Pennsylvania Act 1901-306 — ENCOURAGE THE PLANTING OF TREES

Act text

ENCOURAGE THE PLANTING OF TREES
                  Act of Jul. 2, 1901, P.L. 610, No. 306              Cl. 53
                                  AN ACT

     To encourage the planting of trees along the roadsides of this
        Commonwealth, and providing a penalty for killing, removing
        or injuring the same; what disposition is to be made of
        moneys collected as penalties, and for keeping a record, by
        the supervisor of roads or boards of supervisors of roads, of
        the trees so planted and upon which a tax abatement has been
        granted.

        Section 1.  Be it enacted, &c., That any person liable to
     road tax, who shall transplant to the side of the public highway
     on his own premises any fruit, shade or forest trees, of
     suitable size, shall be allowed by the supervisors of roads or
     boards of supervisors of roads, where roads run through or
     adjoin cultivated fields, in abatement of his road tax, one
     dollar for every two trees set out; but no row of elms shall be
     placed nearer than seventy feet; no row of maples or other
     forest trees nearer than fifty feet, except locust and Carolina
     poplar, which may be set thirty feet apart, and except fruit
     trees, which may be set forty feet apart; and no allowance as
     before mentioned shall be made unless such trees shall have been
     set out the year previous to the demand for such abatement of
     tax, and are living and well protected from domestic animals at
     the time of such demand.
        Section 2.  Any fruit, shade or forest trees growing
     naturally by the side of the public highway, where said public
     highway runs through cultivated lands, shall be allowed for in
     the same manner and on the same conditions as in the preceding
     section.
        Section 3.  Any trees transplanted by the side of the public
     highway, as aforesaid, in the place of trees that have died,
     shall be allowed for in the same manner and on the same
     conditions as in the first section of this act.
        Section 4.  No person shall be allowed an abatement, as
     aforesaid, of more than one-quarter of his said annual road tax.
        Section 5.  Any person who shall cut down, kill or injure any
     living tree, planted or growing naturally as aforesaid, or who
     negligently or carelessly suffers a horse or other domestic
     animal, driven by or for him, to injure any of the trees
     hereinbefore mentioned, upon conviction thereof shall be subject
     to a penalty of not less than one dollar, nor more than five
     dollars, with costs of suit, for each and every tree so cut
     down, killed, removed or injured: Provided, That if the
     defendant or defendants neglect or refuse to pay at once the
     penalty so imposed and costs, or shall not enter sufficient bail
     for the payment of the same within ten days, he or they shall be
     committed to the common jail of the county in which the offense
     was committed, for a period of not less than one day for each
     dollar of penalty imposed and costs: Provided, however, That the
     owner of the land upon which the trees are growing and upon
     which said abatement has been granted, may remove such trees, on
     condition that he will immediately plant and maintain another
     tree, or trees, in the place or places of those removed by him
     or refund to township said abatement, originally allowed for
     said tree or trees.
        Section 6.  All moneys collected as a penalty in accordance
     with section five of this act, shall be paid to the supervisors
     of roads or boards of supervisors of roads, and form part of the
     road fund of the township in which the offense was committed.
        Section 7.  It shall be the duty of the supervisor of roads
     or the boards of supervisors of roads to keep a permanent
     record, in a book especially prepared for that purpose, and
     which book shall be the property of the township, of all trees
     upon which the said abatement, as hereinbefore mentioned, has
     been granted; and when any tree or trees have been removed, with
     or without the consent of the supervisors of roads or boards of
     supervisors of roads, the date thereof shall be distinctly
     entered in the said book.
        Section 8.  The act approved the second day of May, Anno
     Domini one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine, entitled "An
     act to encourage the planting of trees along the roadsides in
     this Commonwealth," is hereby repealed.