Chap. 130.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 1110, 1111, 1112, 1113,
and 1119 of the Code of Virginia, and to repeal sections 1116, 1126, 1127,
1128, 1129, 1130 and 1131 of the Code of Virginia. ([S B 135]

Approved March 4, 1920.

l. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
eleven hundred and ten, eleven hundred and eleven, eleven hundred
and twelve, eleven hundred and thirteen and eleven hundred and nine-
teen of the Code of Virginia be amended and re-enacted so as to read
as follows: | , |

Sec. 1110. Registration of brands, etc., of commercial fertilizers.—
All manufacturers, dealers or agents who may desire to sell or offer
for sale hereafter in this State, any fertilizer or fertilize: materials
shall register with the commissioner of agriculture and immigration
of the State of Virginia, upon forms furnished by said commissioner,
the name of each brand of fertilizer or fertilizer material, which they
may desire to sell or offer for sale in this State, either by themselves
or their agents, together with the name and address of the manufac-
turer or manufacturers, the weight of the package, and the guaranteed
analysis thereof, stating the minimum percentage of available phos-
phoric acid, water soluble nitrogen, total nitrogen and available potash
(if the potash is from sulphate, it shall be so stated) ; and all manu-
facturers, dealers or agents applying for such registratiou under this
chapter shall pay to the commissioner of agriculture and immigration
of the State of Virginia the sum of five dollars for each brand regis-
tered with said commissioner; provided, that all brands registered
for the year nineteen hundred and twenty-one and thereafter, to-
gether with the guaranteed analysis thereof, shall be deemed to be of
permanent record in the office of the commissioner of agriculture and
immigration, and in no event shall there be registered two or more
brands of the same brand name with different guaranteed analysis
by the same manufacturer. -

Sec. 1111. How bags, etc., of fertilizer branded—AIl manufac-
turers, dealers or agents before selling, or offering for sale, in this
State, any commercial fertilizers, or fertilizer material shall brand
on, or attach to, each bag, barrel or package, the brand name of the
fertilizer, the weight of the package, the name and address of the
nianutacturer, and the guaranteed analysis of the fertilizer, giving
the valuable constituents of said fertilizer in mimimum percentages
only. The following items, and no others, shall be branded or stamped
on, or affixed to, the packages in the following order:

First—Weight of package in pounds;
Second.—Brand name or trade-mark ;
Third.—Guaranteed analysis ;

Fourth.—Available phosphoric acid_-.----- per centum ;
Fifth.—Water soluble nitrogen-___---_----- per centum;
Sixth.—Total nitrogen _--------..-----~--- per centum ;
Seventh.—Available potash___._-.--____--- per centum ;

(If the potash is from sulphate, it may be so stated.)
Eigth—Name and address of the manufacturer.

Where potash is claimed as sulphate it must be derived from high
grade commercial sulphate of potash. The brand name or trade-mark
and the guaranteed analysis thereof branded or stamped on, or affixed
to the package as above provided, shall agree and correspond in every
particular to the brand name or trade-mark and the guaranteed analy-
sis registered with the said commissioner. The per centum of ammonia
as it is equivalent to the total per centum of nitrogen may be branded
on the package if desired.

There shall be delivered to the commissioner of agriculture and
immigration a statement of the materials or sources from which the
phosphoric acid, nitrogen, and potash, are each derived in each brand
of goods registered. If the source of the ingredient be changed,
notification thereof shall be promptly furnished to the said commis-
sioner. These requirements, however, shall only apply to those brands
registered in nineteen hundred and twenty-one and thereafter, as pro-
vided for in the preceding section.

The commissioner of agriculture and immigration shall have au-
thority, with the approval of the board, to prohibit the sale of any
fertilizer that contains any ingredient that is injurious to plant growth.

Sec. 1112. Minimum plant food allowed in fertilizer—No fer-
tilizer manufacturer, dealer or agent shall be allowed to register or
offer for sale any complete fertilizer, acid phosphate with potash,
acid phosphate with nitrogen or plain acid phosphate in this State
which contains less than twelve per centum of total plant food;
namely, available phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash, either singly
or in combination; provided, that in mixed fertilizer there shall not
be less than one per centum of potash and one per centum of nitrogen,
when one or both are present in the same mixture. The provisions
of this section shall apply to fertilizers registered for the year nine-
teen hundred and twenty-one and thereafter.

Sec. 1113. Tax tags; insurance; effect as evidence; redemption.—
All manufacturers, dealers or agents who have registered their brands
in compliance with this chapter shall forward to the commissioner
of agriculture and immigration a request for tax tags, stating that
said tags are to be used upon brands of fertilizers, or fertilizer ma-
terials registered in accordance with this chapter, and said request
shall be accompanied with the sum of twenty cents per ton as an
inspection fee; whereupon it shall be the duty of said commissioner
to issue tags to parties applying, who shall attach a tag to each
package, bag or barrel thereof, which, when attached to said pack-
age, bag or barrel, shall be prima facie evidence that the seller ha:
complied with the requirements of this chapter; provided, that all
tax tags, issued by the commissioner prior to the date this act be-
comes effective and still rémaining in the hands of the said manufac-
turer, dealer or agent, shall be redeemed by the said cummissioner
in such manner as he may elect, subject to such rules and regulations
as may be adopted by him as prescribed herein. Any tax tags left in
the possession of the manufacturer at the expiration of the calendar
year for which they were issued may be used on fertilizer sold during
the next succeeding calendar year, but not thereafter. The commis-
sioner of agriculture and immigration 1s empowered to prescribe a
form for such tax tags, and the color of said tag must be changed
each year.

Sec. 1119. Fertilizer inspectors; rules and regulations; analysis
of fertilizers —The commissioner of agriculture and immigration shall,
by and with the approval of the State board of agriculture and immi-
gration, appoint such inspectors of fertilizers and fertilizer materia!
as he may deem necessary for the proper and efficient enforcement
of this chapter. The commissioner of agriculture and immigration
shall, with the approval of the board of agriculture and immigration,
adopt all needful rules and regulations which in his judgment: shall
be best for carrying out the provisions of this chapter and shall en-
deavor to have collected fair samples of all brands of fertilizers offered
for sale in this State, and shall have the same analyzed by a chemist
of the said department, and shall, in his discretion, publish such
analyses as in his judgment will be of information to the farmers.
Upon the request of the purchaser every seller of fertilizer or tertilizer
material shall draw a fair sample of the same at the time of its de-
livery from unbroken packages in the presence of the purchaser, or
if the seller is not present any qualified justice or notary (who shall
be paid twenty-five cents for his services) shall, at the request of
the purchaser, draw a sample of the fertilizer in the presence of the
purchaser. The sample when drawn, shall, in the presence of both
parties, be put in a glass or tin vessel, securely sealed and a certificate
placed with it, signed by both parties certifying that the sample
is a fair and correct one. The sample must then be sent to the com-
missioner of agriculture and immigration, who shall have it analyzed
by a chemist of the said department and send a copy to both buyer
and seller free of cost within twenty days from the date the said
sample was received by said commissioner. On receipt of the analysis
the purchaser shall send to the commissioner of agriculture and immi-
gration a correct copy of what was branded on the bag, barrel or
package from which the sample was drawn, signed by both parties,
and which copy must be made at the time the sample was drawn, The
copy of the chemist’s analysis of a fertilizer or fertilizer material,
when certified to by him, shall be admitted as evidence in any court
this State on the trial of anything involving the merits of any
tilizer or fertilizer material.

2. Sections eleven hundred and sixteen, eleven hundred and
nty-six, eleven hundred and twenty-seven, eleven hundred and
nty-eight, eleven hundred and twenty-nine, eleven hundred and
tty and eleven hundred and thirty-one of the Code of Virginia are
eby repealed.

3. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force on and
er March first, nineteen hundred and twenty.