 State during the spring and early summer months. The results 

 of the examination of the samples collected are given in the 

 following tables,. 



