26 SIXTEENTH BIENNIAL REPORT 



or auy of them, owning, having Charge or having possession of such infested 

 place, article or thing, by any member of the board, or by a State or county 

 inspector, or by any person deputed by a member of said board for that purpose, 

 or it may be served in the same manner as a summons in an action at law. 

 It shall be the duty of the sheriff of any county to serve such notiee when 

 requested to do so by the commissioner of the board whose district includes such 

 county. Such notiee shall State the spray to be used or the treatment to be 

 applied for the eradication of said insect pests, their eggs and larvae, and con- 

 tagious diseases and fungous growths, and the abatement of the nuisance afore- 

 mentioned. The treatment may include the destructiou of the infested or iufected 

 articles if such destruction is necessary in the judgment of the person inspecting 

 the same under the authority conferred by this law. And any and all such 

 places, orchards, nurseries, trees, plants, shrubs, vegetables, vines, fruit or article 

 thus infested are hereby declared to be a public nuisance; and whenever any 

 such nuisance shall exist in any place in the State on the proper ty of any owner 

 or owners upon whom or upon the person in Charge or possession of whose 

 property notiee has been served as aforesaid, and who shall have failed or 

 refused to abate the same within the time specified in such notiee, or on the 

 property of auy nonresident or any property not in the possession of any 

 person and the owner or owners of which can not be found by the resident 

 member of the board or the State or county inspector after diligent search within 

 the county in which such nuisance exists, it shall be the duty of the board or 

 the member thereof in whose district the nuisance shall exist, or the State or 

 county inspector under his or their directions, to cause such nuisance to be at 

 once abated by eradicating or destroying said insects or pests or their eggs or 

 larvae, or by treating or disinfecting or destroying the infested or diseased 

 articles. The expense thereof shall be a county Charge and the county court 

 shall allow and pay the same out of the general fund of the county. The date 

 and amount of every such payment shall be immediately entered by the county 

 Clerk, in the public record book to be known as the horticultural lien book, and 

 said entry shall give a description of the property and premises upon which 

 such nuisance has been abated sufficient for Identification, and shall also State 

 the name of the owner or reputed owner of said property and premises, if 

 known, and thereupon the sum so paid shall be and become a lien upon said 

 property and premises, and such lien shall be preferred to all subsequent liens, 

 mortgages and other incumbrances. Thereupon it shall be the duty of the 

 county Clerk to forthwith notify the owner or reputed owner, if known, of the 

 date and amount of said lien, and that the amount thereof with the added sum 

 of one dollar for recording and discharging fee must be paid forthwith, and 

 such notiee shall be deposited in the postoffice with the postage prepaid, addressed 

 to the owner or reputed owner or owners of said property and premises at his 

 or her or their last known address. If the amovint of said lien and fee is paid 

 before suit is commenced to foreclose said lien, the county clerk shall thereupon 

 release said lien upon said horticultural lien book. If the same has not been 

 paid at the expiration of five months from the date of entry of the lien, the 

 county Clerk shall notify the district attorney for the county in which the lien 

 is recorded, and the district attorney shall thereupon and within six months 

 from the date of entry of said lien, in the name of and for the benefit of the 

 county in which said lien is recorded, proceed against said property and 

 premises by a suit in equity in the circuit court to recover the amount of said 

 lien, fee, costs and a reasonable attorney's fee. The proceedings in such case 

 shall be governed by the same rules as far as may be applicable as a suit to 

 foreclose a mechanic's lien, and the property shall be sold and the proceeds 

 applied in like manner. 



The board is hereby invested with the power to cause such nuisances to be 

 abated in a summary manner. [L. O. L., § 5487 ; L. 1917, Chap. 135, See. 1 ; 

 L. 1919, Chap. 331.] 



