LAWS PERTAINING TO HORTICULTURE. 191 



"bursements may be recovered by the township from, the owner of said diseased fruit, or 

 from the owner of the premises on which said diseased trees stood, in an action of 

 assumpsit. 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 



A law of 1863 prescribed the following standard weights of horticultural 

 products: 



Bushels of beans 60 pounds 



" dried apples .23 " 



' ' dried peaches .28 " 



potatoes ...GO " 



" onions 54 " 



Bushel of sweet potatoes 56 pounds 



turnips .58 " 



" cranberries ...40 " 



" dried plums 28 " 



In 1867 a bill was passed which said ''the half bushel or part thereof shall 

 be the standard measure for fruits customarily sold by heaped measure ; and 

 in measuring said commodities the half bushel or other small measure shall 

 he heaped as high as may be,' without special effort or design." 



In 1877 a law passed providing that the standard weight of apples should 

 be 48 pounds for a bushel. 



In 1871 a bill passed providing that the quantity known as a barrel of fruit, 

 roots, or vegetables shall be that quantity contained in a barrel made from 

 staves twenty-seven inches in length, and each head sixteen and one-half 

 inches in diameter, or ordinary flour-barrel size. 



In 1869 a special act concerning trespass on cranberry marshes was passed, 

 which prescribed severe penalties for injuring vines or fruit upon these plan- 

 tations. 



In 1877 a law was passed which entailed severe penalties upon persons 

 found guilty of destroying timber, fruit trees, or other plants upon the prem- 

 ises of another, and for entering the garden of another with intent to injure 

 or destroy any of the growing products therein. 



In 1869 a penalty was prescribed for entering a vineyard against the will of 

 the owner during the months of August, September, and October, and eat or 

 carry away any of the fruit growing thereon. 



DESTRUCTION OF NOXIOUS WEEDS. 



The following provision in the highway laws of 1881 is interesting to horti- 

 culturists : 



Every overseer shall cause the noxious weeds within the limits of the highways 

 within his district to be cut down and destroyed twice in each year, once before the 

 first day of July, and again before the first day of September, and the requisite labor 

 shall be considered highway work ; and once in every month, from the first day of 

 April to the first day of December, shall cause all the loose stones lying on the beaten 

 track of every road within his district to be removed. Any overseer who shall refuse 

 or neglect to perform the duties required by this section shall be liable to a penalty of 

 'twenty-five dollars. 



One section of the bird law has to do with horticulture. It reads as 

 follows : 



Any person who shall at any time, within this State, kill any robin, night-hawk, 



