170 BOxVRD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



the place of record. In our own State, deeds are recorded 

 in a county registry kept for the purpose. In Connecticut 

 I believe they are recorded at the town clerk's office, and 

 the provisions as to record are quite various. No prudent 

 Massachusetts farmer would think of buying a farm and 

 taking a deed without carrying it, on the same day that he 

 received it, to the registry of deeds in his county, and there 

 putting it on record. 



Statute of Frauds. 



There are in all the States, or in practically all of them, 

 statutes derived from an ancient English law, entitled the 

 " statute for the prevention of frauds and perjuries." One 

 of the provisions of this law universally adopted, I believe, 

 by all the States, is that no action shall be brought upon a 

 contract for the sale of lands, tenements or hereditaments, 

 or of any interest in or concerning them, unless the promise, 

 contract or agreement, or some memorandum or note thereof, 

 is in writing signed by the party or his authorized agent. 

 This we commonly call the "statute of frauds;" and the 

 knowledge of its existence is important to the fiirmer, in 

 order that he may be secure in his ownership, and may not 

 be liable to have the fruit of many hard years of labor swept 

 away by want of a sound title. There has been a great lax- 

 ity in the rural communities of this Commonwealth in regard 

 to titles of farms, and I cannot urge too strongly upon the 

 intelligent farmer the importance of extreme care in the 

 purchase and sale of land and of all contracts in reference 

 to its sale or transfer. 



An accurate survey of the premises intended to be con- 

 veyed is also to be advised ; and, if boundary lines are found 

 to be irregular and unsightly, steps should be taken, through 

 negotiation with the adjoining owners, to establish symmet- 

 rical lines, well marked by frequent stone boundaries set 

 deeply in the soil, which should form the basis of the de- 

 scription in the deed. As to the growing crops, manure, 

 fixtures and all other debatable articles and property con- 

 nected with the farm, these should be made the subject of 

 specific written agreements, setting forth in clear terms 

 what the intention of the parties is in reference to all such 



