Chapter 128

Section 65. The total phosphoric acid and the degree of fineness of unacidulated mineral phosphatic materials and basic slag, bone, tankage, and other organic phosphate materials may be guaranteed. Guarantees for plant nutrients other than nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium may b…

Section 65A. (a) No person shall purchase and apply or authorize any person, by way of service contract or other arrangement, to apply in the commonwealth any phosphorus containing fertilizer on lawn or non-agricultural turf, except when: (1) a soil test indicates that additional…

Section 66. No person shall manufacture or distribute in the commonwealth any type of fertilizer, except specialty fertilizers, until a license to distribute has been obtained by the person whose labeling is applied to such fertilizer from the commissioner upon payment of a one h…

Section 67. All commercial fertilizers, soil conditioners, and agricultural liming materials distributed in the commonwealth in containers shall have placed thereon, or affixed to the container, a label setting forth in clearly legible and conspicuous form the information require…

Section 68. There shall be paid to the commissioner for all commercial fertilizers, soil conditioners, and agricultural liming materials distributed in the commonwealth, an inspection fee, set by the commissioner in rules and regulations; provided, however, that sales to manufact…

Section 69. Each person who sells, offers or exposes for sale any commercial fertilizer, soil conditioner, or agricultural liming material shall on or before January first and July first of each year file with the commissioner, along with the inspection fee, a statement in such f…

Section 7. The commissioner shall cause to be printed on durable material, suitable to be affixed to trees or otherwise to be posted in the open air, copies of such extracts from section thirty-six of chapter one hundred and thirty-one and sections one hundred and five, one hundr…

Section 70. Each commercial fertilizer and brand of commercial fertilizer and each soil conditioner and agricultural liming material sold or offered or exposed for sale shall be subject to analysis by the commissioner or by his duly designated deputy. The commissioner shall cause…

Section 71. If the analysis shall show that a commercial fertilizer is deficient (1) in one or more of its guaranteed primary plant foods (NPK) beyond the investigational allowances as established by regulation or (2) if the overall index value of the fertilizer is below the leve…

Section 72. If any commercial fertilizer, soil conditioner, or agricultural liming material in the possession of the consumer is found by the commissioner to be short in weight, the licensee or registrant of said product shall within thirty days after official notice from the com…

Section 73. The commissioner shall determine and publish annually the values per unit of nitrogen, available phosphoric acid and soluble potash in commercial fertilizers in the commonwealth. The value so published shall be used in determining and assessing penalties.

Section 74. No person shall sell, offer, or expose for sale a commercial fertilizer or brand of commercial fertilizer, soil conditioner, or agricultural liming material if its labeling is false or misleading in any particular way, or it is distributed under the name of another pr…

Section 75. The commissioner may prescribe and enforce such rules and regulations as to the sale of commercial fertilizers, soil conditioners, or agricultural liming materials as he deems necessary to enforce sections sixty-four to seventy-eight, inclusive, and may prosecute or c…

Section 76. The commissioner or his authorized deputy may refuse to issue a certificate for any commercial fertilizer, soil conditioner or liming material, name, brand or trade-mark which is untrue in any particular or which in his opinion would be misleading or deceptive in any …

Section 77. Samples for analysis as stipulated in section seventy shall be collected by the commissioner or his duly authorized deputy and shall be delivered to the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Massachusetts for analysis according to methods …

Section 78. When the commissioner or his deputy has reasonable cause to believe any lot of commercial fertilizer, soil conditioner, or agricultural liming material, is being distributed in violation of any of the provisions of sections sixty-five to seventy-eight, inclusive, or o…

Section 79. Whoever sells, offers or exposes for sale any commercial fertilizer or mixture thereof, or any soil conditioner or agricultural liming material, without complying with the requirements of sections sixty-five to seventy-eight, inclusive, applicable thereto, or in viola…

Section 7A. As used in this chapter the following words shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the following meanings:— ''Agriculture'' and ''farming'', as defined in section 1A of chapter 128. ''Arbor'', an area of land devoted to the propagation and cultivation of f…

Section 7B. Any person may make application to the bureau of land use on a form to be furnished by the bureau for a permit to use available vacant public land for garden, arbor, or farm purposes. Applicants shall submit a plan for said use and shall agree to maintain the land in …

Section 7C. Priority in the allotment of vacant public land for garden and arbor purposes shall be given to elderly persons of low income, families of low income and children between the ages of 7 and 16. Products grown in gardens and arbors shall not be sold.

Section 7D. The bureau shall, with the cooperation of other state agencies and cities and towns, compile a list of all vacant land, that in the opinion of the agencies and cities and towns, can be feasibly used for gardening, arbor culture or farming. The bureau shall, by letters…

Section 7E. Owners of land may make available to the bureau parcels of land for the purposes set forth in section 7B under terms and conditions agreed upon between the owners and the bureau, and the commonwealth, the department and all of its officers, agents and employees shall …

Section 7F. The commissioner after a public hearing shall adopt and promulgate rules and regulations in accordance with chapter 30A and consistent with sections 7A to 7E, inclusive of this chapter.

Section 80. The commissioner or his deputy may publish annually, in such forms as he may deem proper, information concerning the sales of commercial fertilizers, soil conditioners, and agricultural liming materials; together with such data on their production, composition and use…

Section 81. The commissioner or his representative shall not be required to report for prosecution, or for the institution of seizure proceedings if there are minor violations of the preceding sections when he believes that the public interest will be best served by a suitable no…

Section 82. The commissioner may prescribe and enforce such rules and regulations relative to the sale of commercial fertilizers, soil conditioners, and agricultural liming materials as he deems necessary to enforce sections sixty-four through eighty-three, inclusive.

Section 83. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to restrict or avoid sales or exchanges of commercial fertilizers to each other by importers, manufacturers, or manipulators who mix fertilizer materials for sale or as preventing the free and unrestricted shipments of commer…

Section 84. The following words, as used in sections eighty-four to one hundred and one, inclusive, unless the context otherwise requires, shall have the following meanings:— ''Advertisement'', all representations, other than those on the label, disseminated in any manner or by a…

Section 85. Except as otherwise provided in section ninety-two, each container of agricultural, vegetable, flower or tree and shrub seed which is sold, offered for sale or exposed for sale within the commonwealth for sowing purposes shall bear thereon, or have attached thereto in…

Section 86. Each container of agricultural seeds, including lawn seeding mixtures, shall also bear the commonly accepted name of the kind and variety or cultivar of those kinds which are usually named as to variety or cultivar, as prescribed by rules and regulations, of each seed…

Section 87. Containers of one pound or less for peas, beans and sweet corn and containers of one-quarter pound or less for all other kinds of vegetable seeds shall also bear, thereon, the date of test or calendar year for which seed is packaged, and the kind and variety or cultiv…

Section 88. For flower seeds the label shall include the name of the kind and variety or cultivar, if any, or a statement of type and performance characteristics as prescribed in regulations. For those having annual, biennial and perennial sorts, or any two of such sorts, a state…

Section 89. For tree and shrub seeds packaged in containers of one quarter pound or more, the label shall contain the kind of seed and variety or cultivar, the percentage by weight of pure seed, the percentage of germination of those kinds for which standard testing procedures ha…

Section 8A. In order to protect the food supplies, agricultural produce, growing crops, live stock, manufactured goods and buildings, and to safeguard the public health, the commissioner may investigate the life and habits of, and may take necessary measures to destroy or to cont…

Section 8B. Mink that have been propagated in captivity for two or more generations shall be considered domesticated mammals subject to all the laws of the commonwealth with reference to possession, ownership and taxation as are at any time applicable to domesticated animals; suc…

Section 9. The department may establish demonstration sheep farms in such places as may be selected by the commissioner. Such a farm may be established in co-operation with the owner of any farm who is desirous of conducting it in conformity with this and the two following sectio…

Section 90. No person shall sell, offer for sale or expose for sale any agricultural, vegetable, flower or tree and shrub seed within the commonwealth unless the test to determine the percentage of germination required by sections eighty-six to eighty-nine, inclusive was complete…

Section 91. No person within the commonwealth shall detach, alter, deface or destroy any label provided for in said sections eighty-four to one hundred and one, inclusive, or the regulations promulgated thereunder; nor alter or substitute seed, in a manner that may defeat the pur…

Section 92. Sections eighty-five to ninety-one, inclusive, shall neither apply to seed or grain not intended for sowing purposes, nor to seed for sowing purposes in storage in, or consigned to, a seed cleaning or processing establishment for cleaning or processing; provided, that…

Section 93. No person shall be subject to the penalties of section one hundred for having sold or offered or exposed for sale in the commonwealth any agricultural, vegetable, flower or tree and shrub seeds which were incorrectly labeled or represented as to kind, variety (cultiva…

Section 94. The commissioner and his duly authorized assistants shall have authority to enforce sections eighty-four to one hundred and one, inclusive, and to prosecute all violations thereof. Before any prosecution is begun by said commissioner or any of his duly authorized assi…

Section 95. The commissioner, either in person or his assistants, shall have free access at all reasonable hours to each building or other place where agricultural seeds or mixtures thereof, vegetable seeds, flower seeds or tree and shrub seeds are stored, sold or offered or expo…

Section 96. Any lot of agricultural, vegetable, flower or tree and shrub seed not in compliance with the provisions of sections eighty-four to one hundred, inclusive, shall be subject to seizure on complaint of the commissioner to a court of competent jurisdiction in the area in …

Section 97. The director shall cause such tests and analyses as he may specify to be made of samples collected under section ninety-five in order to determine the quality of the seeds contained in such samples. The results of all such analyses shall be reported to the commissione…

Section 98. The director, with the approval of the commissioner, shall, subject to the provisions of chapter thirty A, adopt vegetable seed and flower seed germination standards, prescribe rules and regulations from time-to-time, and in like manner, modify or amend rules and regu…

Section 99. Any person residing or doing business in the commonwealth may submit to the director samples of seeds for purity and germination tests subject to such rules and regulations as may be adopted by the director including a reasonable charge or fee for such tests. Receipts…