60 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



Director of the Station every one they found violating the law 

 in any particular. These reports were made daily, and immedi- 

 ately upon their receipt, letters were written to the delinquents, 

 calling their attention to their failure to comply with the law. 

 No case of wilful violation has come to our notice. On the 

 contrary there has been an evident desire on the part of most 

 dealers to live up to all the requirements of the law. No sam- 

 ples were drawn by inspectors until January. At this time they 

 reported very few violations of the law and it seems to be work- 

 ing smoothly in all respects. At the time of this writing the 

 law is for the most part fully complied with. 



The co-operation of the dealers has materially assisted in the 

 speedy introduction of this entirely new feature in legislation. 

 Both dealer and consumer are coming to better understand the 

 nature of these feeds and have a clearer knowledge of their feed- 

 ing values. Under date of October i, a large commission 

 house wrote, "It seems to us that this law must be very educa- 

 tional," and such it is proving itself to be. That it will be as 

 great a benefit to both dealer and consumer as the fertiliser 

 inspection has become, there is little doubt. 



INSPECTION OF CHEMICAL GLASSWARE USED IN CREAMERIES. 



Nearly all the glassware that has been examined during the 

 year has come from dealers in dairy supplies. It is reasonable 

 to suppose, therefore, that the butter factories have renewed 

 their stock by purchasing tested bottles and pipettes direct from 

 the dealers and are complying with the law in that respect. 



It has been gratifying to note that a very small percentage of 

 the goods inspected the past year was inaccurately graduated. 

 All bottles and pipettes examined by the Station and found cor- 

 rect have the letters M. E. S. etched upon them. The text of 

 the law was printed in the Report for 1896. 



SEED TESTING. 



The law passed by the Legislature of 1897, while it imposes 

 certain duties upon the Director of the Station, is not an inspec- 

 tion law. Bulletin 36, which is reprinted on pages 32 to 38 

 of this Report, contains the law and rules for testing purity 

 of seeds. This bulletin was issued in August and was sent to 

 all dealers as well as to the regular mailing list of the Station. 



