Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1946 )

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN 1l GROVER ¶ELLERS ATlOw4CI GINII1A.L oplaloa lo. O-7156 Dur sir: Rw ID tba ulo of oplnloa a th lbovo rubjoot. rolu to the citrus y/E’eut.mlt tuo ~ue8tlon8, viz: iie sale of 9Hln-So11 under the clrcxim- 8t.8``88 and c~ditioXi8 8Ot fO& in the brief, 8Ub- ject to ~rLpin81 OT ~1~11 FcMitiO8 wider the Canmer- cl81 Pertflizer 8UtUte8? 18 thWO, Mder raid Cir- -8tanaO8 and aOQditiOCl8, Uir llOCe88itl fOP th. nin- 901 CCXOpOCJ, Or UIYCTJO e18e OffOrixig nor 8e'lliq 'b!b-l- Sol', to ccqly vith the Conoerclal Fertilizer Stat- utes of ttlis Ltete?” Honorable A. J. Luckett, pndo 2 Ye think it necerrary before attemptlng to an8ver the @.le8tlOZl8 you have mired to iir8t d8temlno vhether or not the 8UbtOrhl ~AUVA a8 "blin-sol"meet8 the deilnltlon OS a comorcial fortlllter as detlned by Article 1716 of our Ponal Code, vhlch mad8 a8 fO111~8l “A ccmmeralal f~rtlllzor 18 any Mterlal, rub- 8tanao ``~a._~ or mixtun A. vhlch contains or la . m.-._. clalmod - to uuncaan more cnaa an* par aant or coca1 pnorpnorlc acid, Or potslh or altrogen and vhloh 18 uaad for D&‘pliWAtiUZ8 to th0 8011 to proPrOtethe grovth of Cror18~ or uw rubrknoo. EUit4WlAlor mlxturd, vhlah 18 clnlmed to oxart a beneflatal a&ion up= the roll or to wcmoto the nrtnith of arop8. Lime, Time- 8ton0, marl, un&e rgrouad 0088, rtook pen manure, b a r a y a ma r the lxcment8 r da ur ao , 0r any dOWO8tio Mb81 8hDll be OXOBpt frOa th8 plWV181fX38 Of thl8 chapter,ln oa88 that uld Laura or excrement ha8 not b6en drlod or mnIpulat8d or OthervlBv trmatod or la aot claImed to h8vo a value OS more #WI $4 a tua.” (Bmpharli uur8) Article 108 Of Our civil StetUtO8 mad8 a8 fOiiOV8t "The temm ~aanmera~l fertlllzor,' 'misbranded,' and 'adulterated,'a8 ured in this chapter, rhall hV8 tha 8aW RIUA~ a8 18 $iVOA thosa tomis in Article 1716 OS the Penal Cc lo.’ Proc the above tvo Articlor, therefore, vo umbt obtain the detinition ot cszmercial fertllltcr. Particular emyh~818 18 placed here upon tke “Or EKiy 8Ub8taCe, vords D&terinl or ti?Xtuw, vhich Is claimed to exert a $enoflclal action upon the soil or to pranote tke growth of crcqs. Us think it clear tkzt the ir.ter.tix of the Legislature in defining coaaerclal t’crtllizer er, it did UK- der Article 1716 va3 to trlr< uncler the prov?s?ms of tkc Article: nily n~tcrb31 offt-red for sale as an anendrzent to 8~11 Oscar e rut.- stance vhich uw~ld bc beneflclal to tk:E grovln~ of c?o;lr. ‘t+.lle it nay be true the material you nentlonod frills to neet the ckcr-- ical deflnitlon of conuzerclal fertilizer because it hns E lesz a&ount of phosphorus than 18 required by the 8tatute, ue do thir.:: that the rubstance 18 clelrsed by the Cotx~ng to be of benefit to soil and that it doer prmote the grovth of crops; therefore, it vould appear to u8 that it 18 a aCUUerCia1 fertilizer vithlo the meanin& of Article 1716 of the r’enal Code. . lfonorable A. J. Luckett, page 3 The clvll an& penal articles relbting to the marketing of ccalmerol.al fertlllter are llallar; in iaet, acme of thorn are identlo81. Unquoetlonablyr it war the lntontlon of tho bglrlaturo ln pawing tho Camerckl Portillcor Statutes to prohibit fraud upon tho publlo, 1. l . tho malo OS IpatOrialby fal80 8dvortlrlng. Phie lr vlthln tho polloo powor of our Stat.0 Oovommont. Uo do not aontond that tho stato Chomlat8 or any other agoaoy OS the Oovornmont could provont a oorporatlon or a pormon from rolling the matorlalr you nentlonod, but ve do oontond, and vo horo hold, that luoh corpomtlon or perron offorlng for ma10 tho matorlal wet oompl~ with both the 01~11 am3 crlmlnal rktutor govomlzig the marketlag and ralo of occmom~l fartllircor. Truatlng the above eatlrfaatoril~ 6mawofe your lnqulrJ, vo are Your8 vow truly AlTORl'iEY OEERAL OF TWS E. M. DeGeurln Aa8lBtfmt SDeO/JCP