THE SUMMER MEETING. 49 



ship board or any member thereof, it shall be the duty of said board to appoint 

 forthwith three competent freeholders of said township as commissioners, who shall 

 hold office during the pleasure of said board, and such order of appointment and 

 revocation shall be entered at large upon the township records. 



Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of said commissioners, within ten days after appoint- 

 ment as aforesaid, to file their acceptance of the same with the clerk of said township 

 and said clerk shall be ea; o^cio clerk of said board of commissioners, and he shall 

 keep a correct record of the proceedings of said board in a book to be provided for 

 the purpose, and shall file and preserve all papers pertaining to the duties and actions 

 of said commissioners, or either of them, which shall be a part of the records of said 

 township. 



Sec. 4. It shall be the duty of the commissioners, or any one of them, upon or 

 without complaint, whenever it comes to their notice that the disease known as 

 yellows exists or is supposed to exist within the limits of their township, to proceed 

 without delay to examine the trees or fruit supposed to be infected, and if the dis- 

 ease is found to exist a distinguishing mark shall be placed upon the diseased trees 

 and the owner notified personally, or by a written notice left at his usual place of 

 residence, or, if the owner be a non-resident, by leaving the notice with the person 

 in charge of the trees or fruit, or the person in whose possession said trees or fruit 

 may be. The notice shall contain a simple statement of the facts as found to exist, 

 with an order to effectually remove and destroy, by fire or otherwise, the trees so 

 marked and designated within ten days, Sundays excepted, from the date of the 

 service of the notice, and shall be signed by all the commissioners; and incase of fruit 

 so infected, such notice shall require the person in whose possession or control it is 

 found to immediately destroy the same or cause it to be done. 



Sec. 5. Whenever any person shall refuse or neglect to comply with the order to 

 remove and destroy the trees marked by the commissioners, as aforesaid, it becomes 

 the duty of the commissioners to cause said trees to be removed and destroyed 

 forthwith, employing all necessary aid for that purpose, the expense for such re- 

 moval and destruction of trees to be a charge against the township; and for the 

 purpose of said removal and destruction the said commissioners, their agents or 

 workmen, shall have the right and power to enter upon any and all premises within 

 their township. 



Sec. 6. If any owner neglects to remove and destroy, or cause to be removed and 

 destroyed, as aforesaid, such diseased trees or fruit after such examination and noti- 

 fication, and within the time hereinbefore specified, such person shall be deemed 

 guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, 

 or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding three months, or both, in the 

 discretion of the court ; and any justice of the peace of the township where such fruit 

 is sold, shipped or disposed of, as aforesaid, shall have jurisdiction thereof. 



Sec. 7. The commissioners shall be allowed for the services, under this act, two 

 dollars for each full day and one dollar for each half day, and their other charges and 

 disbursements, hereunder to be audited, as well as any other charges and disburse- 

 ments under this act, by the township board, all of which costs, charges, expenses, 

 and disbursements may be recovered by the township from the owner of said dis- 

 eased fruit, or from the owner of the premises on which said diseased trees stood, in 

 an action of assumpsit. 



Sec. 8. Act number thirty-two of the session laws of Michigan for eighteen hun- 

 dred and seventy-nine is hereby repealed. 



Over an hour was taken np in tlie discussion of the yellows as a contagious 

 disease, but no facts were elicited that cannot be found in the transactions of 

 this society. 



Mr. Morton gave a short iiistory of fruit growing at Benton Harbor, and by 

 vote of the society was requested to write out the same, which may appear 

 upon a subsequent page of this volume. 



The discussions of the morning were closed bv a short account of some of 

 the newer strawberries by President Lyon. 



The society again repaired to Grange hall, where a bonntif ul repast had been 



provided by the ladies of the grange and others Avho assisted them in the 



enterprise. After dinner Mr. H. G. Reynolds, cliairman of the committee on 



resolutions, made a very neat little speech recounting what had been done for 



i 



