INJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1903. 23 



by reason of such plowing shall be paid out of the county treasury, upon 

 the warrant of the county auditor, in favor of the person entitled to the 

 same. 



Sec. 5. Whenever any tract of land shall have been plowed by the 

 county, pursuant to the provisions of this act, and the plowing thereof 

 shall be of value to the owner, or his lessee thereof, in the raising 

 of any crops thereon during the season immediately following such 

 plowing, such owner, or lessee, shall be liable to the county to the value 

 of such plowing. Whenever the Board of County Commissioners is of 

 the opinion that any such liability has arisen by reason of such plowing, 

 it shall determine the sum for which the owner or lessee is so liable, 

 and direct the county auditor to demand the immediate payment thereof 

 into the county treasury; and, if the same is not paid upon such demand, 

 it is hereby made the duty of the county attorney to bring a civil action 

 in the name of such board against the party so in default, for the recov- 

 ery of the same, and interest thereon from the date of such demand, pro- 

 vided that the amount so determined by the Board of County Commis- 

 sioners shall be prima facie evidence of the value of such plowing. 



Sec. 6. For the purposes of this act, the Entomologist employed by 

 the regents of the University of Minnesota, at the State Experiment 

 Station, located at the capital of the state, shall be deemed the State 

 Entomologist. 



Sec. 7. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its 

 passage. 



This bill met with some criticism on the part of some of 

 the residents in grasshopper districts in Polk county, on the 

 ground that it was not severe enough ; they claimed that the 

 owner of the infested land should stand the expense of plowing 

 and not the county, a few going so far as to say that it looked 

 as though the law had been made in the interest of 

 speculators, etc. This criticism is unjust and has, I under- 

 stand, been withdrawn. The bill was framed after much 

 study by General Childs, of St. Paul, who gave out as 

 a result of his deliberations that if the owner were 

 made responsible the law would not be effective. In 

 discussing the matter with the writer, General Childs 

 said: "The presence of these eggs is a misfortune, 

 a visitation, not due to any neglect on the part of the 

 owner of the land. Plowing accomplishes something for the 

 general good, and hence expense should be borne by counties, 

 unless the individual is directly benefited in the way of raising crops, 

 in which case he shoidd pay. It is to be vieived in the light of a 

 public calamity." 



