Practical Considerations. 



185 



visions of this act to attend when notified as herein provided, and 

 labor under the direction of the supervisor of their respective dis- 

 trict or ward. Any person who, alter being notified, shall refuse, 

 neglect, or fail to comply with the provisions of this act, shall for- 

 feit and pay to the county or city treasurers, as the case may be, 

 the sum of ten dollars, together with costs of suit, which sum 

 shall be collected by suit before any justice of the peace within the 

 county, in an action to be brought in the name of the city or 

 county. 



Sec. 5. The supervisor shall report, under oath, to the city or 

 county authorities the names of all persons who shall have refused 

 or failed to comply with the provisions of this act. 



Sec 6. This being a case of emergency, this act shall take effect 

 and be in force from and after its passage. 



In reference to bounty laws, the experience of Minnesota, 

 where they were in force in some counties in 1875, is val- 

 uable, and the State Commissioners did not hesitate to 

 recommend the system after the county trials, imperfect 

 as they were, and commenced as they were, in most cases, 

 too late in the season. It was clearly shown that in one 

 township $30,000 worth of crops was saved by an expendi- 

 ture of $6,000. Nicollet county paid $25,053 for 25,053 

 bushels of locusts, but the price paid by other counties 

 was higher ; in fact, much too high. A good law, once 

 enacted and on the statute books, might not be called into 

 operation for many years, but would beyond all doubt 

 serve an admirable purpose in the event of a locust inva- 

 sion. The following are what I conceive should be the 

 essential features of an efficient bounty law: 1. The bounty 

 should be paid out of the State Treasury; or it should be 

 graded and borne equally, one-third by the local Township, 

 one-third by the County, and one-third by the State. 2. 

 The bounty should be immediately available to those earn- 

 ing it. 3. The Act shotdd, so far as possible, tend to the 

 destruction of the eggs. 4. After the eggs, the destruction 

 of the newly -hatched locusts should be encouraged by the 

 Act. A bushel of the newly-hatched insects will contain 

 thirty or more times as many individuals as will a bushel 



