412 REPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



MINNESOTA. 



An Act to provide for the destruction of grasshoppers and their eggs. 



Be a enacted hy tJie legislature of tlic State of Minnesota: 



Section 1. There shall he paid hy this State, out of any moneys in the treasury 

 thereof not otherwise appropriated, to any person or persons living within any of the 

 counties in said State afflicted by grasshoppers, the following bounties for catching 

 and destroying of the same, and the destruction of their eggs : 



Sec. 2. The sum of one dollar per bushel for grasshoppers caught previous to the 

 25th day of May next ; the sum of lifty cents per bushel from the said '25th day of May 

 to the 10th day of June ; the sum of twenty-live cents per bushel from the said 10th 

 day of June to the 1st day of July, and twenty cents per bushel from the said 1st day 

 of July to the 1st day of October next. 



Sec. 3. There shall also be paid in the same manner, the sum of fifty cents per gallon 

 for any and all grasshopper eggs taken and destroyed by any person or persons. 



Sec. 4. There shall be appointed by the governor a competent person in each town- 

 ship in the several counties so afflicted by grasshoppers, who shall bo a resident of the 

 township for which, he shall be appointed, to receive, measure, and destroy the grass- 

 hoppers and their eggs delivered to him by any person or persons catching and taking 

 the same, which said person so appointed shall take and subscribe an oath for the 

 faithful discharge of his duties, which oath, together with the certificate of appoint- 

 ment, shall be filed in the office of the county auditor, and he shall receive as compen- 

 sation for his services such sum as the county commissioner may determine, to be 

 paid out cf the funds of the county ; and, in case of necessity, when he cacnot per- 

 form the duties of his offlce, said measurer shall have authority and be empowered to 

 appoint a suitable and competent person his assistant, which assistant shall be required 

 to take and subscribe the same oath and be subject to the same penalties as the said 

 measurer. 



Sec. 5. The person receiving and measuring the grasshoppers and their eggs as 

 aforesaid shall measure and immediately and effectually destroy the same, and keep an 

 exact account of all the grasshoppers and their eggs received by him and the names of 

 the persons delivering the same, and shall issue a certificate for the amount of grass- 

 hopx^ers and their eggs to the person delivering the same. And he shall, at the end 

 of each week after commencing to receive and measure the same, and on the 2d day of 

 June, on the 11th day of said month, en the 2d day of July, and on the 2d day of Oc- 

 tober next, make a report to the county auditor of all the grasshoppers and their eggs 

 measured by him, the number of certificates issued, and the names of the persons to 

 whom he issued the same; and the county auditor shall examine the same and file it 

 in his office, whicli report shall be subject to public inspection ; and the county auditor 

 shall, at the end of each week after he shall have received the first of said reports, 

 transmit a copy of the said reports to the governor, who shall, as soon as the sum 

 hereby approx^riated shall have been expended in the payment of said bounties, notify 

 all persons interested therein of such fact by a publication of such notice in some news- 

 paper printed and published at the city of Saint Paul, in said State of Minnesota, for 

 three successive days. 



Sec. 6. For a failure on the x^art of said measurer to perform any of his duties under 

 this act, or for any mismeasurement of such grasshoppers and their eggs, he shall be 

 deemed to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be subject to pay a fine of not less than ten 

 dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, or be imprisoned in the county jail for a 

 term of not less than thirty nor more than ninety days, in a suit or proceeding to be 

 prosecuted in the name of ihe State of Minnesota, in the same manner as is provided 

 by law in other cases of misdemeanor. 



Sec. 7. Upon the presentation of such certificate to the county auditor, he shall issue 

 a certificate to the person entitled thereto for the amount due him (a form of w^hich 

 ceriificate shall be furnished by the State auditor), and shall make an order upon the 

 State auditor for the amount thereof, and the State auditor shall draw his warrant 

 upon the State treasurer for that amount in favor of the parties holding said certifi- 

 cates, which shall be paid by the State treasurer on presentation : Provided, That all 

 certificates presented to the county auditor for payment shall be by him filed and pre- 

 served in his office, and he shall present such certificates to the board of county com- 

 missioners, who shall audit the same in the manner now provided by law for auditing 

 accounts against counties; and no money shall be drawn from the State treasury until 

 such certificates have been audited and allowed in the manner herein provided. And 

 that no money shall be paid under the provisions of this act at any time prior to the 

 fifteenth day of July, A. D. eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, and that the money 

 hereby appropriated shall only apply to certificates duly made and filed with the au- 

 ditor of state on or before said day ; that at the time after the State auditor shall ascer- 

 tain the total amount of all claims and certificates so filed, and if the same shall 

 exceed in amount the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, then the said claims shall 



