FORAGE CROPS IN NEW ENGLAND. 169 



cattle loose into the street, however wild tliey may be, and 

 start them right off in a drove, when, if the}' were horses, 

 we should hitch them together. We would not attempt to 

 drive horses as we drive cattle. These are matters of habit. 



Dr. Sturtevaxt. A drove of cattle passes nw place once 

 a week regularly. They had got into the habit of breaking 

 in, and running over my fields. I simply prosecuted the 

 drover, and got judgment against him, and told him I should 

 hold that judgment over him, and, if his cattle troubled me 

 again, I would enforce it. Since then there has not been an 

 animal in my field. 



Mr. Cheever. When I took down my fence, I had good 

 reason for it. I had a neighbor who persisted in feeding his 

 horse in the highway directly opposite where I live, and 1 

 used to drive him out when he got into my mowing. One 

 day, when I was driving him home, I met my neighbor, who 

 was not in a very good condition to feel well, and he made 

 unpleasant .remarks. I did not make any reply; but I liave 

 not had a gate or bar up since, and, as I said in my paper, I 

 have not a neighbor who is not a better neighbor now than 

 before I removed my fences. I have had no trouble with the 

 neighbor to whom I have referred since. He kept poultry, 

 and I feared a little trouble from his hens ; but within two or 

 three years Massachusetts has passed a law making the owner 

 of hens liable if they damage others. The complaining party, 

 after "'ivinof due notice, can bring an action against a man 

 for not restraining his hens. As this neighbor lives directly 

 opposite to me, and as I own the land nearly up to the sill 

 of his barn, and have given him permission to drive across 

 my land to get his manure out, I did not want to talk to him 

 about hens, because it is not a pleasant thing to talk about. 

 I planted a strawberry-bed as close up to the line as I con- 

 veniently could, and I have let him have a good share of the 

 strawberries, and his hens are shut up. If we can see that 

 our fences can be dispensed Avith. you see how great a tax 

 we are relieved from. The little details each one must settle 

 for himself, according to his OAvn particular conditions. If 

 any man prefers to keep a road-fence, he has a perfect right 

 to do so. I had one night four colts in a field of oats ; but, 

 when I came to figure up the damage, I found that it did not 

 amount to more than two dollars, including the time spent in 



