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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec 



But now the meadow-owners can 



Behold with joy the rainbow span. 



Yet, still the dara is : and will stay 



Until it is removed away. 



Shall they march forth, a lusty band, 



Themselves to take the thing in hand: 



Or, will it, after all, be best. 



By legal means, to be redressed? 



Now, I will challenge you to find 



A class so peaceably inclined, 



To law 80 loyal, near or far, 



As the hard working farmers are ! 



The corporation's f;rantee thouch 



The meadows yet presumes to flow, 



Their speakers' patience still exhort, 



And reference to the General Court. 



So they petition ; and they find 



The le^jialature well inclined ; 



Commissioners appointing, who 



For months the subject study through, 



And make elaborate report, 



Next year, unto the General Court. 



Their arguments are so well weighed. 



That they can scaroely be gainsaid. 



The corporation's grantee cries 



For quarter and for compromise. 



To lower the dam ho will agree, 



At least for inches thirty-three. 



Pome months he asks, that, for the change, 



Machinery he may arratge. 



All tliis good-natured farmers give. 



And hope henceforth in peace to live. 



A law soon passed, and was approved, 



To have, at last, the dam removed. 



Commissioners were fixed upon, 



Whose duty was to take it down. 



Now, through the river-valley, ran 

 A thrill of joy, from man to man ! 

 Both those who had not, and who had 

 The meadows, equally were glad. 

 If indirectly, all must feel 

 And share it, as a common weal. 

 Alas ! a cloud comes o'er the scene ! 

 "Injunction" — what could that word mean ? 

 Why, simply this: a thing, well styled 

 A "Libel," in the court was filed. 

 And this presumes our act to call 

 A law unconstitutional. 

 And so the law is staid, to see 

 If this indeed the case may be. 



The farmer now by fear is tossed, 

 Lest his relief should all be lost. 

 But, happily for him, it stands 

 For judgment in the best of hands. 

 Here and abroad, our Court Supreme 

 Has always been In high esteem. 

 And, with its present bench, it will 

 As highly rank, or higher still. 

 The meadow cause the Court well weigh; 

 And judgment give, without delay, 

 Dissolving the injunction ; so 

 Decrees Chief Justice Bigelow; 

 And all the Court, without division, 

 Concur in this most just decision, 

 Which his opinion clears of doubt. 

 And strong as granite reasons out. 



Well ! are the farmers now t« get 

 Redress, they long have sought ? Not yet ! 

 For, while the farmers were not watching, 

 New opposition still was hatching. 

 The manufacturers were told, 

 With an assurance very bold. 

 Although they paid their damages, 

 Under the mill act usages. 

 Our law was for their mischief meant, 

 And would be made a precedent. 

 Unknown the circumstances, they 

 Were, some of them, so led away, 

 And thus Impressed, men were selected, 

 And for the General Court elected. 

 And thus a stay-law keeps us here, 

 Cursed by the dam, another year ! 

 The clamor was — the dam has done 

 No harm ; why would you take it down.' 

 Experiment for seven days. 

 The plausiblo mill owner says. 

 In hydrostatics versed, he knows, 

 How slow the sluggish river flows; 

 And, that the dam at Billerica 

 Both near and far has bred a bar, 

 From sediment and weeds, that grow 

 In rivers suffered not to flow. 

 They might the main dam take away ; 

 Still, while they let the others stay, 

 ThcFe daughter dams would, every one, 

 Forbid the water course to run. 



Another argument they used. 

 The commonwealth was much abused. 

 By damages, 'twould have to pay. 

 For taking the old dam away. 

 This pity, we suspect, of theirs, 

 Like crocodiles, dissembled tears. 

 They had no charter, giving them 

 The right there to maintain a dam : 

 And not one cent would be to pay 

 To them, for taking it away. 

 I'll warrant you, if 'twere not so. 

 They'd give three cheers, and let it go ! 

 The real loss, for which they groan. 

 Is losing what was ne'er their own. 



Such was the story that I heard. 

 The Muse to pity deep, was stirred,— 

 She made, at once, a proclamation 

 To all within the Yankee nation. 

 Who hope her aid, in coming time, 

 To use the utmost power of rhyme, 

 Redress for this great wrong to gain, 

 And free the river from its chain, 

 To make the genius of the flood 

 Dispenser once again of good. 

 Its metamorphosis reverse. 

 Back to a blessing from a curse. 

 And, that the meadow-owners may 

 The rainbow in the sky survey. 

 And feel that they its promise share- 

 Henceforth no deluge shall be there ! 

 The harm so far outweighs the gain, 

 The farmers must relief obtain. 

 Six summer months, at least, 'twould seem, 

 The mill should operate by steam. 

 While Proserpine dwells with Pluto, 

 We'll let the river overflow. 



THE GROWTH OP FLO^WTIRS. 



In his address at the Queens County Agricul- 

 tural Fair, at Flushing, L. I., Mr. Richard C. Mc- 

 Cormick spoke thus of the cultivation of flowers : 



Not less profound than has ever been my ad- 

 miration of the trees which so richly ornament 

 and shade this favored village, is my appreciation 

 of the beautiful flowers which at all seasons dec- 

 orate its graceful gardens and greenhouses, and 

 which to-day form so attractive a feature in the 

 superb variety of nature's wonderful works gath- 

 ered beneath this capacious tent. Examining 

 each peculiar tint and inhaling each exquisite fra- 

 grance of these dainty creations of sunshine and 

 of shower, I have experienced a feeling similar 

 to that which excited Linnaeus, who when he first 

 saw the English Downs all aflame with the gold- 

 en flowers of the furze, knelt down and thanked 

 God for having made anything so beautiful. The 

 varied splendor of the flowers, who shall describe 

 it ? "They toil not, they spin not ; and yet I say 

 unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not 

 arrayed like one of these." 



That sturdy British reformer, Cobbett, who was 

 more successful in agriculture than in politics, 

 while resident in North Hempstead, in this coun- 

 ty, in the early part of the present century, used 

 his ready pen in a simple but masterly exposition 

 of the requirements of practical husbandry. His 

 voluminous writings cluster with common sense, 

 and a radical Quixotic sentiment here and there, 

 may be pardoned in view of the many valuable 

 hints and suggestions, the result of an unusual 

 experience and peculiar powers of observation, 

 with which his works on rural subjects are replete. 

 From his passionate fondness of the grosser veg- 

 etables, especially the ruta baga turnip, which he 

 first introduced in America, and cultivated with 

 great success, it might be supposed that he had 

 no better appreciation of flowers than had Words- 

 worth's stoic, Peter Bell. But not so. In his 



