404 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



convenience to have a mill within easy access, and the injury 

 to land was of less consequence than it has become at the 

 present day. There was a disposition to encourage the erec- 

 tion of dams and the utilization of Avater for grinding, sawing, 

 etc., while the value of the territory to be flowed by such 

 dams was of comparatively -little importance. 



The times have changed. The increase of population has 

 made lands more valuable for farming purposes, while sanitary 

 science has made such progress as to establish an intimate 

 connection between the public health and efficient systems of 

 drainage. 



The damming of many of the rivers of this State has been 

 a serious injury to agriculture in many ways. Take, for 

 example, the Concord and Sudbury rivers. 



From eight to ten thousand acres of meadow lands, from 

 time immemorial, previous to the present century, regarded 

 as the most productive and remarkable for natural fertility of 

 any hi that portion of the State, stretch for twenty-five miles 

 along a sluggish stream through the towns of Way laud, Sud- 

 bury, Lincoln, Concord, Bedford, Carlisle and Billerica. Ten 

 thousand acres is a large tract of country. Its possibilities 

 for production under the hands of skilful industry, are almost 

 beyond calculation. 



It was a smiling valley, dotted with fine farms and prosper- 

 ous farmers, with meadows perfectly accessible to the heaviest 

 teams up and down the river to its brink, capable of sustain- 

 ing the heaviest loads hauled by four heavy cattle without 

 slumping, so compact was the surface, covered with a green 

 and luxuriant vegetation. The hay-crops were abundant, and 

 nearly equal to the best of English in value. According to 

 all accounts, the forage on these vast meadows, often stretch- 

 ing out for a mile or more in width, lying now on one side of 

 the stream and now on the other, sometimes on both, possessed 

 properties and peculiarities which made it highly popular and 

 gave it a reputation far and near. No farm produce was in so 

 great and constant demand. When the "Ministerial Lots," 

 set apart by the fathers of New England " to pay the debt of 

 piety," were offered at public auction to the highest bidder, as 

 they were in accordance with an old custom every year, the 

 inhabitants of neighboring towns flocked to these annual sales, 



