equalled in extent and exceeded in richness of soil many 

 ■a German principality. Singularly enough, the laws of 

 primogeniture and entail, in their principles and effects, 

 although not in force, take strong hold upon our people, 

 so that the father, in fact, gave the bulk of his land 

 substantially to one of his sons. Both these laws made 

 strong battle to maintain themselves as a part of our 

 ■systems of government in the conventions wdiich formed 

 the earlier constitutions in most of the states, and not by 

 strong votes in numbers were they cast out. But while 

 the law, through its enactments, divided the estates 

 among the children equally, yet in practice, almost as a 

 rule, the farm went to one. Whoever in New England 

 thought, or whoever now thinks of dividing his land 

 •among his daughters ? How rarely is the land divided 

 by will among the sons ! The practice wdiich has ob- 

 tained, is, as we all know, for some one of the sons to 

 remain with the father with the expectation of being 

 given the firm, either by paying small legacies to his 

 sisters and larger ones to his brothers, or when the estate 

 is inconsiderable in value, or, as a very common practice, 

 by being the assured recipient of the farm by giving a 

 bond for the maintenance of his parents during their 

 lives. 



Thus has it come to pass that the agricultural land of 

 New England — and it is equally true of Massachusetts — 

 has remained substantially undivided. The boundaries 

 of many farms are the same that they were in the time 

 of the Revolution, save where house lots may have been 

 sold from them, if bordering on a village. Some have 

 been increased in their boundaries : and is it not to-day 

 a boast amon^ some of the farmers who sit before me. 



