STATE LAWS FOR PROMOTION OF TREE-PLANTING. 211 



the act of Congress, were to be allowed for each acre of timber under 

 this act an exemption of $50 annually for five years.^ 



The constitution of 1875 forbids the exemption of private property 

 from taxation, but contains the following provision : 



The legislature may provide that the increased value of lands, by reason of live 

 feuces, fruit and forest trees grown and cultivated thereon, shall not be taken into 

 account in the assessment thereof. (Art. is, sec. 2.) 



NEVADA. 



The first act passed by this State for the encouragement of tree-plant- 

 ing was dated November 7, 1873, and was limited to five years. It was 

 amended March 5, 1877, and now stands as follows : 



Section 1. Every person planting one acre or more of land, within ten years after 

 the passage of this act [of 1877] with any kind of forest or shade trees, and successfully 

 growing and cultivating the same for three years, and any person planting, protecting, 

 and cultivating for three years, one-half mile or more of forest or shade trees along 

 any public highway, said trees to be planted so as to stand, at the end of three years, one 

 rod apart, shall be entitled to receive for twenty years, commencing two years after 

 said grove or line of trees has been planted, an annual bounty of ten dollars per acre 

 for each acre so planted, and ten dollars per acre for each half mile so planted, to be 

 paid out of the county treasury of the county in which said grove or line of trees 

 may be situated ; such bounty shall not be paid any longer than said grove or line 

 of trees is cultivated and kept alive in growing condition. 



Sec. 2. Any persons wishing to avail themselves of the provisions of section one of tiiis 

 act shall,2 within two years after planting said grove or line of trees, thowiug on what 

 section or other piece of land said grove or line of trees is situated, attested by his own 

 oath and the affidavit of at least two householders of the vicinity, setting forth all the 

 facts in relation to the growth and cultivation of said grove or line of trees. The 

 county clerk shall lay such plat and affidavit before the Board of County Commissioners, 

 and if they find, from all the evidence, that section one of this act has been fully com- 

 plied with, shall cause warrants to be issued upon the county treasury of the county 

 for the bounty above provided for. 



Sec. 3. The affidavit of the claimant and of at least two householders of his vicinity, 

 showing the growth and condition of such trees, shall be tiled each year in the office 

 of the county clerk before the Commissioners shall authorize warrants to be drawn 

 on the county treasury for the bounty for that year: Provided, That the provisions 

 of this act shall in no wise apply to willows and cottouwood, planted for the express 

 purpose of protecting the banks of ditches and canals. 



Sec. 4. It is hereby provided that the planting of forest and shade trees, as men- 

 tioned in this act, shall in no manner add to or increase the taxable value of said land. 



Sec. 5. If any person shall cut down, injure, or destroy, or carry away any tree 

 planted or growing for use, or shade, or ornament, or any timber, rails, wood, standing, 

 being, or growing on the land of any other person, the party so offending shall pay to 

 The party injured thrice the value of the property so injured, destroyed, or carried 

 away, and shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and subject to a fine not exceed- 

 ing one hundred dollars.* 



NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



Every town shall have full control of the shade-trees situated within the limits of 

 any public street or highway in such town, and shall have full power to make such 

 regulations from time to time as may be deemed necessary for the protection and prse- 

 ervation of the same. 



' Governor Furnas, in his inaugural message to the legislature, January 10, 1873, 

 called attention to the operation of the law exempting from taxation by reason of tree- 

 planting as tending to become oppressive in some cases. He thought that a more ef- 

 ficient plan could be adopted at much less expense. The act had cost the State at least 

 $•200,000 during the past year. He advised its repeal, and the creation of a tree com- 

 missioner or State forester, and a law requiring all State and county agricultural 

 organizations to pay a liberal per cent, of the sums received from the public treasury 

 as premiums. He thought that this course would accomplish much more good, and at 

 not a tenth of the expense. 



- There appears to be an omission of some words at this place. A comparison shows 

 that the language is quoted literally from the statutes. 



3 By an act approved March 3, IBT'l, a fine of not over $500 may be imposed for each 

 tree cut or removed from lands belonging to the State, or to corporations or persons. 



