The Fayette falcon. (Somerville, Tenn.) 190?-current, 1921-08-26
Feed, Seed and Fertilizer In.
spection
BY 7. F. PECK
Commissioner of Agriculture,

/
The operation of the Tennessee De-
partment of Agriculture's division OF
of feed, seed and fertilizer inspection
reaches to the most remote sections OF
the State and affect directly every
feeder Of livestock, every farmer in
the State. II the services offered ty
this inspection were tsken advantage Of
By the people, msny thousand dollars
would be saved to them annually. and at
no cost, for the service Is free.
Impure agricultural seeds have cost
the farmers of Tennessee every year
much more than can be estimated IN
dollars and cents. and larger part of
this great loss could have been prevent
ed, None of the large de- 'ers in the
State will buy Tennessee grown red
clover seed, but go to other States
for that seed, because 80 per cent OF
the Tennessee ed clover seed contains
Dodder (Lovevine), he worst enemy
with which the clover grover has to
contend. The Tennessee seed carry
This noxious weed because faim mers
have not exercised proper care IN buy
ing seed for planting. and have sown
weed seeds along with low .ade clover
seed. Farmers sre too often influenced
by the low price when they go to buy
field seeds. purest seed are the cheap
est in the long IN.
1t ia the duty of the seed inspectors
TO examine agricultural seed Offered
sale in the State, and whenever seed
ia, below the standard requiredby law Is
found it is their duty to prohibit its
sale. md IL necesssrJ, conbscste the
seed and prosecute the der'er, But
when we consider the vast territory
include in the State, ard the fact that
only three travelling inspectors are pro-
yjded to cover sll of this territory, it
is readily seen that it is physically i'm
possible to reach all points often enough.
In consequence, many ahlpments OF
seed get by without being examined.
There is remedy for his, but il does
not seem to be generally appreciated
The State maintains seed testing
Laboratory and will inspect any samples
OF cd sentin by farmers. Farmers
should take advantage of this and send
samples to the State Chemist before
: buying. The seed will be tested anc
n the farmers advised as to their purity
!. or impurity. Dealers and consumers
e are asked to cooperate With the De
e psrtment of Agriculture by taking ad
8 vantage of this service which tends tt
e protect them against fraud.
d The consumer of commercial teet
e stuffs and commercial fertilizers and a
II their command the services of tn
J. same inspection Bureau, and the DE
partment asks the same cooperation u
/. regard TO these commodities so largel.
o used by the farmers. Many tors 0
e low grade feeds are shipped into th
o State, and while it 10 proable that th
greater part Of such shipments ar
caught by the inspectors. some OF
gets by, and the consumer who buy
: such feed is dsfrauded.
;. For the protection of the consumer
/. it isrequired by law that all package
! or bags of fertilizer te plainly marked
: giving the guaranteed chemical snaly
: sis, in terms of valuable constituents
In the case of feeds. il 10 required tina
: The names of all ingredients used i
!. making up the feed be given.
II II the consumer would carefully stud
this information, which is given on
/ tag attached to each bag of fertilize
OF feedstnff. they should be able I
!. select that which would meet tbei
. needs. Il should be borne in mind tina
the brand name eften hss no relatie
!. whatever to the quality Of the feed o
fertilizer contained in q bag, but tn
q lpuaranteed chemical analysis and III
!. list of constituents or ingredients ar
!. usually true indications of what tn
:. bags contain
!. As in he case of seeds, whenever
/. farmer or feeder is in doubt as to tn
: quality of feed or fertilizer. samole
j should be sent to the State Chemist 0
J, the Department of Agriculture. VIII
will analyze them free of charge. II
intention of the Department of Ayr
l. ture to see that these laws. which wer
primarily enacted for the protection 0
the farmer, are obeyed in Tennessee