WEED AND SEED LAWS 795 



on the extermination of weeds. There are laws in France and 

 Germany but most of the European countries appear to have no 

 legislation on the destruction of weeds. 



Denmark awards prizes to members of societies for weedless 

 fields. In most countries and most states of the United States the 

 laws are flagrantly violated. In the Canadian Provinces, where 

 weed commissioners are appointed, they seem to have remedied 

 this defect. 



A few years ago these laws were compiled by Dewey.* The 

 present Iowa law is as follows : 



IOWA. 



SENATE FILE NO. 136. 



AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOE THE DESTRUCTION OF NOXIOUS WEEDS AND 

 OTHER WEEDS UPON LANDS, HIGHWAYS AND OTHER PLACES; PRE- 

 SCRIBING PENALTIES FOR THE VIOLATION THEREOF ; ASSESSING THE 

 COSTS AND EXPENSES OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SAME TO THE 

 LANDS AND OWNERS THEREOF ; AND PROVIDING FUNDS WITH WHICH 

 TO DESTROY THE SAME, AND REPEALING ALL OF CHAPTER NINETY- 

 SIX (96) OF THE ACTS OF THE THIRTY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY 

 RELATING TO WEEDS UPON LANDS AND HIGHWAYS. 



Be it Enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa: 



Section 1. It shall be the duty of each owner, occupant, person, 

 company or corporation in control of any lands within the state of 

 Iowa, whether the same shall consist of improved or unimproved 

 lands, town or city lots, lands used for highways, railway right of 

 way or depot grounds, lands in which the public has an easement 

 for road, street or other right of way, or lands used for any other 

 purpose whatsoever, to cut, burn, or otherwise entirely destroy all 

 noxious weeds as defined in section two (2) hereof at such times in 

 each year and in such manner as shall prevent the said weeds from 

 blooming or coming to maturity, and to keep the said lands free 

 from such growths of other weeds as shall render the streets or 

 highways adjoining the same unsafe for public travel or shall in- 

 terfere in any manner with the proper construction or repair of the 

 said streets or highways, and shall cause to be cut, near the surface, 

 all weeds on the streets or highways adjoining said lands between 

 the fifteenth day of July and the fifteenth day of August of each 

 year. But nothing herein shall prevent the land owner from har- 



♦Bull. U. S. Dept. Agr. Div. Bot. 17 :60. 



