1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



255 



the overflowing of rivers, brooks and waters, oc- 

 casioned by banks and stoppage in their courses, 

 which by industry may be removed to the benefit 

 and profit of the owners ; and also much meadow 

 and pasture land might be gained out of swamps 

 and other rough and unprofitable grounds by 

 draining the same : To the intent that the own- 

 ers of such lands and meadows may be encour- 

 aged and enabled to remove such obstructions as 

 occasion such overflows, and to drain and flow 

 their swamps, and other grounds, and thereby 

 bring them to meadow or pasture, that they may 

 be profitable to them, Be it enacted, &c., that it 

 shall be in the power of the Governor and Council, 

 from time to time, upon request to them made by 

 the major part of the proprietors of any such 

 lands, to grant commissioners of sewers to such 

 and so many able and discreet persons as to them 

 shall seem meet for the clearing and removing of 

 the banks and obstructions of the passage of the 

 waters in rivers, brooks or ponds that occasion the 

 overflows of and drowning of low meadows and 

 lands." 



From this extract, the general intent of the law 

 is manifest. This law was not allowed to remain 

 a dead letter upon the statute book. Commis- 

 sioners of Sewers were appointed. One of the 

 streams which they were directed by the Governor 

 and Council to visit, upon the petition of land- 

 OAvners, was Concord river. The meadow-owners 

 upon this stream, about the year 1720, represent- 

 ed to the Governor and Council that their lands 

 were overflowed, and prayed to be relieved. A 

 commission of three were appointed and directed 

 to visit this stream, in order to determine by their 

 own observation, the condition of the river. This 

 commission reported to the Governor and Coun- 

 cil. In their report they say that they "visited 

 and sounded said river, or a great part of it, and 

 -made the best endeavor we could to find out what 

 and where the obstructions wei'e, that caused the 

 overflow of the said river, to the spoiling of the 

 meadows of Concord and Sudbury." They said 

 that one obstruction producing this efi'ect was a 

 dam across this stream in Billerica, erected by 

 Christopher Osgood. Of this dam, they say, 

 "which in our opinion very greatly hinders the 

 water's discharging itself. We have, therefore, 

 ordered and determined that the aforesaid dam, 

 stoppage or obstruction be so far pulled down and 

 removed as to give the said river its usual course 

 and channel, that being the only place to begin 

 the work at of clearing the said river to relieve 

 the complainants or petitioners, and that nothing 

 can be done that Avill be profitable until said ob- 

 struction is removed." They appointed seven 

 men to execute their order. 



Immediately Christopher Osgood petitioned the 

 Governor and Council, to have the execution of 



this order delaj^ed, "until a further view, examina- 

 tion and report be made of the said river and 

 the influence the said dam may have towards the 

 overflowing of the said meadows." In the peti- 

 tion, he states that he employed three men to 

 view his dam, who surveyed and sounded at the 

 dam and the ford-way above, and found the top 

 of the dam to be three feet lower than the bed of 

 the river at the fording place. Mr. Osgood's 

 prayer was granted. A committee was appointed 

 to view the premises. This committee reported 

 that they "having been on the spot at two several 

 times, once when the water was high and once 

 when it was low, and viewed the said mill, mill- 

 dam and the river as far as Concord, are of opin- 

 ion that the demolishing of the said mill-dam of 

 Christopher Osgood, will ease the said river and 

 help the meadows above." This report was read 

 in Council, when it was "ordered that the Com- 

 missioners of Sewers proceed forthwith in the ex- 

 ecution of their commission. 



The Commissioners of Sewers discharged their 

 duty, and the dam was demolished in 1722. Those 

 who executed the order were prosecuted by Mr. 

 Osgood for trespass, on account of demolishing 

 his dam by "force and arms." The action was 

 brought in the "Inferior Court of Sessions." 

 The defendants answered that they acted under 

 an act of the Province, and that "any person ag- 

 grieved at any procedure" under this act may ap- 

 peal "to the Governor and Council for reHef." The 

 defence was sustained by the court, and Mr. Os- 

 good was ordered to pay the costs of the action. 

 The plaintifl" appealed to the Superior Court of 

 Sessions. This court sustained the decision of 

 the Inferior Court, and this case seems to have 

 ended here. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 GIRDLED TREES. 

 Messrs. Editors : — I fear that the depreda- 

 tions of mice in young orchards, the past winter, 

 have been very destructive. My own observations, 

 and the lamentations of others over their disap- 

 pointed hopes, lead me to this conclusion. With 

 very young trees, I suppose the cheapest way is to 

 re-plant, if they are nearly or quite girdled ; but 

 larger trees, say from two to three inches through, 

 I think may be saved in another way, which may 

 not be new, but which I have seldom seen prac- 

 ticed. I will relate my own experience. A few 

 years since I had a fine, thrifty pear tree, which, in 

 the spring, showed evidence of deadly blight in 

 the bark at its foot, it being completely black and 

 dead for ten or twelve inches above the ground, 

 while the top appeared sound and well. I did not 

 like to lose the tree, so I went to a nursery and 

 procured three thrifty seedling pear stocks, about 

 as large round as my finger. These I cut ofi" at 

 the proper height by a slanting cut such as is 

 used in splice grafting, and planted them carefully 

 as near the trunk as I could conveniently, leaning 

 them towards it. I then, with .a sharp knife, cut 



