MASSACHUSETTS. 



511 



special enactments were multifarious and of 

 widely differing character. 



That the Commonwealth might free itself 

 from business entanglements, it was deter- 

 mined that it should exchange the shares of 

 the stock of the Boston and Albany Railroad 

 Company which it holds for bonds of that cor- 

 poration, to run twenty years, with interest at 

 5 per cent per annum, at the rate of $160 in 

 the face value of the bonds for each $100 in 

 the par value of the stock, and that it should 

 make a similar transfer of its shares of stock 

 of the New York and New England Railroad 

 Company, for which it should take second- 

 mortgage bonds of the corporation, to run 

 twenty years, with interest at 6 per cent per 

 annum, on the basis of $50 in the face value 

 of the bonds for $100 in the par value of the 

 stock. On the former of these measures the 

 company by a majority of its stock has acted 

 affirmatively. The act relative to the New 

 York and New England Railroad Company 

 provides that it may issue its second-mortgage 

 bonds to the amount of $5,000,000, of which 

 $1,737,500 are to go to make the exchange, 

 and the remainder to be used in laying a sec- 

 ond track and in providing for its outstanding 

 unsecured liabilities. 



The Old Colony Railroad Company may 

 unite with the Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and 

 New Bedford Railroad Company on such terms 

 and conditions and with such guarantees as 

 may be mutually agreed upon by their stock- 

 holders, and with this view the former is au- 

 thorized to purchase and hold the stock of the 

 latter, the name of the united corporation, 

 which is to have and to enjoy all the franchises, 

 powers, privileges, property, and rights of those 

 of which it is to be formed, to be known as 

 the Old Colony Railway Company. After the 

 union the corporation may increase its capital 

 stock to $12,000,000, the money secured by the 

 sale of the new stock, which may be $2,000,- 

 000 in amount, to be applied to the payment 

 and reduction of the company's debt, and to 

 the provision of additional equipment and im- 

 provement of its railroad and other property. 

 The company may lease, by the agreement 

 thereto of the stockholders of both corpora- 

 tions, the railroad, franchise, and property of 

 the Fall River Railroad Company for such 

 length of time and on such terms as may be 

 fixed upon. The company may take land in 

 South Boston for raising its track over the 

 proposed extension of D Street, and at Brain- 

 tree, for making and maintaining a convenient 

 connection between its South Shore Branch 

 and its main line. 



The Eastern Railroad may increase its capi- 

 tal stock by issuing not more than $5,000,000 

 in shares of the par value of $100 each, which 

 shall be designated as preferred stock, which 

 shall_ annually receive, out of the net earnings 

 of said corporation, not more than $6 per share, 

 and which shall be issued at par value to cancel 

 certificates of the indebtedness of the company. 



The general railroad law enacted in 1874 

 has been so modified that, in addition to the 

 prerequisites required by it, a corporation in- 

 tending to construct a railroad must, before a 

 location for it is granted, satisfy the Railroad 

 Commissioners that there is an exigency for it, 

 and that the distance from the State-House, 

 within which a branch road may be built, is 

 reduced from eight miles to three miles. 



Hereafter no railroad company can, in doing 

 its freight business, make or give any undue or 

 unreasonable preference or advantage to or in 

 favor of any person, firm, or corporation, nor 

 subject any person, firm, or corporation to any 

 undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvan- 

 tage. 



It is required that each car of every passen- 

 ger train, including mail and baggage cars, 

 shall be supplied with at least one set of tools, 

 consisting of an axe, a sledge-hammer, a crow- 

 bar, a handsaw, and a pail, all of which shall 

 be kept, in good condition, in some convenient 

 -place .and manner approved by the Board of 

 Railroad Commissioners. 



Any party aggrieved by a decision of County 

 Commissioners in cases where a highway or 

 townway and a railroad cross each other may 

 appeal therefrom to the Board of Railroad Com- 

 missioners, which shall have the same power in 

 the premises that the County Commissioners 

 originally had. 



In pursuance of its policy of putting its rail- 

 road in the best condition for business, the 

 State is to expend $250,000 in adding to the 

 double tracking of the Hoosac Tunnel and Troy 

 and Greenfield Railroad. 



Any city or town may, for the purpose of de- 

 voting a portion of the territory of such town 

 or city to the preservation, reproduction, and 

 culture of forest-trees for the sake of the wood 

 and timber thereon, or for the preservation of 

 the water-supply of such town or city, take or 

 purchase any land within the limits of such 

 town or city, may receive donations of money 

 or land for the said purposes, and may make a 

 public domain of the land so donated, the titles 

 thereof to be vested in the Commonwealth, and 

 to be held in perpetuity for the benefit of the 

 town or city in which such land is situated. 



At the Massachusetts Agricultural College 

 there is to be established an agricultural ex- 

 periment station for the purposes of investigat- 

 ing the diseases of domestic animals, of plants, 

 and of trees; the history and habits of insects 

 destructive to vegetation, and the means of 

 their abatement; the manufacture and compo- 

 sition of both foreign and domestic fertilizers, 

 to determine their several values and their 

 adaptability to different crops and soils; the 

 values of forage, grain, and root crops as food 

 for farm-animals; the comparative worth of 

 green and of dry crops ; and the adulteration 

 of any article of food intended for the use of 

 men and animals. 



It was resolved that the Governor and Coun- 

 cil consider the expediency of providing sepa- 



