340 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



LEGISLATION EELATING TO INSECTS AND DISEASES OF 



FRUIT TREES, AND PRELIMINARY REPORT OF THE 



STATE INSPECTOR OF NURSERIES AND 



ORCHARDS. 



BY L. li. TAFT AND D. W. TRINE. 



At various times duriug the past sixteen years the state of Michigan 

 lias passed laws to prevent the spread of dangerous insects and diseases 

 that have appeared in the orchards, but man}- fruit growers are not even 

 aware of the existence of these laws and few, even of those in whose hands 

 their enforcement has been placed, are informed regarding their require- 

 ments. 



The first " Yellows Law " was passed in 1879 and has been several 

 times amended until as it now stands upon the statute books (Act 109 

 Laws of 1895), it includes, (in addition to the yellows) peach rosette, black 

 knot and pear blight. In 1895 the so-called '' Spraying Law " was passed, 

 but it was amended in 1897, and is now Act 2, Laws of 1897. Both laws 

 provide for the appointment of commissioners in the townships where 

 diseases or insects exist, and those appointed under one law have full 

 power to enforce the other. 



In 1897, another law known as the Nursery and Orchard Inspection 

 Law was passed. This provides for the appointment of a state inspector 

 whose duty it is to examine all nursery stock sold in the state, and such 

 orchards as are supposed to contain dangerous insects or diseases, and 

 take measures for their eradication. 



All nurseries and tree dealers selling nursery stock in the state are 

 ■required to have their stock inspected, and to take out a license and to 

 give a bond for one thousand dollars that they will sell no stock that has 

 not been inspected, and are, if requested, required to furnish a list of 

 their customers for the use of the inspector. The license and bond of a 

 nursery answers for its agents. Nurseries with headquarters in other 

 states, which actually do business in Michigan, are also required to take 

 out a license and give a bond, but no bond is required where they merely 

 fiill mail orders. 



Nursery stock shipped into the state must be accompanied by a certi- 

 ficate of inspection from some authorized inspector, and, if not so accom- 

 panied, the transportation company must immediately notify the State 

 Board of Agriculture. The law does not interfere with the delivery of 

 the stock to the consignee. The Michigan law will be found printed in full 

 elsewhere in this bulletin. 



There is a law now before congress which prohibits transportation 

 companies, postmasters, etc., from receiving nursery stock of any kind 

 that is not accompanied by a certificate of inspection. 



DUTIES OF OWNEBS OF LAND. 



Owners are re(|uired by law, in case they have peach trees diseased 

 with yellows and rosette, -to forthwith destroy the trees and fruit, and 



