WHITE PINE BLISTER RUST 121 
LAWS RELATING TO CONTROL OF RIBES 
CHAPTER 36. 
Resolve, Appropriating Money for Continuance of White Pine Blister Rust 
Control. 
Resolved: That the sum of five thousand dollars be, and hereby is, appro- 
priated for the year nineteen hundred and nineteen, and the sum of five thou- 
sand dollars for the year nineteen hundred and twenty, for the purpose of con- 
trolling and eradicating the white pine blister rust in the State of Maine, as 
authorized by Senate bill number one hundred and seventy-one as passed by 
the seventy-eighth Legislature, nineteen hundred and seventeen, entitled “An 
Act Providing for the Control of the White Pine Blister Rust and Other 
Fungous and Insect Pests.”—(Approved March 12.) 
CHAPTER 178, PUBLIC LAWS 1917. 
An Act Providing for the Control of the White Pine Blister Rust and Other 
Fungous and Insect Pests. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine, as follows: 
Section 1. That the fungous disease commonly known as the white pine 
blister rust is hereby declared to be a dangerous pest in all its stages; and it 
is the duty of the officials hereinafter named, to prosecute the measures here- 
inafter specified for the control of this pest. 
Section 2. The forest commissioner is hereby authorized and empowered 
to promulgate by letter, publication, poster or other means, information con- 
cerning the white pine blister rust and to designate by the aforesaid means 
of promulgation, areas within the State in which control measures are neces- 
sary or advisable. It shall be the duty of every land owner within such desig- 
nated area, to carry out such control measures as are ordered by the forest 
commissioner, including the removal and destruction of any or all plants of 
genus ribes, commonly known as currants and gooseberries, and any white 
pine tree or trees, which are found to be infected with the disease. If the 
owner fails to destroy the above named plants or trees within the time speci- 
fied by the forest commissioner, the forest commissioner shall cause said 
plants or trees to be destroyed and shall charge the actual expense of same 
to the city, town or plantation within which said plants are found. Such 
amount shall be collected as a State tax and credited to the appropriation for 
said purpose. The city, town or plantation wherein such plants or trees are 
found may assess the cost of the removal of said plants or trees to the owner 
of the real estate wherein the said plants or trees are found. The amount 
so assessed shall be collected in the form of a tax. 
Section 3. The forest commissioner or his authorized agents shall have 
the right to enter upon any private or public lands to determine the presence 
or absence of the white pine blister rust in any of its stages, and to carry 
out the necessary eradication measures. The above mentioned commissioner 
may codperate with departments of the federal government, the State depart- 
ment of agriculture and the agricultural experiment station for the control 
