4888 
577 
THE BUBAL NEW-YOBKIR. 
one week. One of my bright men said he 
wished he were a talker; for then he would at 
once take an agency for the loader and make 
his fortune. Farmers should examine this 
machine while at the fairs the coming 
autumn. a. j. cook. 
Cam. 
“Every Man is presumed to know the Law. 
Nine-tenths of all Litigation arises from Ig¬ 
norance of Law." 
LIABILITY FOR DAMAGE CAUSED BY FIRE. 
L. H., Mattoon, III .—A neighbor lately set 
fire to a lot of brush, etc., on his own land. 
The flames spread along the dry grass and 
consumed a portion of my fences and a corn- 
crib and stable close to the boundary line, 
besides doing other damage. Is he liable for 
damages ? 
Ans.— According to the general law, one has 
a right to burn brush, stumps, and the like on 
his own land for “purposes of husbandry,” if 
it is a prudent thing to do under all the cir¬ 
cumstances of the case; and if he uses all due 
care and the fire spreads without any fault on 
his part, he cannot be made to pay for the 
damage that it does to others. The gist of his 
liability is some degree of carelessness, either 
as regards the time of setting the fire, the 
manner of doing so, or in watching it after¬ 
wards. The legislatures of some of the 
prairie and timbered States have passed 
stringent laws on the matter. In Illinois and 
Missouri all persons are absolutely prohibited 
from firing woods or anything on the ground, 
except between March and November, and 
then only for the purpose of protecting them¬ 
selves from prairie fires. Under the statutes 
in both these States where damage occurs 
from the fire spread ng, the burden of proof 
is on the person who set the fire to show that 
he did so to protect himself from prairie fires, 
and that he used every reasonable precaution 
to prevent injury to others. How does this 
rule apply in the above case ? In North Caro¬ 
lina a person must give notice in writing to 
his neighbor tiiat he intends to set fire to 
woods or brush on his own land; but this does 
not apply to heaps of rubbish collected on the 
land. In Iowa “if any person willfully or 
without using cautiou sets fire to and burns 
or causes to be burned any prairie or timber 
land, by which the property of another is 
destroyed, he shall be liable to an action to 
the party injured for all damages he, she or 
they may have sustained in consequence of 
fire.” In California treble damages are 
awarded against him who negligently sets fire 
to his own woods or negligently suffers any fire 
to extend beyond his own land, if his neighbor 
thereby suffers loss. In several of the States 
the negligent firing of woods, etc., on one’s 
own land, as well as neglect in allowing the 
fire to spread to those of a neighbor, is made 
a criminal offense punishable by fine or im¬ 
prisonment, or both. 
A RIGHT OF WAY BY PRESCRIPTION. 
C. E. R., Jerusalem ., N. Y .—A and B own 
land adjoining C’s land, and to get to the 
highway they have to cross a corner of C’s 
wood-lot—only 30 yards. A has traveled the 
road for 34 years, and B has done so for over 
50 years. C bought the farm about 10 years 
ago, and did not object to A and B’s crossing 
the land until the present time; now he does 
object. If A and B cannot cross C’s land they 
will have to go 2)4 miles to get to their own 
land from the highway. What is the law in 
the matter ? 
Ans.—A and B have a legal right to cross 
C’s land along the same route they have been 
using for so many years. A right of way is 
acquired by prescription in this State by 
adverse continuous use for 20 years, and in 
some States adverse continuous use for 15 
years only is required. The owner of the land 
may dedicate it for public use as a highway 
by allowing it to be used as such without 
exercising control over it. The dedication 
may be evidenced by deed or by the act of the 
owner, or by his silent acquiescence in its use 
for the necessary period. This was evidently 
the case in the above instance before C bought 
the laud, and he could buy only the rights 
vested in the former owner. Even if the right 
of way had not been altogether acquired 
during the tenure of the former owner, the 
fact that the present owner acquiesced in the 
use of the path or road for 10 years must be 
taken into account, for the time of enjoyment 
for the acquirement of a title by prescription 
is deemed to be uninterrupted when it is con¬ 
tinued from ancestor to heir or from seller to 
buyer. It is therefore now too late for C to 
put in.an adverse claim. 
OWNERSHIP OF FRUITS ON OR NEAR THE 
BOUNDARY LINE. 
W. G. T. S., Rochester , N. Y. —My neigh¬ 
bor has a lot of ill-kept, straggling fruit trees, 
some growing partly on the division line be¬ 
tween our farms and some just beyond the 
line, but partly overhanging my land. What 
is the law with regard to the ownership of 
such fruit? Have I any rights in the matter? 
Ans. —Where anybody has a fruit tree 
growing near the boundary line, even if. the 
roots extend and grow into the land of his 
neighbor and derive nourishment from it, the 
tree is the property of the person on whose 
land the trunk remains, and he is entitled to 
all the fruit, although some of the branches 
may overhang his neighbor’s land. If the 
fruit falls into the latter, the owner has a 
right to reach over and pick it, and if his 
neighbor prevents him, the owner may have 
an action for assault and battery. It is 
doubtful, however, whether he has any right 
to go on the neighbor’s land to get the fruit, 
but he would probably have a license to do so 
provided he did no damage to the latter’s prop¬ 
erty. The adjacent owner may, however, 
cut off all branches and roots up to the line of 
his land; but if he uses them he will be liable 
to pay the owner of the tree what they were 
worth. Where a tree stands on the boundary 
line between adjoining owners, they own the 
tree and fruit in common, and neither is at 
liberty to cut the tree without the consent of 
the other, nor to cut away the part that ex¬ 
tends into his land, if thereby he injures the 
common property. 
PENNSYLVANIA LAW AS TO DIVISION FENCES. 
L. S. M. Williamsport , Pa. —What is the 
law with regard to line fences in this State ? 
If the farms of two persons join, both having 
pastures adjoining each other, and woods be¬ 
ing on each side of the line where the pastures 
join, can one force the other to build his half 
of the line fence, the other party being will¬ 
ing to build his ? What course should he take ? 
Ans. —The Pennsylvania law as to the divi¬ 
sion fences is as follows: “ When any two 
persons shall improve lands adjacent to each 
other or when any person shall inclose land 
adjacent to another’s already fenced in, so 
that any part of the first person’s fence be¬ 
comes the partition fence between them, in 
both these cases, the charge for such division 
fence, so far as is inclosed on both sides, shall 
be equally borne and maintained by both 
parties. Recovery is to be had as in other ac¬ 
tions for work and labor done, or materials 
furnished. It will be observed that the owner 
of unimproved land cannot call upon the 
owner of adjacent unimproved land to contri¬ 
bute to the cost of a division fence unless the 
latter chooses to fence in his own unimproved 
land. 
NECESSITY FOR DISCLOSING DANGEROUS 
QUALITIES IN ANIMALS. 
M. T., Ocean Orove, N. J. —A left a horse 
which he knew to be mischievous, to be shod 
at a blacksmith’s shop; the animal kicked the 
shoer badly; has the latter any remedy 
against A? 
Ans. —Yes. The owner of an animal is 
bound to disclose its vicious or mischievous 
propensities in transferring it,even temporarily 
to another. For instance, if a person lets a 
biting or kicking horse to another for hire, or 
leaves it with a blacksmith to be shod, or 
even with a hostler to be groomed, he is bound 
to inform the party receiving the animal of 
its vicious habits of kicking and biting; 
otherwise he will be liable for the damages 
which may happen in consequence of these 
habits. 
,/. M. Newark, Ohio. —I have a discharge 
from the army in which I spent over two 
years; am I obliged to do road work? 
Ans. —That depends. Honorably discharged 
soldiers who served in the U. S. army during 
actual war are exempt from performing any 
labor on the highway. 
farm (fcaaomij. 
MULCHING WHEAT. 
PROF. J. W. SANBORN. 
A Rural subscriber in Medina Co. Ohio, 
says :—“ I have plenty of wheat straw and 
clover haulm to mulch my wheat with next 
winter: 1, Will it make a good mulch to pre¬ 
vent freezing out or winter killing ? 2, How 
and when should it be applied? 3, How much is 
it safe to put on ? 
I have used wheat-straw for a mulch 
several years, but for other crops than wheat, 
and made a study of its influences on soi * 1 
temperature, moisture, and development and 
crop yield. The influences of a mulch serve to 
equalize the temperature between day and 
night; to increase soil moisture; to make a 
greater surface development of roots in dry 
weather; to increase the yield quite materially 
and in'wet weather to intensify the mischief 
of such seasons. Depending upon these 
data and the results obtained by those who 
have used mulch, and especially for wheat, I 
answer the first question that wheat-straw will 
make a good mulch for wheat, and will have 
a good influence in preventing winter freezing. 
The freezing and thawing so injurious to wheat 
will be considerably restricted. Under it, 
it will freeze later, and when once frozen it 
will not' thaw’ out under ordinary changes. 
This is evident from the data taken by me. 
2, I would not apply the mulch at first un¬ 
less the season proves to be very dry, or the 
crop is sowed a few days earlier, for the 
growth of the wheat will be somewhat retard¬ 
ed by a reduction of temperature, although in 
the later fall it will retain the earth’s heat. 
If a wet fall, the tendency will be to increase 
the soil moisture, and to an injurious degree. 
For the above reasons I would withhold the 
mulch until the wheat has made a short 
growth. I should desire to apply it before Che 
wheat has made such a growth that the straw 
will bend over and delay its natural tendency 
to get its leaf to the open sun. True, a light 
layer will not do any material injury, but by 
the time I mention cooler nights will be mul¬ 
tiplying and the straw will modify the night 
temperature. 
3. Your subscriber asks how much of the 
mulch it is safe to put on? I cannot answer 
in pounds. I used for a summer mulch about 
four inches. Sometimes more is used. I 
would use less for wheat, depending somewhat 
upon local conditions, making three inches 
the outside amount, and less under favorable 
conditions. Facts are not abundant enough 
to make any pretensions to a definite knowl¬ 
edge of the amount needed. Mr. Terry has 
recently given, in the Country Gentleman, a 
flattering account of his good results with a 
mulch for wheat in an exposed place with a 
very thin mulch; but, unfortunately, he does 
not define, by any recognized standard, what 
thickness he used, but repeats that it was 
very thin. I should judge by his language it 
was only an inch thick. 
Agricultural College, Mo. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Iowa. 
Des Moines, Polk Co., Aug. 16.—One of 
the Rural correspondents, writing from this 
State, said there was no telling a day ahead 
what our weather would be. So it is. This 
is a country of very great uncertainty and 
extremes, so far as weather is concerned. 
This has been a.’strange season, and one of 
extremes of dry, cold and wet weather. When 
we came out of winter and commenced our 
crop raising it was dry; then came four weeks 
of almost constant rain, ending in this section 
with the big hail storm of May 27th. June 
came in nice and warm and our crops 
grew out of the damage done by the hail be¬ 
yond our best expectations. July was also 
very favorable for the growth of most crops, 
and at the end of July our crops were as near 
to perfection as we might expect ever to see 
them. August came in, and with it came 
rain, and it has been wet and cold so far, and 
very heavy rains fall almost every day. We 
can do very little on the farm. The oat c^op 
is very badly damaged and perhaps at least 
half of it will be an entire loss. The oats were 
so heavy that they fell badly, and consequent¬ 
ly a very poor job of harvesting was done, 
and what was harvested was found in such 
bad shape that unless very favorable weather 
comes the crop cannot be saved. Farmers are 
getting uneasy for their great corn crop. The 
land is so wet and the corn so heavy chat a 
very little wind would blow it down; in fact, 
lots of it is now down. It is well advanced in 
this, or in the central district. The apple- 
tree blight is bad this season, and the blight is 
also very bad on our vegetable crops. It 
takes hold of potatoes, beans, tomatoes and 
vines of all kinds, and I had one bed of cab¬ 
bage entirely ruined by it. The leaves of the 
plants turn black, then dry up, and it goes 
from the_leaves to the stem or body and the 
whole plant dries up. It takes from two to 
four days to completely dry up the thriftiest 
plants, and I have not seen a plant of any 
kind that has grown out of its effects. The 
late potatoes go right down under its ravages, 
but they are making a strong new growth out 
of the ground again, and it is to be hoped 
there will be a pretty fair crop of late pota¬ 
toes yet, as all our late potatoes were made 
after this time last season. Hogs are scarce 
and high. Cattle plentiful and cheap. Grain 
scarce and high; corn, 50 cents; oats, 30 cents 
per bushel. Produce cheap. Potatoes 25 to 
• 0 cents a bushel; apples a drug at 30 to 40 
cents; vegetables of all kinds cheap. The 
chicken crop is very short and chickens bring 
a good price. f. s. w. 
Nebraska. 
Ashton, Sherman Co., August. 10.—Corn 
promises the heaviest yield I have seen in the 
12 years that I have lived here if frost keeps 
off long enough to let it mature. We had a 
late, wet spring so that it is two weeks behind. 
It is in roasting ears now. Stock is healthy, 
and in good condition. Pastures are good. 
Hay is better and heavier then I have ever 
known it here. Orchard and fruit, trees are 
looking well. Very little fruit raised here yet. 
Stacking is nearly all finished. I like the 
Rural, I think it gets better with age. J. w. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
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HOW TO GET UP A GOOD COUNTY FAIR. 
C. N. II., Evans, Col .—The Rural has fre¬ 
quently told us to get up a good county fair; 
now will it tell us how to do it ? How are 
successful county fairs managed in the East ? 
Ans. —The fair held in Suffolk Co., New 
York (Long Island), makes a good model. It 
seems more like a big family gathering than 
anything else. There are few if any objection¬ 
able features, everybody always seems happy 
and satisfied, the exhibits are made in good 
taste, and one is sure to learn something from 
a visit to the fair grounds. The president of 
the Suffolk County Agricultural Society 
writes as follows: 
We think about the first week in October 
the best time to hold our fair, as farmers have 
generally finished sowing wheat, and have a 
little leisure. We usually keep the people 
posted through the county press as to what 
the officers of the Society are doing and what 
they want the people to do for the approach¬ 
ing fair and by premium list and posters or 
large bills sent to every post-office on Long 
Island and to every county society in the 
State. We want for officers men with brains 
and largo hearts not afraid to work without 
pay. For police we have two detectives from 
N. Y. City and a superintendent for each de¬ 
partment, who are at their posts most of the 
time. We offer as large a premium as we think 
we can afford on each item of stock that we 
think will be likely to be exhibited or that ought 
to be, and we do the same in each other de¬ 
partment—Horticulture, Agriculture, Fancy 
Goods, etc—and then judges are appointed to 
award premiums for worthy exhibits that 
may not be on the premium list. Since a boy 
was killed by ball players on our grounds 
some years since, we have not allowed ball 
playing, and as to athletic sports we have 
never been able to get up much interest 
therein. We have our speakers at public 
meetings in the Court-house in the evenings 
except once when Horace Greeley spoke on 
the grounds and another time when P. T. 
Barnum did likewise. Both drew large 
crowds. We do not believe that at present we 
could pay expenses without trotting matches, 
but they are closely watched. No pool selling 
is allowed, and, as far as possible, every evil 
usually attendant on such displays is elimi¬ 
nated. No gambling devices, prize packages, 
whistling balloons, or anything of the kind, is 
allowed. A few unobjectionable side-shows 
are admitted, but no liquor-selling is permit¬ 
ted—even cider is not sold. We have stricken 
out of our list all premiums on cider. We try 
to introduce something new each year—some¬ 
thing to develop every interest of the county. 
We put in all the good and keep out every 
evil. Whatever will tend to make one love 
home and country more and create a strong 
desire to make good better is encouraged. 
Last year we had, for the first time, drill 
contests, etc., of the different Grand Army 
Posts of the county, which added largely to 
