No. 4.] RUEAL LAW. 187 



say that lie did not know how long before his time the ditch 

 was constructed, but it was undoubtedly during the lifetime 

 of his grandfather, who was the first occupant of the farm, 

 in 1742, so that it may safely be alleged that the ditch was 

 constructed about one hundred and fifty years ago. We 

 may learn some useful lessons from the fathers, and this 

 illustration may serve to enforce the suggestion I make, 

 that the subject of irrigation is well worth the attention of 

 the Massachusetts farmer. 



But, whether irrigation shall ever prevail in Massachu- 

 setts to any extent or not, the rights of the farmer in the 

 brooks he controls and the water that lies upon the surface 

 of his land or that supplies his wells or feeds his springs 

 will ever be one of prime importance. It has been stated 

 in a general way by our supreme judicial court that " every 

 person through whose land a natural water course runs has 

 a right puhlici Juris to the benefit of it as it passes through 

 his land for all useful purposes to which it may be applied ; 

 and no proprietor of land on the same water course, either 

 above or below, has a right unreasonably to divert it from 

 flowing into his premises or obstructing it in passing 

 through them or to corrupt or destroy it. It is insepara- 

 bly annexed to the soil, and passes with it, not as an ease- 

 ment nor as an appurtenance to the land, but as a part of the 

 land. Use does not create it, and disuse cannot destroy or 

 suspend it, and unity of possession and title in such land 

 with the lands above it or below it does not extinguish or 

 suspend it." 



As to surface water on land, running in no defined chan- 

 nel, the farmer has a right to deal with it as he pleases, 

 even though his action may increase the flow of water on 

 his neighbor's land or diminish the flow of water into a 

 neighboring stream. In the absence of any grant or pre- 

 scription creating a water course, no right to regulate or 

 control the surface drainage of water can be asserted by the 

 owner of one lot over that of his neighbor. The owner of 

 land may change the level of his soil by elevating or lowering 

 it, or by erecting barriers so as to turn it to a new course 

 after it has come within his boundaries. The obstruction 

 or alteration in the flow of surface water will not constitute 



