70 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



T"EB. 



of tbe dam. Their report is not yet published, but 

 they have stated their conclusions to the counsel, 

 on each side, and we know something of the re- 

 sult. 



Their conclusions will be found to sustain the 

 positions for which the land-owners have always 

 contended, which may be briefly stated thus. 



1. While the dam stands, the meadows can 

 never be effectually improved. 



2. By removing thii'ty-tlu-ee inches of the dam, 

 and reasonable improvements of the channel, the 

 meadows may be made dry enough for cultivation. 



We hear that the mill-owners are everywhere 

 proclaiming that the commissioners have reported 

 in their favor, and insisting, because the water did 

 not all run out of the river, Avhcn the dam Avas 

 opened, that removing the dam will do no good to 

 the land-owners. We call the attention of candid 

 readers to the following extract from the printed 

 argument of Judge French, before the Joint Com.- 

 mittee last year. It shows what the land-owners 

 then claimed, and we have no fear that the report 

 of the commissioners will conflict with his positions. 

 It was admitted that the river was full of bars 

 which had formed, in part, through the operation 

 of the dam, as bars ahvays form by deposits above 

 a dam. It was admitted that weeds were growing 

 all along, which must be cleared out, in order to 

 allow free passage for the water. Nobody expect- 

 ed the water to run off so as to effectually x'clieve 

 the meadows, without some labor on the part of 

 the owners, 



Tlie, dam prevents any improvements. Being 

 higher than anything else in the river for twenty- 

 one miles, if every bar was cut out, and the chan- 

 nel made into a canal, the water must remain 

 higher than any of the bars. 



The land-oivncrs expect and desire to improve 

 the ditmiiel, which is rapidly filling up with weeds 

 and deposits of sand and mud. Formerly they 

 coidd do this to some extent. Of late years the 

 greater height of water has prevented, and unless 

 the dam is reduced, their case will grow worse 

 and worse. With the great increase of water and 

 the ol^structed channel, and this dam higher than 

 any other object in the whole river, their condition 

 is hopeless. Jieduce the dam thirtij-tliree inches, 

 the icatcr wilt Jail proportionahhj on all these 

 bars, which maij then be cut out. and the river may 

 be brottr/ht and Icejit within its banks in the groic- 

 vig scafson. 



In the report, at pp. 207-8, "Mr. Chase asked 

 if there was any practical difficulty in regard to 

 tlie removal of the natural obstructions in the 

 stream, bars, Hzc. Mr. Butler replied in the nega- 

 tive." 



Mr. Franciii, their expert, fully supports our 

 view of this matter. lie says : 



"If the fall is now four feet in the twenty-two 

 miles, taking out the bars might reduce it two 

 feet, or even more. It might be dug down so that 

 the water could be kept in between the banks, 

 like a canal, except in times of extraordinary fresh- 

 ets," — p. 2jG. He sajs again : "If the fordway 



were blasted out, the dam standing as now, it 

 would make a little relief in certain stages of the 

 river, but I tliink no suljstautial and general relief 

 would follow. / think removing the dam, the 

 fordicay and bars wotdd produce a material ef- 

 fect, but not the removal of the dam alone." 



What the land-owners then asked, was that tlie 

 act of 18G0 should go into operation, and the dam 

 be reduced thirty-three inches for one year. Then, 

 if, by clearing out the channel, the water did not 

 go off, the dam could be restored. If it did no 

 good to the meadows to remove it, it would do 

 them no harm to restore it, and nobody would ob- 

 ject. But this would not satisfy the mill-owners, 

 and against all protests by the land-owners, they 

 procured their- stay act, and a new commission, 

 and after putting the Commonwealth to an ex- 

 pense, as we hear, of nearly twenty thousand dol- 

 lars, they will probably renew their attempt to 

 prevent this most beneficent act of 1860, by which 

 a part of the dam was condemned as a public nui- 

 sance, from going into effect, and to continue this 

 water-course and this controversy, with its enor- 

 mous expenses, for generations yet to come. 



GRAFTING THE GRAPE VINE. 



!My experience in grafting the vine for several 

 years would furnish a chapter of failures. I think 

 I grafted a few vines every season for about five 

 years, and during the whole time succeeded in 

 making but one grow and form a good vine ; and 

 this one only by disregarding the usual direction- 

 given by the professed experts. Instead of wait- 

 ing for the formation of leaves, and discontinuance 

 of the excessive flow of sap, I grafted this one 

 early, before the flow commenced. Since that time 

 I have grafted thousands of vines, with nearly as 

 good success as attends any other kind of grafting. 

 I have practiced saddle-gi-afting, wliip grafting, 

 and several fancy methods, but have found the 

 common cleft grafting, carefully performed, the 

 most reliable and successful. For large, strong 

 stocks, I hardly think tying necessary, though a 

 covering of clay or grafting wax is undoubtedly 

 beneficial. For smaller stocks, I use only paper 

 covered with grafting wax on one side. I could 

 not recommend copper wire in any case. I have 

 also grafted on various stocks, with very little dif- 

 ference in result using indiscriminately the wild 

 frost grape of the woods, the Catawba, Isabella, 

 Concord and some others. I do not say grafting 

 the vine cannot be successfully performed after the 

 leaves have formed ; but it is a fact that up to the 

 present time, notwithstanding many trials, I have 

 never succeeded in doing it. — Horticulturist. 



American Plows. — A correspondent of the 

 London Mark-Lane Express says : "The Ameri- 

 cans have driven our plow-makers out of the Aus- 

 tralian, Indian and Colonial markets, by their 

 lighter and cheaper articles. Unless our makei's 

 bestir themselves here, by using steel instead of 

 heavy castings, they will be likely to be "beaten 

 on their own Jjrround." 



