AN ACT to prevent the introduction into and the dissemination within this State of insect pests and diseases injurious to the plants and plant products of this State.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: This Act shall be known by the short title of "The Plant Inspection Act of 1917."

§ 2. For the purposes of this Act, the following terms shall be construed, respectively, to mean:

Insect pests and diseases:-Insect pests and diseases injurious to plants and plant products of this State, including any of the stages of development of such insect pests and diseases.

Plants and plant products:-Trees, shrubs, vines, forage and cereal plants, and all other plants; cuttings, grafts, scions, buds, and all other parts of plants; and fruit, vegetables, roots, bulbs, seeds, wood, lumber, and all other plant products.

Nursery stock:-All field-grown trees, shrubs, vines, cuttings, grafts, scions, buds, fruit-pits, and other seeds of fruit and ornamental trees and shrubs, and other plants and plant products grown or kept for

propagation, excepting field, vegetable and flower seeds, bedding plants, and other herbaceous plants, bulbs, and roots.

Nursery-Any grounds or premises on or in which nursery stock is propagated and grown for sale, or any grounds or premises on or in which nursery stock is being fumigated, treated, packed or stored.

Nurseryman:-Any person who owns, leases, manages, or is in charge of a nursery.

Dealer: Any person not a grower of nursery stock in this State, who buys nursery stock for the purpose of reselling and reshipping independent of any control of the nurseryman.

Agent:-Any person selling nursery stock under the partial or full control of a nurseryman, or of a dealer or other agent. This term shall also apply to any person engaged with a nurseryman, dealer or agent in handling nursery stock on a co-operative basis.

Places-Vessels, cars and other vehicles, buildings, docks, nurseries, orchards and other premises, where plants and plant products are grown, kept, or handled.

Persons: Individuals, associations, partnerships and corporations. Words used in the Act shall be construed to import either the plural or the singular, as the case demands.

§ 3. It shall be the duty of the Department of Agriculture to inspect once each year all nurseries and nursery stock in the State of Illinois as to whether they are infested or infected by insect pests and dis

eases.

§ 4. The Department of Agriculture shall have authority to inspect any orchard, fruit- or garden-plantation, field, park, cemetery, private premises, or public place, and any place which might become infested or infected with insect pests or diseases. It shall also have authority to inspect or to reinspect at any time or place any nursery stock shipped in or into the State, and to treat it as hereinafter provided. For the purposes of inspection, the officers and employees of the Department of Agriculture shall have free access within reasonable hours to any field, orchard, garden, packing ground, building, cellar, freight or express office, warehouse, car, vessel, or other place where it may be necessary or desirable for them to enter in carrying out the provisions of this Act. It shall be unlawful to deny such access to the officers and employees of the Department of Agriculture, or to hinder, thwart, or defeat such inspection by misrepresenting or concealing facts or conditions, or otherwise.

§ 5. Persons desiring to sell or ship nursery stock in this State shall make application in writing before July 1 of each year to the Department of Agriculture for the inspection of their stock, and any nurseryman failing to comply with this section shall be liable to extra charges to cover the expenses of a special trip by the officers or employees of the Department of Agriculture. Every person receiving directly or indirectly any nursery stock from a foreign country shall notify the Department of Agriculture of the arrival of such shipment, of the contents thereof, and of the name of the consignor, and shall hold such shipment unopened until duly inspected or released by such department.

§ 6. It shall be the duty of the Department of Agriculture to cause to be inspected at least once each year between July 1 and September 15, all nurseries in the State of Illinois as to whether they are infested by insect pests or infested [infected] by diseases. If upon the inspection of any nursery as above provided it shall appear that said nursery and its premises are apparently free from insect pests and diseases, it shall be the duty of the Department of Agriculture, upon payment of the expenses of inspection, to give or to send to the owner of said nursery or the person in charge of the same, not later than October 1, a certificate executed by the Department of Agriculture setting forth the fact of such inspection, and said certificate shall be valid not to exceed one year from the date thereof. The provisions of this section shall not apply to florist's greenhouse plants nor to flowers or cuttings commonly known as greenhouse stock. It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or to offer for sale or to remove or ship from a nursery or other premises any nursery stock until such stock has been officially inspected and a certificate or permit covering it has been granted by the Department of Agriculture; except that scions of fruit trees may be shipped from one place to another within this State without inspection, under a special permit of the Department of Agriculture, in which case they must be held unused by the person receiving them until they have been duly inspected and pronounced free from insect pests and diseases.

§ 7. If the Department of Agriculture shall find that part of a nursery is infested or infected with insect pests or plant diseases, and that the remainder of it is not so infested or infected, or if it shall have reason to believe that a nursery is liable, by reason of its proximity to infested or infected premises, to become so infested or infected before the next annual inspection, it may prescribe in writing such measures or precaution, or may make in writing such conditions as to the use of its certificate, as may in its judgment be necessary, and it may withhold a certificate until such conditions have been accepted in writing by the owner of said nursery; and the use of such certificate without taking such measures of precaution or observing such conditions shall subject the owner of said nursery to the penalties prescribed for a violation of this Act.

§ 8. Every dealer within the meaning of this Act, located either within or without the State, engaged in selling nursery stock in this State shall secure a dealer's certificate, first furnishing an affidavit that he will buy and sell only stock which has been duly inspected and certified by the Department of Agriculture; or inspector approved by the Federal Horticultural Board and that he will maintain with the Department of Agriculture a list of all sources from which he secures his stock.

§ 9. Nurserymen, dealers or other persons residing or doing business outside the State desiring to solicit orders for nursery stock in this State, shall, upon filing a certified copy of their original state certificate with the Department of Agriculture, if said certificate is approved by the department, receive a certificate permitting such persons to solicit orders. for nursery stock in this State.

§ 10. All agents within the meaning of this Act selling nursery stock or soliciting orders for nursery stock for any nursery man or dealer located within the State or outside the State, shall be required to secure and carry a dealer's certificate bearing a copy of the certificate held by the principal. Said agent's certificate shall be issued only by the Department of Agriculture to agents authorized by their principal or upon request of their principal[.] every [Every] such agent or solicitor shall, before soliciting orders for nursery stock, furnish an affidavit to the Department of Agriculture that he will solicit orders only for the stock which has been duly inspected in accordance with the provisions of this Act..

§ 11. If it shall be found at any time that a certificate of inspection issued or accepted pursuant to the provisions of this Act is being used in connection with plants or plant products which are infested or infected with insect pests or diseases, or is being used in connection with plants or other property which have not been inspected and certified as aforesaid, its further use may be prohibited, subject to such inspection and other disposition of the plants and plant products involved as may be provided for by the Department of Agriculture.

§ 12. It shall be unlawful for any person to bring or cause to be brought into this State any nursery stock unless there is plainly and legibly marked thereon or affixed thereto, or on or to the car or other vehicle carrying, or on the bundle, package, or other container of, the same, in a conspicuous place, a statement or a tag or other device showing the names and addresses of the consignors or shippers and the consignees or persons to whom shipped, the general nature of the contents, and the name of the locality where grown, together with a certificate of inspection of the proper official of the state, territory, district, or country from which it was brought or shipped, showing that such plant or plant product was found or believed to be free from insect pests and diseases.

§ 13. Every person who shall engage in the selling or shipping of nursery stock in this State is hereby required to attach to the outside of each package, box, bale or car-load shipped or otherwise delivered, a tag or poster on which shall appear an exact copy of his valid certificate. In case any nursery stock is shipped in this State or into this State from another state, country, or province without a valid certificate plainly affixed as aforesaid, the fact must be promptly reported to the Department of Agriculture by the person carrying the same, together with the names of the consignor and consignee and the nature of the shipment. Any person receiving nursery stock brought into this State from outside. this State without a valid certificate approved by the Department of Agriculture affixed as aforesaid, shall at once notify the Department of Agriculture of the fact, and shall not allow such nursery stock to leave his posession until it has been inspected or released by the Department of Agriculture, and the expenses of such inspection shall be paid by the consignee before the said nursery stock is certified or released.

14. It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, give away, carry, ship, or deliver for carriage or shipment within this State any nursery

stock unless such nursery stock has been officially inspected and a certificate issued by the Department of Agriculture stating that said nursery stock has been inspected and found free from insect pests and diseases. It shall, however, be the privilege of a nurseryman holding a valid certificate covering nursery stock grown by him to ship under said certificate nursery stock grown for him elsewhere or purchased by him from other states or countries, provided that all such nursery stock is received. under an official certificate acceptable to the Department of Agriculture stating that it has been inspected where grown and found to be apparently free from insect pests and diseases. The Department of Agriculture shall send once each year not later than July 1, to all nurserymen in the State known to it a list of the official inspectors of other states and foreign countries whose inspection certificates may be accepted in this State for one year from the date thereof as equivalent to its own certificate.

§ 15. All gardeners, horticulturists, nurserymen or other growers of or dealers in plants of any kind upon their own lands or upon lands or premises leased by them and all public authorities having jurisdiction over highways, streets, parks and public places, on which plants, shrubs, trees, vines, cuttings, scions, stocks, or other plant parts are grown, cultivated, or brought in by them, shall keep the same free from insect pests and diseases which are liable to spread to other plants or places and all plants, shrubs or trees or places so infested or infected are hereby declared to be a nuisance.

§ 16. If the Department of Agriculture shall have reason to suppose that any property or place in this State is infested or infected by insect pests or diseases, it shall have power to inspect or to cause to be inspected from time to time such property or place, and if it shall find by inspection as aforesaid that any person is maintaining a nuisance, as described in section 15 of this Act, the Department of Agriculture shall give written notice of the facts to the owner or other person in possession or control of the place where found, which said notice shall contain a description of methods by which, and specify a time within which, said nuisance should be abated, and such owner or other person shall proceed to control, eradicate, or prevent the dissemination of, such insect pest or disease within the time and in the manner described by said notice, and shall remove, cut or destroy infested and infected plants and plant products, or things and substances used or connected therewith, if the same are incapable of effective treatment. Whenever such owner or other person can not be found, or shall fail, neglect, or refuse to obey the requirements of said notice, such requirements shall be carried out by the Department of Agriculture if, in the judgment of the department, it is practicable for them so to do, and the Department of Agriculture shall have and enforce a lien for the expense thereof against the place in or upon which such expense was incurred, in the same manner as liens are had and enforced against buildings and lots, wharves and piers, for labor and materials furnished by virtue of contract with the owner.

§ 17 Any municipality, park board, or other board or person in control of public grounds may apply to the Department of Agriculture