1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



261 



erty injured by this proces^, he has his claim by 

 calling upon the County Commissioners, who will 

 proceed to an investigation and assessment, the 

 same as where land is taken for the use of high- 

 ways. 



In consequence of delay in printing the report 

 of the first commission, the joint special commit- 

 tee did not make their report until within three 

 or four days of the close of the session, and it 

 ■was not until Monday, three days before the Leg- 

 islature adjourned, that the bill came fairly before 

 the House. The friends of the measure were pre- 

 pared with maps, and entered at once upon the 

 discussion, and were met by the other side, by 

 such arguments as they could bring to bear, but 

 relying principally upon the unconstitutionality, 

 as they alleged, or want of power in the Legisla- 

 ture to authorize such a proceeding. The discus- 

 sion in the Senate was spirited and protracted, 

 but the majorities in both branches were decided 

 and unmistakable, and the great measure of the 

 session was triumphant. 



Earlier in the session the friends of this mea- 

 sure had succeeded in getting a Declaratory Ad 

 passed, whereby the State takes back into its own 

 control all the rights which M'ere granted to the 

 old Middlesex Canal Corporation by their Charter 

 of 1793. The canal had not been used for many 

 years, many miles of it being filled up and cov- 

 ered with buildings and cultivated fields ; the cor- 

 poration had not held a meeting for more than ten 

 years, so that upon application to the Legislature, 

 the Attorney-General was instructed to inquire why 

 they should not relinquish their charter ? To this 

 inquiry they did not respond, and the Supreme 

 Court issued a decree that in consequence of the 

 nonfeasance and misfeasance of said corporation, 

 it should no longer hold, use, exercise or employ 

 any of the privileges heretofore conferred upon 

 it by the authority of the Commonwealth ; so that 

 now, in case suits should be commenced for dam- 

 ages, the mill-owners or dam-holders can no long- 

 er screen themselves under that old charter, as by 

 the passage of this Declaratory Act, every privi- 

 lege granted that corporation 'by the Charter of 

 1793, and all subsequent acts, is seized back into 

 the hands of the Commonwealth, and held by it, 

 and their charter entirely forfeited and annulled. 



We hope that all these proceedings will forever 

 put to rest the long, vexatious and ruinous course 

 of litigation that has now been going on for near- 

 ly half a century. But, as in most things of this 

 kind, the farmers have been the losers. One mil- 

 lion of dollars will not cover the cost of damages 

 that have already accrued, and it will require sev- 

 eral years, under the most favorable circumstan- 

 \ ces, to restore some of the lowest lands to then- 

 i former state of firmness and fertility. "While the 

 farmers have been isolated, entertaining different 



views, and struggling without concert of action? 

 they have been resisted by shrewd and intelligent 

 persons, aided by a compact money power, which 

 has been able to "make the Avorse appear the bet- 

 ter reason," and to defeat the ends of justice for 

 more than fifty years in succession ! As this is a 

 matter of general interest to the farmer, we may 

 look at it hereafter in a more agricultural point 

 of view. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 COITCORD FARMERS' CLUB MEETUSTG. 



Mr. Editor: — The Concord Farmers' Club 

 closed its meetings for the year by a social re- 

 union on the evening of the 19th of April, a day 

 always marked with red letters in our calendar. 

 Fifty-two farmers with their ladies assembled at 

 the board of mine host of the Middlesex. After 

 spending an hour in cheerful intercourse in his 

 parlors, the President, Minot Pratt, Esq., called 

 the company to order, and did the honors of 'the 

 table in his usual modest and genial manner. Rev. 

 G. Reynolds invoked the blessing of Him who 

 giveth the rain and sunshine, and causcth the 

 earth to bud and blossom and bring forth food for 

 man and beast. After partaking, with the far- 

 mer's appetite, of the good things provided for 

 their entertainment, the President called upon E. 

 W. Bull, Esq., Avho gave the company a very 

 pleasant talk. He was followed by Hon. Simon 

 Brown, J. B. Farmer, Wm. Brown, O. Morse, 

 Esq., Dr. Reynolds, Mr. Dakin, from Wisconsin, 

 Rev. G. Reynolds, C. L. Heywood, J. B. Moore, 

 and other members of the Club. Sampson Mason, 

 Esq., recited an appropriate poem abounding in 

 sentiments ada])ted to the day and the occasion. 



The whole affair passed off very pleasantly, and 

 was a very agi-eeable close to our meetings for the 

 season. 



The meetings of the club have been well attend- 

 ed through the winter. Many well written essays 

 have been read before the club. The discussions 

 have been spirited and instructive, and cannot fail 

 to make the members better farmers and better 

 citizens. 



The farmers' club, as was said by one of the 

 speakers, is the farmer's college, and I think is 

 the best school he can attend, for here he has les- 

 sons in both science and experience. 



The meeting at 10, P. i\L, adjourned to April 

 19th, 1861, and the remembrance of the pleasant 

 occasion will cheer all who were present, through 

 the toils of the coming season. 



Yours, R. 



Worcester South-East Agricultural So- 

 ciety. — This new society was organized at Mil- 

 ford on the 3d inst., by the choice of the follow- 

 ing list of officers, viz.: — 



Hon. A. C. Mayhew, Milford, President ; Col. 

 A. Wood, Hopkinton, M. Z. Bullard, Bellingham, 

 Clark Littlefield, Esq., Holliston, P. Wood, Men- 

 don, Samuel Taft, Uxbridge, Vice Presidents; 

 Hon. J. G. Metcalf, Mendon, Secretary ; Henry 

 Chapin, Esq., Milford, Treasurer. 



