208 STATE LAWS FOR PROMOTION OF TREE-PLANTING. 



This action of the State Board of Agriculture was followed, three 

 years after, by the passage of the following law : 



AN ACT for the enconragement of the ^owth of trees. Approved February 20, 1872. 



Be it enacted, &c., That any laudbokler iu this State, who shall plant or set apart any 

 cl' ared lands, or lands from which the primitive forests shall have been removed, for 

 the growth and protection of forest trees, within ten years after the passage of this 

 act, and shall successfully grow and cultivate the same for three years, the trees being 

 uot less iu number than 2,000 on each acre and well distributed over the same, then, 

 on application of the owner or occupant of such lauds, to the assessors of the town in 

 which the same is situated and is so successfully cultivated or set apart to forest tref s, 

 and at the same time of such application shall file with paid assessors a correct plat of 

 such lands, with description of their location, and setting forth all the facts in relation 

 to the growth and cultivation of said grove of trees or incipient forest, the same shall 

 be exempt from taxation for twenty years thereafter: Provided, Such grove or planta- 

 tion of trees shall during that period be kept alive and iu a thriving condition.' 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



Every such society [referring to agricultural societies receiving the 

 bounty of the StateJ shall annually ofter such premiums and encourage- 

 ment for the raising and preserving of oaks and other forest trees as 

 to them shall seem proper and best adapted to perpetuate, within the 

 State, an adequate supply of ship timbers. — {General Statutes of Mass., 

 chap. 66, sec. 8.) 



Ten or more persons in any county, city, or town within the State, 

 who, by agreement in writing, associate for the purpose of encouraging 

 agriculture, horticulture, or for improving and ornamenting the streets 

 and public squares of any city or town by planting and cultivating 

 ornamental trees therein, may become a corporation by such name as 

 they may assume therefor, upon calling their first meeting and being 

 organized in the manner provided in sections ten and eleven of chapter 

 thirty-three; and shall thereupon, during the pleasure of the legislature, 

 have for their purposes all the rights, powers, and privileges given by 

 sections ten to thirteen of said chapter inclusive, and may hold real 

 and personal estate not exceeding ten thousand dollars. {J6.,chap. 66, 

 sec. 17.) 



MICHIGAN. 



The 'planting of trees or shrubs in the Highway. 



[Amendment to sec. 2, chap. 25, Compiled Laws, approved March 27, 18(57.] 



Section 1. Any person or persons owning or occupying land adjoining any highway 

 not less than three rods wide, may plant or set out trees or shrubs on each side of said 

 highway contiguous to his laud ; which trees or shrubs shall be set in regular rows at 

 a distance not less than six feet from each other, and within eight feet of the margin 

 of the highway. Provided, That in incorporated villages or cities the common council 

 of such cities or villages may fix and determine the distance that such trees shall be 

 set from the margin of the highway therein ; and any such person owning or occupying 

 land contiguous to any highway, and who is assessed any highway or poll tax, may 

 cause to be paid of such tax a sum not exceeding twenty-five per cent, for any years, by 



'The above statute is in subs ance the first section only of the bill proposed. The 

 remainder of the proposed law allowed owners to ]>lant or set out trees in regular 

 rows on either side of the highway within six feet of the margin, and, if of the evergreen 

 species, not more than six feet apart, and so trimmed as to promise to result in a wind 

 screen against drifting snows. After three years' successful training he was to re- 

 ceive $10 per mile of annual exemi)tion from highway, poll, or other taxes for a period 

 of twenty years, the screen being kept in good condition during this period. It also 

 provided penalties of $5 to fi.oO for removal or injury of trees thus planted (reserving, 

 however, to town-ofiicers, the right of remova', if deemed an obstruction), and a fine of 

 $1 to $10 for hitching horses or other beasts to trees owned by another, the prosecution 

 bi'ing brought by the owner or tenant, or by the surveyor of the highway of the dis- 

 trict where the act was done. 



