180 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



what rights have they in that stream ? Have they the con- 

 trol of that water? Can they take it, or has somebody else 

 the right to the water, and are the farmers debarred? 



Mr. Rawson. The way I understand the law at the pres- 

 ent time is, that they have not the right. That is just what 

 has brought me where I am ; that very subject. We have 

 no right to take it for irrigation. The town of Arlington 

 gets its water from a pond, which they made themselves by 

 stopping up a basin at the lower end. It is 125 feet above 

 my land, and I offered the town six hundred dollars a year 

 to supply me with water, and they said they could not do it. 

 I said, "Why not?" "Well, because the law does not 

 allow us to sell water to any one for irrigation." There is 

 no objection against people taking it for domestic purposes, 

 but just as soon as I should get it for irrigation, or my plan 

 all made, somebody would come by and say, "Rawson is 

 making too much money, and he can't have it." That is just 

 about the way that is. Now, if we could get the water for 

 irrigation by some law, still not taking it away from the 

 people that have it for domestic purposes, it would be better 

 for the farming community, and for the domestic people, 

 too. But we have no such law at the present time, as I 

 understand it. 



Professor Stockbridge. Then I would like to ask this : 

 Supposing the farmers of West Springfield, all through that 

 basin region, want to build an irrigating canal, such as you 

 have seen in California and in Colorado, and want to take 

 the water out of the Connecticut River above Holyoke, carry 

 it up around that slope, and irrigate a thousand acres below 

 here, have they a right to take that water? 



Mr. Rawson. I do not think they have, according to the 

 law of the State at this time. If they can, it would be the 

 best thing they could do. 



Professor Stockbridge. Then, for the purpose of irrigat- 

 ing here in Massachusetts on a large scale, we are debarred 

 from getting the water, are we not ? 



Mr. Rawson. Practically. But I do not know of any 

 way that you can get the water cheaper than for twelve cents 

 a thousand gallons, and I can pump it for that. There is no 

 reservoir that you can make, there are no pipes that you can 



