1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



207 



as he deemed it, everything considered, the most 

 likely to be safe to take. His question as to 

 what soils should be excepted from drainage had 

 not been answered. 



Mr. Leander Wetherell spoke in favor of 

 draining ; and recommended a "little farm well 

 tilled" in preference to the rage for too much 

 land, which was so common. His own experience 

 showed him that drainage was the most profita- 

 ble of all improvements — was in truth the parent 

 of all that was successful in agriculture. He felt 

 satisfied with the answer given to the question 

 relative to open drains, but thought open ones 

 better than none ; and, in the case of cultivated 

 forests, it was absolutely essential. He believed 

 all lands would benefit by drainage — no matter 

 what their character or position — provided drain- 

 age was possible ; and Mr. Buckminster acknowl- 

 edged this to be an answer to his second query. 



Several other gentlemen spoke ; principally in 

 evidence of the profitableness of draining, and 

 that it was no fanciful improvement, after which 

 the meeting adjourned. 



The question for next Monday evening will 

 be, "17«e best Breed of Horses, and the best modes 

 of breeding tvith reference to the loants and the 

 interests of New England Farming." 



For the New England Farmer. 

 KrVEB MEADOWS. 

 Mr. Brown : — I learn by a few of the last 

 numbers of the Farmer, that an effort is being 

 made to redeem some of the river meadows in 

 this vicinity. This is a good move, and is what 

 should have been done long ago. That these 

 lands are the most valuable in the State, for 

 farming purposes, there is no doubt. When we 

 take into consideration their close proximity to 

 some of the largest cities in New England, with 

 large and populous towns all about them, and 

 the soil being of such a nature, deep and mel- 

 low, without stones, and being composed largely 

 of vegetable matter, thereby rendering them al- 

 most inexhaustible, and when we take into ac- 

 count the natural washings they receive from ad- 

 jacent lands, &c., it seems too bad that they 

 should be rendered almost worthless, merely to 

 accommodate a few old mills that are but little 

 profit to their owners or any body else. 



In this town there is a small river which has 

 its source in Hart Pond, and runs in a circu- 

 itous route through Carlisle, then back into 

 Chelmsford, and empties into Concord river in 

 Lowell, about one mile from its mouth. This 

 stream is called River Meadow Brook, and may 

 easily be found on the county maps. On this 

 river there are two mills where lumber is sawed 

 in the winter and spring, and grain ground at all 

 times when it is wanted. 



On the banks of this river are some of the best 

 lands to look upon that the eye ever beheld; 

 and they are as good as they look. The vegeta- 

 ble deposit of which this land is composed is of 

 various depths. I have dug down seven feet, 



and found it there almost entirely vegetable mat- 

 ter. One of my neighbors told me he had dug 

 down ten feet, and found it rich and mellow. Of 

 the number of acres of this kind of land on this 

 river, I do not know, but should judge from the 

 mouth to the source of the river, as it runs, to be 

 some ten miles, and the meadow on its banks to 

 be about thirty rods wide. 



Now, these mill-owners claim the right to flow 

 this land at pleasure. I have before me the his- 

 tory of Chelmsford, and in this we get an idea of 

 their right and privilege. The author of this 

 book, without doulit, copied from the old records, 

 and as some may have never seen the record by 

 which the present owners claim their right, per- 

 haps it may not be amiss to quote what the reo<- 

 ords say, as doubtless hundreds of others are 

 similarly situated. 



"First Saw Mill— July 3, 1656.— -This year 

 was granted to Samuel Adams, in consideration 

 of his setting up a saw mill, 450 acres of land 

 upon the south side of his meadow, called Brook 

 Meadow, provided he supply the town with 

 boards at three shillings per hundred, or saw one 

 log for the providing and bringing of another to 

 be ready to work the next March. 



"First Corn Mill. — To this were added a 

 hundred acres in consideration of his erecting a 

 corn mill, and to give him still further encour- 

 agement, they passed an order, that no other 

 corn mill shall be erected for this town, provided 

 the said Adams keep a sufficient mill and miller. 

 In 1661 he obtained liberty to set flood-gates at 

 Hart Pond to himself and his heirs forever." 



Evidently, this was a wise arrangement at the 

 time, but to say that it is so now, is the height 

 of folly. Then, a^ain, I have been told that it 

 was not the custom to flow these meadows in the 

 summer till after the crops were off. 



The present owners of these privileges ob- 

 tained their right by purchase, consequently no 

 law or force should be brought to bear upon 

 them without full and just compensation. There- 

 fore, I have thought that if an arrangment could 

 be made with the mill-owners on this and Con- 

 cord River, and perhaps others, by which the 

 gates should be raised on the first day of April 

 and shut down on the first day of October in 

 each year, it would be all that was necessary for 

 the grass and cranberry crops. Then we could 

 gather these crops without having them several 

 times inundated, thereby rendering them almost 

 worthless. T. J. Pinkham. 



Chelmsford, Feb. 18, 1859. 



NIGHT AIR. 



During the months of September and October, 

 throughout the United States, wherever there 

 are chills, and fever and ague, intermittents, or 

 the more deadly forms of fever, it is a pernicious, 

 and even dangerous practice, to sleep with the 

 outer doors and windows open ; because miasm, 

 marsh emanations, the product of decaying vege- 

 tation — all of which are difl'erent terms, express- 

 ing the same thing — is made so light by heat, 

 that it ascends at once towards the upper portion 

 of atmospheric space, and is not breathed during 

 the heat of the day, but the cool nights of the 

 fall of the year condense it, make it heavy, and 



