PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 29 



Me that a siiij^lo one was iiiix<Ml willi tliose which the gentleman bonglit 

 anil planted. They are always inentinned in the London catalognes, and 

 appear tu be n>orc esteemed there than here. I imported them tliirty years 

 since. 



Laws of Maine which every other State should Copy. 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — The following' interesting letter from Mr. A. Drew, 

 Augusta, Maine, I read in ho|)es that other States will follow the example: 



"By a law of this State any person, to the acceptance of the selectmen 

 of towns or the mayors of cities, who will construct a watering trough or 

 tub by tln^ roadside, into which a constant stream of pure spring water 

 sliall be discharged, acceptable to man and beast, shall be entitled to $Z 

 aiuiually fn»m tiio municipal authorities, to be deducted from his amount of 

 yearly taxes. In consequence of this law there is not a town, and hardly 

 a road, in Maine where the traveler will not find, at convenient distances, 

 the relVeshment of a fountain of clean, living water, where he can conven- 

 iently water iiis horse, and where, generally by means of a tin vessel hanging 

 u[)on a p<Kst near by, he may slake his own thirst with the real " Maine law " 

 beverage. (Tliis State, you know, by law prohibits all dronrjer waters.) 



"Ex-Gov. John Hubbard, of the neighboring city of Uallowell, is enti- 

 tled to the credit of originating this law. In the course of an extensive 

 professional practice as physician and surgeon, he had often been called 

 into various and distant parts of the State, journeying with his own beast 

 he realized the want of frequent and accessible watering i>laces; and a 

 dozen or fifteen years ago, when he was Governor, he suggested to the 

 Legislature the expedience of a law encouraging people residing upon the 

 highways to provide watering troughs or tubs for the refreshment cf horses, 

 oxen and even human travelers, and offering them a bounty therefor by an 

 abatement on their taxes. The Legislature saw the propriety of his idea, 

 and legalized it at once. Since which time you can travel far on no 

 settled road in ALiine witliout meeting with a neat watering privilege, 

 always kept in order. This Maine law for the provision of Adam's ale on 

 all public roads, and the other Maine law for the prohibition of intoxicating 

 liquors, as well as his paternity of the State Keform School for Juvenile 

 OlVinders, are three measures of Dr. Hubbard's administration, whicli are 

 enough to give him a historic record on the archives of his native State. 



"There is another law of the Dirigo State which I think is entitled to 

 national commendation. By this law the authorities of towns and cities 

 are authorized to give bounties to farmers or other citizens who shall orna- 

 ment streets and roads where they reside, by planting out and protecting 

 rows of hardy shade trees. This is already done to a great extent in many 

 of our towns. True, the trees are yet young, but time and care will secure 

 their full growth, when nothing can be handsomer than the" view of rcjads 

 and avenues made green and shady by the over-arching tops of magnificent 

 trees. Had this work been done fifty years ago, farms would have risen a 

 high percentage in market value, and Maine at this day would have been 

 tlie most brautiful Stale in the Union for the traveler, as she will be, under 

 the operation of this law, fifty years hence. All our highways, then, will 

 be as refreshing and beautiful as any of the avenues of the Khine, 



