Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1913-10-18
SATURDAY. OCTOBER llth. 1919.
SEED DEALERS MUST
OBSERVE NEW LAWS
Provisions Under Which Pack
ages May be Sold in Michigan
Hereafter.

VI particular interest 10 Seeu dealers
throughout the state are the provisions
of sections 2, 3, 6 and of the new law
regulating the sale of seeds. This law
was passed by the session of the state
legislature which adjourned May Is,
the law going into effect August 10 of
this year. The old law provided that
packages under one pound in weight
did mot come under its restrictions
while the present law lowers this limit
to eight ounces.
The most important provision, how
ever, is that it provides that all such
packages of eight ounces or more that
are offered for sale shall be labeled.
This does not mean that it is necessary
that there shall be formal printed la
bells although it is probable that whole
sale dealers, both outside and in the
state, will furnish such to retail dealers
TO be affixed to packages made up
from the bulk seed sold by the whole
saler. The features that will require
the approximate percentages by great
est care are those that require weight
of purity and the approximate per-
centages by weight of communicates,
specifying the kinds that are present in
quantities greaster than one per cent
and also the provision that no seed
may be sold or offered for sale that
contain one seed in thousand OF
quack grass, Canada thistle, and the
two dodders mentioned, This point
will make it necessary that the seed
dealers or the wholesalers from whom
the smaller dealers purchase their seed
must analyze their seed. In case this
is done by the Wholesalers or by the
larger seed firms these analyses will
naturally be furnished by the retail
dealers either on printed reports fur
nished by the wholesalers or on the
label itself that is attached to the lot so
that the retail dealers will be able to
obtain his analysis in that way. Howev-
err where the retail deslers buys his
seed from the growers, it will be nee
essary for him to make the analysis
himself he can have this made by an
other person who is competent to do
the work, or, on payment OF twenty
five cents for each sample analysed,
can have it made by the state board OF
agriculture or more accurately by the
seed analyst appointed by the state
board of agriculture and placed under
the supervision of the department of
botany of the college. In case the deal
ers make their own analysis, these
should conform in general to the regu
lations and methods of testing used by
the United States department of agri-
culture.
The act does not apply to growers
selling seed to seed merchants or grow
ers shipping seed to be cleaned and
graded before being sold or to seed
which is held in storage for the pur-
pose of being cleaned or for seed
marked mot cleaned" and held or sold
for shipment outside the state. The
latter, however, must conform to the
government regulation governing ship
ment of seeds in interstate commerce.
OF interest to the consumers are the
paragraphs concerning the purity of
the'seed. 1t is particularly desira Gle
that consumers take great care not to
buy seed that has not the proper labels
as the very fact that this seed is not
labeled should be prima facie evidence
that the dealer is not conforming to
the provision of the law. 1t should al
so be noted that seed containing quack
grass, Canada thistle, and tho dodders
to the amount of one seed in two thou
sand is not only forbidden to be sold
but also may not be sown.
Any further information concerning
the law may be obtained from the Sec
rotary of the state board of agriculture,
or from the department of botany at
the Agricultural College, East Lansing,
Mich.