Later

LATER. Porphyra laciniata vulgaris. A sea weed eaten as a delicacy when boiled; green laver ( Ulva latissima) sometimes is substituted. ' LAW. Laws relating to agriculture, such as bird, dog, fence, forests, manures, roads, stock, weights and measures, etc., should be generally, understood by farmers. It would save much costly litigation and neighborhood quarrels. We, therefore, give some of the most important laws in relation to the subjects of interest to the farm. The following digest of the bird laws of the United States was prepared by Hon. J. R. Dodge, one of the most correct statisticians in the United States: In Maine the penalty is one dollar for taking larks, robins, partridges, woodpeckers, or sparrows, between March 1st and July 1st; and ten dollars to the owner of lands, with the liquida tion of all damage suffered for any trespass committed, between March 1st and September 1st, in hunting or killing the above birds. The law in New Hampshire prescribes a fine of one dollar for killing, taking, or having in possession, at any season of the year, any robin, thrush,lark, blue bird, oriole, sparrow,swallow, martin, woodpecker, bob-o'-link, yellowbird, linnet, fly-catcher, or warbler, or rail, yellowleg, or sandpiper, between March 1st and August 1st. The fine is three dollars for each snipe, woodcock, or plover, between March 1st and August 1st; or for each partridge, or grouse, of quail, between March 1st and Septem ber 1st. One dollar additional is assessed for each bird, if taken in defiance of a published notice by the owner of the land—one-half for the use of the complainant, and the other half to the town or city. The action of the law may be suspended for one year; at any time, by vote of a town or city, so far as relates to such town or city. In Vermont the fine is one dollar in each case for taking, wounding, or killing, or for the destruction of the nest or eggs of the robin, blue bird, yellowbird, cherry, or cedar bird, catbird, kingbird, sparrow, lark, boh-o'link, thrush, chickadee, pewee, wren, warbler, woodpecker, martin, swallow, night-hawk, whippoorwill, groundbird, linnet, plover, phoebe, bunting, humming bird, tattler, and creeper. The penal ties for the violation of the Massachusetts bird and game laws are as follows: Two dollars each for killing, at any time, robins, thrushes, linnets, sparrows, bluebirds, bob-o-links, yellowbirds, woodpeckers, or warblers; the same for killing birds on salt marshes, the owner excepted; five dollars for killing partridges pr quail, between March 1st and September1st; woodcock, between March 1st and July 4th; five dollars for trapping or snaring any birds at any time, save partridges; twenty dollars for killing grouse or heath hen at any time, and ten dollars to the owner of the grounds and a search warrant authorized for any one suspected of the offense; and twenty dollars for hunting deer with hounds or dogs in Plymouth or Barnstable counties. There is a fine of one dollar for killing between sunset and one hour before sunrising any plover, curlew, dough-bird, or chicken bird. Any city or town may vote to suspend, within its limits, any of the provisions of this law. The Rhode Island law-makers have prescribed a penalty of two dollars in each case for killing, destroying, selling, buying, or having in possession any lark, robin, wood duck, gray duck, or black duck, between February 1st and September 1st, or quail, partridge, or wood cock between January 1St and September 20th; snipe, between May 1st and September 20th; grass plover, between February 1st and August 1st; grouse, or heath hen, between January 1st and November 1st, and swallow, or box martin, between' May 1st and October 1st; twenty dol lars in each case for killing woodcock between January 1st and July 1st. In addition, five dol lars may be imposed, to be paid to the owner of the land, for the first offense, and ten dollars for the second offense, besides a liability to damage for trespass. Action must be brought within three months. In Connecticut a law was made in 1850, after much opposition, which has since been modified and rendered more effective. Insectivorous and song birds have greatly in creased since, especially near towns and villages, and on the shore of Long Island Sound A fine of three dollars is imposed for killing, selling, or possessing, or destroying a nest of eggs of wood cocks between the first day of February and the first day of July; pheasants, partridges, or ruf fed grouse, between the first day of February and the first day of September; quails of any species, between the first of February and the first of October; wood duck, widgeon, black, gray, broad-bill, canvas-back, or teal duck. The fine is one dollar for killing, or trapping, a nightingale, bluebird, Baltimore oriole, finch, thrush, lark, sparrow, catbird, wren, martin, swallow, or woodpecker, at any time, or a robin, or bob-o'-link, between the first of February and the first of September. The taking of brook or lake trout between September 1st and January 1st is fined one dollar. It is also forbidden under a penalty of ten dollars, to take pheasants, part ridges, or quails, on the land of any other per son. The laws of New York, both local and general, relative to birds and other game, are numerous, and frequently modified or suspended. By the recent law, insectivorous and other birds are protected between February 1st and October. The fine is placed at five dollars for each wood cock, between January 1st and July 4th; ruffed grouse, between January 1st and September 1st; quail, between January 1st and October 20th; wood, black, gray, and teal duck, between Feb ruary 1st and August 1st, (excepting upon the shores of Long Island). It is forbidden to catch quail or ruffed grouse with a snare at any time; and it is unlawful to take prairie fowi within ten years, under penalty of ten dollars for each one killed or taken. Five dollars each is the penalty for taking trout between September 1st and March 1st. A penalty is incurred of one hun dred dollars and damages for putting lime or drugs in any lake, pond, or stream, by which fish may be injured. Owners of dams, if two feet or more in height, on the tributaries of Lake Ontario, Champlain, or the river St. Law rence, are required to provide a sluice at an inclination of not more than thirty degrees, suit ably constructed and protected, as a passage way for fish. Deer are prohibited game from February 15th to August 1st, in all counties, except Clinton, Franklin, St. Lawrence, Jeffer son, Lewis, Herkimer, Hamilton, Essex, Warren, Fulton, and Saratoga, (where the prohibition is taken off only in October,) and in Kings, Queens, and Suffolk, where November is the only month for their pursuit. The fine in the last-mentioned counties is twenty-five dollars each. For fishing, except with hook or line, in certain interior lakes, the fine is twenty-five dol lars, A similar penalty attaches to trespass in fishing, after public notice has been given. It is forbidden in Pennsylvania, under penalty of two dollars, to trap, kill, or shoot any blue-bird, swallow, martin, or other insectivorous bird, at any season of the year, and the same penalty attaches to the destruction of eggs or nest of any of the birds mentioned in law. A fine of five dollars is laid for killing rail or reed birds betweed June 1st and September 1st; pheasant, between February 1st and August 1st; wood cock, between February 1st and July 4th; partridge, or rabbit, between February 1st and October 1st, and a similar penalty is incurred by buying these birds out of season to sell out of the State. Laws have tended to restrain men and boys to some extent, yet, it is to be regretted that there is room for great improvement, so far as insectivorous birds are concerned. The game laws of New Jersey impose a fine of five dollars each for killing any partridge,- water fowl, grouse, quail, or rabbit, between January 1st and November 1st, or woodcock between January 1st and July 5th; to be recovered with cost of suit, and in default of payment imprison, went for sixty days may be adjudged. A pen alty of fifteen dollars is laid for placing decoys for geese, ducks or brant, at a distance of more than three rods from ice, marsh, meadow bank, or sand bar, or for hunting them with a light at night; and it is made unlawful ,to kill geese, ducks, or brant between April 15th and October 15th, in or about the waters of Barnegat bay, or Manasquon river. The fine is five dollars each for killing geese, ducks or brant, between April 1st and December 1st, at Cape May. A trespass, after having been once forbidden to enter lands, renders one liable to a fine of three dollars. The Secretary of State believes these laws effective, though not very vigorously enforced. By the laws of Delaware it is unlawful for non-resi dents to catch or kill any wild goose, duck, or other wild fowl, under a penalty of not less than fifty and not more than one hundred dollars. Citizens do not rest under this prohibition. A warrant may be issued by a justice of the peace, upon affidavit that .any person has violated this law, and the offender arrested, tried, and, upon conviction, fined not less than fifty nor more than one hundred dollars, and imprisoned until fine and costs are paid. By giving bonds in the sum of two hundred dollars, the arrested party can elect to be tried before the court of general sessions. Any boat, gun, or decoy, used in violation of this law, may be seized and confiscated, and the penalty for resisting an officer is fixed at one hundred dollars. The law

does not prohibit persons from killing game on their own premises, but it is unlawful for others to kill a partridge, pheasant, robin, or rabbit, between February 1st and October 15th, (in New castle county, between January 1st and October 15th;)woodcock, between February 1st and July 1st. The penalty is one dollar for each bird killed. A person not a citizen of the State, gunning upon land not his own, without permission of the owner, is liable to a fine of five dollars for each bird or other game. Some persons permit gunning upon their property; others exclude all hunters. The penalty of hunting or killing deer is two dollars. No general law for the preser vation of game or birds has been enacted in Maryland. Laws of a local character have been made with a limited and partial jurisdiction. In Ohio the penalty is from two.to ten dollars for killing, or attempting to injure or kill, at any season of the year, any sparrow, robin, bluebird, martin, thrush, mocking-bird, swallow, meadow lark, pewee, wren, cuckoo, indigo bird, nuthatch, creeper, flicker, warbler or finch, oriole, redbird, or catbird. The same penalty in each case is incurred by disturbing the nest of any of these birds; also for killing dove, wild rabbit, or hare, yellow-hammer or flicker, between February 1st and September 15th From five and to fifteen dol lars may be imposed for killing or hunting wild turkey, quail, ruffed grouse, prairie chicken, or wild deer between April 15th and September 1st; woodcock between February 1st and July 4th, and wood duck, teal, or other wild duck between May 1st and September 15th. Exposing for sale or having in possession, incurs the same penalties, and the costs of prosecution are in all cases to be paid by the offender. The Secretary of State says the law is effective through most portions of the State; that there are numerous prosecutions, and judges usually affix the extreme penalty. The penalty for killing small birds in Michigan is fixed at five dollars each, and for wild turkey, partridge, or ruffed grouse between February 1st and September 1st; for woodcock between March 1st and July 1st; prairie chicken or wild duck, goose, or swan between February 1st and August 15th; for quail from January 1st to October 1st. It is made unlawful to destroy nests or eggs. The fines go to the school library fund. Indians and inhabitants of the upper peninsula are exempt from the effect of these provisions. Illinois has no general bird law. In a portion of the counties it is made unlawful to hunt or kill deer, turkey, grouse, prairie hen, or quail, between January 15 and August 15th. A fine of five dollars is imposed in the State of Wisconsin for killing grouse or prairie chicken between December 1st and August 12th, or partridge, ruffed grouse, or quail between December 1st and the first Tuesday of September. An exception is made for the benefit of the Indians not civilized. Half the penalty goes to the pro secutor and half to the county. It is unlawful to kill or take woodcock in Iowa between the 1st of January and 1st of July; prairie hen or chicken between 1st of January and 1st of August, or quail, ruffed grouse, pheasant, or wild turkey, or deer, between the first day of January and 1st of September. In Minnesota the penalty is five dollars each for killing at any time a nightingale, whippoorwill, nighthawk, bluebird, finch, thrush, lark, linnet, sparrow, wren, martin, swallow, bob-o'-link, robin, turtle dove, catbird, or other birds; five dollars for each woodcock, from Jan uary 1st to July 4th; partridge or ruffed grouse between January 1st and September 1st; ten dol lars for trespass to sporting; twenty-five dollars for killing each deer, .elk, or fawn, or having the skin of one in possession between January 1st and August 1st. A fine of five dollars is also imposed for each speckled trout taken, except in Lake Superior, Mississippi, Minnesota, St. Croix and Root rivers. In California there is no law for the preservation of the insectivorous or song birds Game is so abundant that not even the boys are disposed to kill them. The destruc tion of hawks, coyotes and other wild animals has caused a marked increase of small birds. In some sections quails have increased so as to prove destructive to farm crops. Wild geese, in some places, do great injury by feeding upon the young grain after it is sprouted. A game law exists which makes it unlawful to kill any quail part ridge, grouse or ducks, between March 15th and September 15th, except in San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties. It is also unlawful to kill elk, deer, or antelopes from January 1st to July 1st. A fine of twenty-five dollars is imposed for hav ing in possession or exposing for sale such game. Fines may be laid to the amount of five hundred dollars in a single case. A very stringent bird law exists in the District of ('olumbia. In 1863 the levy court of the county of Washington passed an ordinance for the protection of insectivorous birds, prohibiting the shooting or taking of such birds under a penalty of five dollars for each bird so killed, possession being held as prima facie evidence of killing. The law confiscates the gun of any person carrying or using such weapon on Sundays. Pheasants, partridges, woodcock, snipe, rail or reed birds and blackbirds, may be killed at certain seasons. Only hawks, crows and owls are unprotected. All other birds not here mentioned are protected at all seasons, except the last fifteen days of the year. The rigid enforce ment of this strict law has peopled the woods and groves anew in the vicinity of Washington. In giving the laws relating to agriculture we have been obliged to generalize. If the farmer wishes to know specifically as to the latest law on any given subject he .must consult his lawyer. We aim simply to give the original laws, those having been amended from time to time. The compiler of these laws says in relation to them : The laws of the several States indicate a transi tion period between pioneer life, with its inevitable dog companionship, and a state of permanent settlement and superior civilization. The silly prejudice that allows dogs to trespass upon a neighbor's grounds and destroy his sheep, while enacting laws to restrain sheep from wandering from their owner's pasture, is rapidly giving way to a common sense that would make restraint equal and just. In most of the States are certain provisions of a just law upon the subject, but a lack of completeness, or want of penalty attached to neglect in enforcement, render them partly inoperative, or wholly inefficient. In Pennsylvania there is, practically, only a threat held over the heads of the dogs, for which they seem to care very little; in Maine, each separate township has the option to ratify or nullify the general law—a non-committalism that is far worse than no law; in Ohio, dogs are instructed that it is unlawful for them to run at large at night, but their owners are held to no proper responsibility for their effective restraint; and in most other States some radical defect exists. Massachusetts has the best law. It taxes dogs from two to five dollars each; owners are made responsible, under heavy penalty, for their registry and taxation; assessors must make accurate lists, and evasions of the listing are heavily fined ; refusal or neglect of officers to execute the law incurs a penalty of one hundred dollars; and untaxed dogs are killed without mercy, and district attorneys are required to prosecute officers who neglect to destroy them. Such a law, or one more guarded and efficient still, should be on the statute book of every State. In Maine a law taxing persons owning or har boring dogs one dollar for each dog was enacted in 1862 with a saving clause as follows: Pro vided, that towns or cities shall so vote. By its provisions dogs inflicting damage subject their owners to fines of double the amount of the damage done, to he 'recovered by an action of trespass. Any person may lawfully kill a dog that assaults himself or other person while walk ing or riding peaceably, or is found worrying, wounding, or killing any domestic animal. Any person finding a dog strolling out of the enclo sure of his owner may, within forty-eight hours, make oath before a magistrate that he suspects such dog to be dangerous or mischievous, and notify the owner by giving him a copy of the oath; and if the dog shall be found again at large, he may be lawfully killed; and if he shall there after wound a person or kill a domestic animal, the owner shall be liable to treble damages and costs. In 1862 the legislature of New Hamp shire levied a tax of one dollar on male and two dollars on female dogs. Prior to this the com mon law was the only protection enjoyed by owners of flecks. In 1863 a law was enacted forfeiting double the amount of damage done by dogs, recoverable from the owner by an action of debt; or a complaint may be made to the select men of towns, who are required, upon proof made within thirty days, to draw an order upon the treasury, which is registered and made pay able, in whole or in part, from the fund accru ing from the dog tax, on the second Tuesday of March annually. The following is the law of 1862 for Vermont: Sec. 1. The linters in the several towns of this State shall in each year set all dogs in their respective towns in the grand lists to the owner or keeper of the same at the sum of one dollar each; and no person shall he entitled to have the amount so assessed deducted from their lists in consequence of any debts owing.