Chap. 72.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled: An act amending
and re-enacting sections 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10 of an act entitled: An act
to protect and advance agriculture by regulating the sale and purity of com-
mercial fertilizers and the guarantee and condition upon which they are to
be sold, and fixing the penalties incurred for violation of the same, approved
February 24, 1890, as amended by an act approved March 8, 1894, as amended
by an act approved March 5, 1896, as amended by an act approved December 22,
1897, as amended by an act approved December 28, 1899. :

Approved February 25, 1908.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That an act
entitled “an act amending and re-enacting sections two, four, five, six,
seven, eight and ten of an act entitled an act to protect and advance
agriculture by regulating the sale and purity of commercial fertilizers,
and the guarantee and condition upon which they are to be sold, and
fixing the penalties incurred for violation of the same, approved Febru-
ary twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and ninety, as amended by an act
approved March eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, as amended
by an act approved March fifth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, as
amended by an act approved December twenty-second, eighteen hundred
and ninety-seven, as amended by an act approved December twenty-
eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine,” be amended and re-enacted
to read as follows:

§2. All manufacturers, dealers or agents who may desire to sell, or
offer for sale, in the State of Virginia, any fertilizer, or ferterlizer ma-
terial, shall first file with the commissioner of agriculture and immi-
gration of the State of Virginia, upon forms furnished by said com-
missioner, the name of each brand of fertilizer, or fertilizer material,
which they may desire to sell, or offer for sale, in said State,
either by themselves or their agents, together with the name and address
of the manufacturer or manipulator; and also the guaranteed analysis
thereof, stating the minimum percentage of available phosphoric acid
and nitrogen (equivalent to ammonia) and potash (available).

§3. All manufacturers, 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
manufacturer, and the guaranteed analysis of the fertilizer, giving the
valuable constituents of the fertilizer in minimum percentages, only,
These items, and no others, shall be branded or stamped on or affixed
to the packages in-the following order:

(1) Weight of each package in pounds.

(2) Brand name or trade mark.
(3) Guaranteed analysis.

(4) Available phosphoric acid—per cent.

(5) Nitrogen—per cent.; equivalent to ammonia—per cent.

(6) Potash (available)—per cent.

(7) Name and address of the manufacturer.

§4. No fertilizer 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 eleven per centum of total plant food—namely,
available phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash, either singly or in com-
bination: 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.

§5. All manufacturers, dealers or agents who have registered their
brands in compliance with this act 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 fertilizer, or fertilizer material,
registered in accordance with this act, and said request shall be accom-
pained with the sum of fifteen cents per ton as an inspection fee;
whereupon it shall be the duty of said commissioner to issue tags to par-
ties applying, who shall attach a tag to each package, bag or barrel there-
of, which, when attached to said package, shall be prima facie evidence
that the seller has complied with the requirements of this act. Any tags
left in the possession of the manufacturer shall not be used for another
year, but shall be redeemed with new tags within thirty days after the
beginning of the next year. The commissioner of agriculture and im-
migration is empowered to prescribe a form for such tax tags, and the
color of said tax tags must be changed each year.

§6. Every person proposing to deal in commercial fertilizers shall,
after filing the statement above provided for with the commissioner of
agriculture and immigration, receive from the said commissioner a cer-
tificate stating that he has complied with the foregoing sections, which
certificate shall be furnished by the commissioner without any charge
therefor. The said certificate, when furnished, shall authorize the
party receiving the same to manufacture for-sale in this State, or to
sell in this State, directly or through dealers or agents, the brands
named in said certificate. No person who has failed to pay the fee afore-
said, to file the statement aforesaid, and to receive the certificate of
authority aforesaid, shall be authorized to manufacture or offer for
sale in this State commercial fertilizers; and any person so manufactur-
ing for sale in this State, or so dealing or selling without having paid
the aforesaid fee, filed the aforesaid statement, and received the certifi-
cate aforesaid, except dealers and agents selling, or offering for sale,
fertilizers on which the fee has been paid by, and certificate issued to, the
manufacturers as provided in the preceding sections of this act, shall
be liable for each violation to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars.

§7. It shall not be lawful for any manufacturer, dealer or agent to sell,
or offer for sale, in this State any fertilizer, or fertilizer material, that
has not been registered with the commissioner of agriculture and immi-
gration and branded as required by this act. The fact that the purchaser
waives the inspection and analysis thereof shall be no protection of said
party selling or offering the same for sale.

§8. The guaranteed analysis of each and every brand of fertilizer, or
fertilizer material, must, without exception, remain the same throughout
the fiscal year for which it is registered, and in no case, even at subse-
quent registration, shall the grade be lowered.

§9. No manufacturer, dealer or agent shall sell, or offer for sale, in
this State pulverized leather or hair in any form, either as a fertilizer,
or fertilizer material, without first making full and explicit statement
of the fact in registration with the commissioner of agriculture and im-
migration, and furnishing a full statement as to the availability and
value of the contained nitrogen for the purpose for which sold, and ob-
taining permission from the said commissioner for the use of said ma-
terial.

§10. Any manufacturer, dealer or agent who shall sell, or offer for
sale, in this State any fertilizer or fertilizer material which has not been
previously registered with the commissioner of agriculture and immigra-
tion, or which has not been branded or tagged as hereinbefore provided,
or who shall use tags the second time, or any person who shall receive
or remove any such fertilizer, or any railroad or transportation company
that shall deliver to any point in this State any untagged fertilizer, shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor, and subject to a fine or forfeiture of not less
than twenty-five dollars or more than two hundred dollars for each and
every offense, when prosecuted to conviction in the manner now pro-
vided by law for the prosecution of violations of the revenue laws of this
State.

All fertilizer or fertilizer material sold or offered for sale in violation
of any section of this act shall be condemned and seized by the com-
missioner of agriculture and immigration or his agents, and upon such
seizure shall’ be delivered or turned over to the sheriff or any constable
of the county or to the sheriff or sergeant of any city or town in which
such seizure is made, the same to be held by such officer until released by
the commissioner of agriculture and immigration, or otherwise disposed
of as hereinafter provided, and for such service such officer shall receive
the same fees as now provided by law in cases of attachment. The com-
missioner of agriculture and immigration may, in his discretion, release
the fertilizer or fertilizer material so condemned and seized upon the
payment to him of the forfeitures hereinbefore provided (or such part
thereof as he shall in his discretion fix, not less than the minimum above
prescribed), and if not so released, such fertilizer or fertilizer material
shall be sold by the officer having the same in charge on the order of the
court or justice before whom any conviction may be had, or by the officer
having any execution for fines and costs in his hands, to pay any such
forfeitures or fines and the cost of prosecution made under the provisions
of this act, in the manner now provided by law for sales under attach-
ment or distress, and all fines shall be paid over to the commissioner of
agriculture and immigration. All prosecutions under this act shall be
conducted by the Commonwealth’s attorney of the county or city in which
the offense shall be committed, or such seizure shall be made, who shall
have a fee of ten dollars for every conviction, to be taxed against and
paid by the party convicted. ‘
§11. The commissioner of agriculture and immigration shall by and
with the consent of the board of agriculture and immigration appoint
such inspectors of fertilizer and fertilizer material as he may deem neces-
sary: provided, that the total number of inspectors appointed shall not
exceed six, nor any two from the same congressional district. Said in-
spectors shall hold office for one year, and each inspector shall receive a
salary not exceeding seventy-five dollars per month for the time employed,
and in addition his actual expenses while so employed. -

The commissioner of agriculture and immigration shall with the ap-
proval 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 act, and shall endeavor to have collected fair
samples of all brands of fertilizers offered for sale in this State, and shall
have the same analyzed by the official chemist, and shall publish said
analysis for the information of the farmers. Upon the request of the
purchaser every seller of fertilizer or fertilizer material shall draw a fair
sample of the same at the time of its delivery from unbroken packages
in the presence of the purchaser, or if the seller is not present any quali-
fied 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 the official chemist, and send a copy to both buyer and seller free of
cost. On receipt of the analysis the purchaser shall send to the com-
missioner of agriculture and immigration 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 official chemist’s analysis of a
fertilizer or fertilizer material when certified to by him shall be admitted
as evidence in any court of this State on the trial of anything involving
the merits of any fertilizer or fertilizer material.

§12. If the analysis of any fertilizer or fertilizer material obtained
in any of the before mentioned methods shall fall as much as five per
centum and not more than ten per centum below the guarantee registered
with the commissioner of agriculture and immigration, or branded on
the package by the manufacturer, dealer or agent in the sum total of the
phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash, or as much as twenty-five per
centum below the guarantee in either of these ingredients it shall be the
duty of the commissioner to assess twice the value of such deficiency
against the manufacturer, dealer or agent who sold such fertilizer and
if the fertilizer shall fall over ten per centum below the guarantee
registered with the commissioner or branded on the package by the
manufacturer, dealer or agent of the before mentioned ingredients, he
shall assess five times the value of such deficiency against the manu-
facturer, dealer or agent who sold such fertilizer, the above mentioned
assessments to be based on the selling price of such fertilizer or fertilizer
material, and he shall require the manufacturer, dealer or agent to make
good such assessments to all persons who purchased such fertilizers:
provided, however, that in no case shall the aforesaid fine or penalty
exceed the value of the said goods; and the commissioner may seize any
fertilizer belonging to such manufacturer, dealer or agent, if the assess-
ment shall not be paid within three months after such notice to such
manufacturer, dealer or agent has been given by the commissioner. The
foregoing shall apply only to the lot purchased or carload of fertilizer
or fertilizer material from any part of which the sample was drawn;
but an appeal shall lie from the decision of the commissioner of agricul-
ture and immigration to the board of agriculture and immigration,
who shall give due notice to the manufacturer, dealer or agent, and a
hearing with full authority to produce evidence before them.

§13. The commissioner of agriculture and immigration shall have
authority to establish, with the consent of the board of agriculture and
immigration, such rules and regulations in regard to the inspection,
analysis and sales of fertilizer and fertilizer material as shall not be
inconsistent with the provisions of this act, and as in his judgment will
best carry out the requirements thereof.

§14. Nothing in this act shall be construed to restrict and avoid the
sale of any fertilizer or fertilizer material to each other by manipulators,
importers or manufacturers who mix fertilizer materials for sale, or as
preventing the free and unrestricted shipments of material to manufac-
turers or manipulators who have registered their brands as required by
the provisions of this act.

§15. The board of agriculture and immigration shall have full and
absolute control of all money arising from fees aforesaid, and of all
forfeitures and fines arising under this act, and shall adopt all needful
rules and regulations providing for the collection and disbursement of
the said fees, forfeitures and fines, and shall require the same to be de-
posited with the treasurer of the State, and to be drawn therefrom upon
warants issued by the commissioner and signed by the president of the
said board, upon the auditor of the State, out of which shall be paid the
expense of carrying out the provisions of this act, including the dis-
semination of useful information for farmers. And any surplus of said
funds shall be used by the said board for carrying on experiments with
plants and fertilizers, and publishing and disseminating the results of
such experiments, and for conducting other work and disseminating
other knowledge and information useful to the farmers.

§16. The commissioner of agriculture and immigration shall keep a
correct and faithful account of all fees, forfeitures and fines received
and certificates issued and money disbursed by him, and shall make a
semi-annual report of receipts and disbursements to the board of agricul-
ture and immigration and annually to the governor, accompanied by
statements of receipts and disbursements.

817. The term “commercial fertilizer or fertilizer material” when
used in this act, shall not be held to include lime, land plaster, ashes,
common salt or unground tobacco stems when sold as such, unmixed
with other fertilizer materials.

818. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby
repealed.

2. This act shall be in force from January one, nineteen hundred and
nine.