No. 4.] RURAL LAW. 171 



matters ; for the maxim is especially sound, in its applica- 

 tion to the transfer of real estate, that an ounce of preven- 

 tion is worth a pound of cure. 



Boundaries and Fences. 



The use of temporary marks and monuments as bounda- 

 ries, such as " a stake and stones," or " blazed trees," very 

 common descriptions in conveyances of wood land, is to be 

 deprecated. It has now become more than ever important 

 that the distance from one monument to another should be 

 carefully taken and approximately stated in the deed ; for I 

 regret to say that the advent of the electric railway is fast 

 removing any reliance upon courses fixed by the surveyor's 

 compass, owing to the fluctuations caused in the movement 

 of the magnetic needle by the electric currents. This fact 

 makes it all the more important that other particulars in fix- 

 ing boundary lines should be rigidly adhered to. 



The contents of the land, as stated in a deed, are not the 

 most important element of the description. It was held, a 

 good many years ago, in our State, that when the bounda- 

 ries are accurately pointed out in a deed, even fraudulent 

 representations as to the contents did not constitute the 

 basis of an action to recover damages. 



I have already referred to this subject of boundaries in a 

 general way, but I wish now to go into it a little more in 

 detail, for I know of nothing over which farmers have had 

 more trouble than their respective rights in adjoining es- 

 tates. It is well-settled law that an abutter upon the high- 

 way owns the fruit of the trees growing in the road, and I 

 presume it would be held that he owns the berries growing 

 wild there, as well. A farmer who owns a tree whose 

 branches project over his neighbor's land owns the fruit 

 which grows on those branches, and if the fruit falls on 

 his neighl)or's land, the owner of the tree has an implied 

 license to go and pick it up, he doing no unnecessary 

 damage. Still, in spite of this right, one over whose line 

 branches project may cut oft' the branches, though he can 

 not appropriate them. That was decided in a recent Cali- 

 fornia case ; and that it may be dangerous to allow the 

 branches of one's tree to project, appears in a recent Eng- 



