124 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



hf!. • ■ 



Btudies, would be ample to give that knowledge 

 in every grammar school or district school in the 

 State. G. B. E.^ 



For the Neie England farmer. 

 THE LAW AND MANJSTEBS OF THE KOAD. 



All of us have ideas more or less correct, in re- 

 gard to the law which regulates our use of tbe 

 highways ; and, at any rale, good sense and good 

 nature are usually very safe guides. A few words 

 on the subject, however, may not be amiss. 



It is commonly said that every one has a right 

 to half the road. This is practically true, and 

 comes about in this wise : You ,and I meet upon 

 the road — our legal rigiits are exactly equal, and 

 both have a right lo go. our several ways without 

 obstruction, so, popularly, we say I own half and 

 you half. The law steps in lo facilitate matters, 

 and directs each lo turn towards his right hund. 

 The road should be "'worked" wide enough for 

 two teams abreast, then each man has a clear title 

 to a passage on his right hand side of llie way 

 and no one has a right to obstruct another while 

 on his own proper track. This is true whatever 

 the load or the team ; for if one can drive such a 

 team that another can pass hunbut wiihtJifficulty 

 or not at all, then their rights are no longer equal. 

 This point becomes very important in winter, tor 

 it is no juke to turn your horse and all into the 

 deep snow while your neighbor goes smoothly 

 along in the beaten path. No one has a right so 

 to load his team as not to be able to give up half 

 the track to whoever demands it. 



A footman may choose the part whi( h pleases 

 him on any portion of his right hand half the 

 ■way and the team must yield it to him. This is 

 clearly so in winter, and no man is obliged to step 

 into the snow for one or two horses. This is the 

 law and the Court awards it. 



Now for the manners of the road ; which, in 

 some instances, vary from the law thereof. 



The first requirement of road manners is good 

 nature and an accommodating spirit. Do to oth- 

 ers as you would have them do to you. Always 

 be willing to yield more than half the space, then 

 you will be pretty sure to be equally well treated. 

 They who exact inches will have inches exacted of 

 them. If your neighbor has a heavy load, consult 

 his convenience as far as possible ; you may some- 

 time be loaded. It has become a practical rule 

 of courtesy to turn oui for wood andlogs, and 

 for other heavy teams in winter ; for, they say, 

 •'we often cannot tui'n out, and never safely, 

 6o, if you want wood, accommodate us ;" which 

 ■we are very willing to do. But remembe it 

 wasa favor, not your right, and you have a re- 

 ciprocal duty to perfom, one which, I am sorry to 

 observe, is not always borne in mind. When you 

 have unloaded and are returning empty, just rec- 

 ollect thatyou had the whole road in the morning, 

 and it is no more than fair that you should be 

 particularly obliging to those whom you meet now, 

 and give them their full share of the path. 



One word in relation to teams going the same 

 way ; in which case many seem to think there is 

 neither law nor manners. When a team comes 

 up behind you, which desires to proceeil faster 

 than you do, that team has a right to reasonable 

 space and opportunity to pass in — in fact to half 

 the road for that purpose — and your obstructing 

 him in his lawful desire is both bad manners and 



bad law. If your lo*ad is heavy, do the best you 

 can. In most cases the very least that can be 

 asked is that you should stop. This is particular- 

 ly so in winter, when it is a heavy tax on any 

 team lo force it into a trot in deep snow — made 

 necessary by your continuing at a walk. My re- 

 mark above in relation to the emptied wood sled 

 appHes heie, and, if one wishes to pass you, re- 

 member that while loaded you had the whole 

 road. 



One remark more, to and for the ladies. First, 

 to them. If out walking keep in the path — nev- 

 er step into the >Know or mud for any ordinary 

 team. If you meet the team, step into your right- 

 hand track or part of the road and all goes oa 

 easily. If the team comes up behind, step into 

 your left-hand track ; then, as sleighs are built, 

 the horse goes in the other track, as before. 

 Whereas, if you contiaue ni your right-hand track 

 the horse of 4he team must travel wholly in ihe 

 deep snow in order to pa.ss you, and the driver 

 will be tempted to scold his wife as proxy for the 

 female sex generally. 



I have this to say for the ladies — always turn 

 out for them. They are entitled lo the right-hand 

 half, and will you run over them because, in their 

 confusion at meeting one of the -"lords of crea- 

 tion," they happen to take then* half out of the 

 wrong side ? 



I close this somewhat lengthy dissertation with 

 an appropriate aphorism : Wheel grease is a great 

 lubricator, but good manners are a vastly greater 

 one. Via. 



For llie New England Farmer, 

 MEKTKrO, AND OTHER SHEEP. 



Messrs. Editors:— In reading an article in 

 my last Farmer, from the pen of C. S. Weld, on 

 "Theory and Experiment," I felt that I could not 

 refrain from exposing his injustice. I do not an- 

 ticipate, however, that his attack upon Mr. Camp- 

 bell, Mr. Greeley, or yourself, Mr. Editor, will 

 prove very damaging to either of you. But it is 

 none the less deserving of rebuke. And I was 

 glad, on reading your remarks upon the article, to 

 see that you had nobly defended Mr. Campbell 

 from the unjust epithet of "Vermont speculator." 

 If Mr. C. needs any other defenders of his repu- 

 tation, they are at hand, and I trust will not fail to 

 command the respect of even Mr. Weld. 



Hon. Henry S. Randall, in his late excellent 

 work onsheep— "The Practical Shepherd"' — speaks 

 thus in regard to Mr. Campbell at the Interna- 

 tional Exhibition at Hamburg : 



"I cannot here withhold a pleasing fact which 

 strikingly evidences the fairness and the modesty 

 of the victorious exhibitor at Hamburg. Colonel 

 Needham informs me that Mr. Campbell, on all 

 occasions, signified to the breeders of Germany 

 and France, and requested him (Col. Needham) 

 to signify that he was not the founder or leading 

 breeder of the improved family of American Me- 

 rinos, — which his sheep chiefly represented — but 

 that this honor belonged to Mr. Hammond." 



Thus endorsed by Henry S. Randall, LL.D., 

 Corresponding Secretary of the Vermont State 

 Agricultural Society, and by the editors of the N. 

 E. Farme); Mr. Campbell will hardly need to re- 

 ply to Mr. Weld's ungenerous attack. 



But enough in defence of Mr. Campbell ! The 

 real blow was not so much aimed at Mr. Camp- 



