190 AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL, 1924. 



Mr. BrcnAXAX. How many of those 13 ^States have weed inspec- 

 tors, similar to those in Minnesota? 



Mr. Reed. North Dakota has. I am not advised with regard to 

 that, but 1 know that North Dakota has. 



Mr. BuciiAXAX. It seems to me that that is a higlily important 

 matter when it comes to the eradication of any specific kind of 

 injurious bush. 



Mr. Reed. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Fuller. Ohio has a system under which they have 14 inspec- 

 tors, or weed inspectors. I do not think that is their title, but that 

 is their job. They are charged with keeping down phint pests of 

 various kinds, and they work under the direction of the Department 

 of Agriculture. 



Mr. BuciLVNAX. Has your State a law" by which you can take up 

 and destroy barberry bushes, even against the consent of the owner 

 of the land on which they grow ? 



Mr. Reed. Yes, sir. 



Mr. BucHANAX. Without any court proceedings? 



Mr. Reed. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Buchanan. You have never met with anv real opposition ( 



Mr. Reed. No, sir; not to that extent. That lias been usually met 

 with in the case of tenants occupying property. 



Mr. Buchanan. They w^ould not care, and they would not want to 

 do it themselves. They would not care anything about the pest 

 themselves. 



Mr. Reed. Well, if it is on town propert}", where the bushes have 

 been planted for landscaping purposes, they may think sometunes 

 that tlie owner would not want to have them changed, but that 

 opposition has not been very pronounced. 



Mr. Buchanan. The question in my mind is whether they have the 

 proper kind of organization, such as you have in Minnesota, in the 

 other 12 States, so that from the State standpoint it can be done. 

 I make that suggestion because the State authoritv is the onlv one 

 that can really supervise it if any opposition should arise. 



Mr. Reed. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Fuller. It might be stated that in Minnesota the law is this: 

 If barberry bushes are found on a man's property, they can be 

 removed without court action, and the cost charged against him 

 like a tax assessment, for which he would become liable. Tiiroughout 

 the entire area, I have heard of only one court case during the entire 

 work of the State, and that was in Illinois. 



Mr. Buchanan. Do the other States have such laws ? 



Mr. Fuller. All of the States have laws of varying (iogrees of 

 severity with regard to barberry ])ushes. The only law 1 know of 

 that has not stood up has ])een the Montana law, and they are trying 

 to get the Attorney General to render a decision that will put some 

 teeth into that law. In the other States the law has proved effective, 

 and the only court case that 1 know of was in Illinois. That was a 

 case where a woman was brought into court and fined $'2'^ for having 

 barberry bushes on her property. She aj>j)eale(l the case to tlio 

 district court and the fine was rethiced to SIO, i)ut it stuck. 



I will ask Mr. C. W. Hunt, prcsich'nt of the Iowa Bureau Farm 

 Federation, to amplify the situation in Iowa. 



J 



