STATE LAWS FOR PROMOTION OF TREE-PLANTING. 209 



planting trees or shrnbs in the margin of the highway, in a space not exceeding eight 

 feet in width from the margins of the highway, which sum, when so paid, shall bo 

 credited upon his highway or poll tax for that year ; and any overseer of the highway 

 may cause a portion, not exceeding ten percent, ot the highway tax in his road dis- 

 trict, to be expended in setting out trees or shrubs, in a space not exceeding eight 

 feet in width from the margin of the highway. 



2. Any person who shall (except as hereinafter provided) willfully injure, deface, 

 tear, or destroy any tree or shrub thus j)]antcd along the margin of the higiiway, or 

 purposely left there for shade or ornament, shall forfeit a sum not less than $5 nor 

 more than $100 for each offense, which sum may be recovered in any court of compe- 

 tent jurisdiction: Provided, That whenever it shall appear to the board of commis- 

 sioners of highways in any town in this State, that any shade or ornamental trees or 

 shrubs are an obstruction or an injury to any highway, said trees or shrubs maybe cut 

 down and removed by order of the aforesaid board of commissioners of highways. 



3. Any person who shall negligently or carelessly suffer a^'y horse or other beast 

 driven by him, or any beast belonging to him and lawfully in highway, to break down, 

 destroy, or injure any tree or shrub not his own, standing for use or ornament in any 

 highway, or negligently or willfully, by any other means, shall break down, destroy, or 

 injure any such tree or shrub, shall be subject to an action for damages in a sum not 

 less than $1 nor more than $25 for each offense, to bo recovered at the suit of the owner 

 or tenant of the laud in front of which such tree or shrub stands, or of the overseer 

 of the highway in whose road district such tree or shrub may be situated. 



4. This act shall take effect immediately. 



MLNNESOTA. 



The first act for the direct eucouragement of tree-planting in this 

 State was entitled "An act to enconrage the planting and growing of 

 timber and shade trees," appj-oved March 0, 1871. It provided an an- 

 nual bounty of $2 an acre for ten years, commencing three years after 

 planting, and a like bounty lor every half mile of trees planted along 

 the highways. This act was further amended February 20, 1873, as fol- 

 lows : 



Be it enacted hy the legislature of the State of Minnesota : 



Section 1. That every person planting one acre or more of prairie land, within five 

 years after the passage of this act, with any kind of forest trees, except black locust,' 

 and successfully growing and cultivating the same for three years, and every person 

 planting, protecting, and cultivating for three years one-half mile or more of forest 

 trees, along any public highway, said trees to be planted so as to stand not more than 

 one rod apart at the end of three years, and, when planted on each side of any high- 

 way, such trees shall not be planted within the four-rod limit of such highway, shall 

 be entitled to receive for ten years thereafter, an annual bounty of two dollars for 

 each acre, and two dollars for each half mile ^o planted and cultivated, to be paid out 

 of the State treasury ; but such bounty shall not be paid any longer than such grove 

 or line of trees is maintained and kept in growing condition. 



Sec. 2. Any person wishing to secure the benefit of this act, shall, within three 

 years after planting such grove or line of trees, and annually thereafter, file with the 

 county auditor of the county in which the same is located, a correct plat of the land, 

 describing the section or fraction thereof on which such grove or line of trees has been 

 planted or cultivated, and shall make due proof of such planting and cultivation, as 

 well as of the title to the land, by the oath of the owner and the affidavit of two honse- 

 holders residing in the vicinity, setting forth the facts in relation to the growth and 

 cultivation of the grove or lino of trees for which such bounty is demanded. The sev- 

 eral county auditors shall annually, on or before the first day of August, forward to the 

 State auditor a certified list of all the lands and tree-iilauti'ng reported and verified to 

 them in compliance with this act, with the names and post-ofJice address of the 

 respective owners thereof; providing this act fhall not apply to any railroad companj 

 for planting of trees within two hundred feet of its track for the xmrpose of snow-fence. 



Sec. 3. If the State auditor shall find that the provisions of this act have been duly 

 complied with, he shall issue to the several applicants entitled thereto his warrant 

 upon the State treasurer for the bounty named in the first section, on or before the 



1 This adverse opinion of the value of the black locust is believed by many to be 

 unjust. It has been found, in some sections of the country at least, that the borer in 

 a dense forest will injure only the margin of the i)lantation. We have, however, been 

 informed of cases in some of the western States, where this rule did not prevail. 

 14 F 



