The Portland daily press., 1893-03-15
Under Consideration by the Commit.
tee on Agriculture.
LEGISLATURE ASKED TO MAKE
INVIDIOUS DISTINCTIONS
AS TO SEX.
The inspection of Fertilizers-AnE Endeavor
to Secure Pure Milk-The Ravening
Cur and the Timid Sheep.


to Secure Pure MiIk-The Ravenine
Cur and the Timid Sheep.
Especial to the Press.]
AUGUSTA, March 14.-The committee
on agriculture has now pending before
the legislature three important bills
which it has reported. One relates to
the inspection of fertilizers, another
amends the law as to the inspection OF
milk and the third relates to the taxation
of dogs in order to secure a fund to pro-
tect sheepsowners.
The bill providing for the inspection OF
fertilizers was introduced some time ago.
Manufacturers of fertilizers, however,
desired further hearing and as result
the committee reported several amend
ments which the Senate today incorpor-
ated in the bill. As it now stands, the
bill provides that fertilizers offered for
sale shall have attached to each package
trademark, the name of the manufac-
turer or shipper, the place of manufac-
ture or of business and the statement OF
chemical analysis of the particular
brand of fertilizer. Between the s15th
day of November and the 10Th day ofsDe-
cember, a certified copy of the analysis
and sealed jar containing sample of
the fertilizer shall be sent by the manu-
facturer to the Maine Experime Station
at Orono. The director of the station
will then cause an analysis to be made Of
the sample furnished him and publish
the result Of the same in bulletin
issued before March Is. The manufac-
turer for this analysis must pay
fee of SIS, or S. less than
was required by ths original bill. Ex-
ceptions are made in cases where less
than 30 tons Of brand of fertilizer are
annually sold. The BILL, before the
amendments were incorporated, applied
to brands where 15 or moro tons were
sold, but the manufacturers represented
that they were in the habit Of making
small quantities of new brands for ex-
perimental purposes and the law would
be unjust in it's operations as affecting
such brands. Having once had a partic-
ular brand analysed. the manufacturer
will not be put to the expense Of doing
so again, but the director Of the expert
ment station, in person or by deputy, is
authorized to annually anaiyze a sample
Of each brand, the sample to be taken
d. pdGhdSO WlIblGNcIe elOuAQ. AO
penalty for selling fertilizers which do
not come up to the standard of the SAM
pies anaiszed is a fine Of 800 for the
first offence and 5000 for subsequent Of
fences.
So much for the fertilizers. Every
body is interested in the purity of the
milk which forms 80 large an element in
the daily food supply. The bill to fur
ther guard the quality Of the milk sold
to Maine people Is in the form ofamend-
ments to sec. A, chap. 80, R. s. 1t
starts out by making the appointment of
milk inspectors by the municipal officers
Of towns and cities of over 5000
population obligatory. The munic-
ipal officers of other towns
shall appoint such inspectors upon petit
ton of ten or more legal voters. The
present law forbids the selling of the
milk Of diseased cows and of those fed
on improper substances,o or milk to which
water or any foreign substance has been
added. This bill forbids the selling of
milk from which the cream has been re-
moved, and then provides the following
test as to what shall constitute pure
milk:
"When milk shall, by the gravimetric
analysis, be found to contain over eighty
eight per cent of water, it shall be
deemed prima facie evidence that said
milk has been watered; and when milk,
by the analysis aforesaid shall be found
to contain less than twelve per cent of
solids and less than three per cent of fat,
which cream has been taken, and any
milk which, by the analysis aforesaid,
shall be found to contain any foreign
substance shall be deemed milk to which
a foreign substance has been added"
The bill does not change tho present
penalties of $40 fine for the first and $50
for each subsequent offence.
The dog and sheep bill provides an
annual license fee of ST. for male dogs
and So. Is for female dogs, to be paid to
be paid to town and city clerks. Fifteen
cents of each license goes to the clerk il
suing it, the balance finds Its way to the
state treasury where it is 20 be kept as a
fund for the protection of sheep. The
penalty for keeping an unlicensed dog is
$40, one half to go to the complainant.
Mayors of cities and selectmen of towns
are directed to issue warrants to police
men and constables to 60 cunning for un-
licensed dogs and each officer shall be
paid at the rate Of 81 day for each
killed.
New come the gentle sheep. The bill
provides that whenisheep are killed by
dogs, the owner may be reimbursed by
the municipal officers and if the city or
town cannot identify the owners of the
dogs or cannot collect by an action at
law from them, the city or town in turn
shall be reimbursed out of the dog tax
fund in the state treasury.
There is one thing in this bill which
seems to take the dog out of the category
of wild animals. 1t is section II, which
provides that whoever shall steal or
secrete registered dog, or shall kill a
registered dog, unless such killing is
justif1able for the protection of life and
property, shall be liable for the full
value of the dog, to be recovered by a
civil action. Licensed dogs must wear
collars as under the present law.
High Water in the Merrimac.