DESTRUCTION OF NOXIOUS INSECTS. 73 



VI. The said Inspectors may at any time be removed by the 

 mayor and aldermen or selectmen for neglect of the duties of their 

 office, and upon such removal new Inspectors shall be appointed 

 as aforesaid, to fill the vacancy or vacancies so occasioned. 



VII. All suits brought under this Act by any Inspector, shall 

 survive and may be prosecuted by his successor or successors in 

 office. 



VIII. This Act shall take effect from and after its passage. 



Benjamin G. Smith thought that his crop of apples had been 

 reduced at least one-half by the insects propagated on his neigh- 

 bor's grounds. 



President Strong said that our venerable ex-president, Joseph 

 Breck, was much annoyed in his last days in the same way. The 

 injury to the fruit crop, however, is not the only aspect of the 

 case ; the disfigurement to the landscape by the depredations of 

 caterpillars and canker worms, is deserving of consideration. 



Rev. A. B. Muzzey said that he had no personal interest in the 

 subject, but was in favor of the proposed measure. He referred 

 to the principle of common law, that every man should so use his 

 own property as not to injure that of his neighbor, and thought 

 this a case under that law. While the law is very jealous of 

 injury to property in minor matters, — trespass for example, not 

 permitting a man to enter his neighbor's ground and take even a 

 single apple without permission — here is a much stronger case, for 

 which the law makes no provision. Throughout the commonwealth 

 there are hundreds and thousands of people suff'ering from the 

 neglect of their neighbors. He thought the question should be 

 put on the broadest ground, and believed there were men in the 

 society who could make an impression on the legislature and the 

 public that would be felt. The question of the protection, not only 

 of fruit, but of forest trees, is destined to be of great importance 

 throughout the country, both from a sanitary and meteorological 

 point of view. 



D. B. Flint said that he came from a district in Belmont and 

 Watertown which was badly infested with canker worms. When 

 he bought his place the trees had been so much injured by canker 

 worms that they produced no apples, but he began protecting his 

 tre^s with printers' ink, and after using it three years he had some 

 apples. He had found a substance made by J. B. Alley, of Salem, 



