1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
775 
TORRENS SYSTEM OF REGISTERING LAND. 
WHAT THE DEED IS.—An important question in 
all ages and in every country where property rights 
are respected is “How can I read my title clear?” Did 
you ever ask yourself the question “What is my title?” 
It is not your deed, because there may be 50 deeds to 
your property. A deed without the warranty clause, 
simple agrees to convey the rights which the maker has 
in the property. This may be much or little, there is 
nothing in the deed to indicate how much. In other 
words, the deed is only one of the evidences of title, 
and is no more conclusive than the prefix “Honorable” 
before the name of one of your public servants. A 
deed gives notice of a claim of ownership, and is there¬ 
fore of general interest. In order that this notice to 
the public may be complete, the law has devised a 
simple method by which deeds and other claims to title 
may be recorded in a public office. This registration 
then becomes public notice of a claim of ownership. 
Remember it does not become title, but notice to the 
public of a claim to title. The process by which the 
records are filled is as follows. When the Government 
issues a patent it is recorded, as is each subsequent 
transaction. In the course of time perhaps a dozen 
transfers have occurred, mortgages have been filed and 
discharged, attachments and liens of various kinds 
have issued and been discharged. Possibly the land 
has formed part of an estate which has been adminis¬ 
tered by the Probate Court. These and other matters 
having a bearing on the title are properly recorded. The 
office in many counties contains hundreds of volumes of 
such transactions, and it is no small task to trace the 
records of any given piece of real estate. 
SEARCHING THE TITLE.—Before the land is 
purchased you, or some one. for you, must search the 
records to find every transaction which re¬ 
fers to that particular description. You must 
know that the mortgages and liens have 
been properly discharged, that taxes have 
been paid, that court proceedings have been * 
legally conducted, that the title, in facts rests 
with the person who proposes to deed to you. 
It would be neither expedient nor profitable 
for you to search this maze of records for 
data regarding any one particular descrip¬ 
tion. The necessity for such information has 
brought into existence a class of persons 
who have examined the books and have made 
abstracts of all the records. These men are 
known by their work as abstractors, and 
will for a compensation, furnish you with 
a record of all the proceedings relating to 
any piece of land in the county. The ab¬ 
stract may be simply a puzzle to you and 
you will probably take it to some lawyer 
who will, for a consideration, give you his 
opinion of the legality of the title in ques¬ 
tion. This is the American way; it is not 
perfect, but it has served pretty well for a 
good many years. Among the chief objec¬ 
tions are the delay, the expense and the 
insecurity. 
THE AUSTRALIAN SYSTEM.—Down in Aus¬ 
tralia they do things differently. When the vast areas 
of land were thrown open to the public, in the middle 
of the last century, a system was devised by Mr. Tor¬ 
rens, the essential features of which were the issuance 
by the Government of a certificate which showed the 
exact condition of the title, and was by itself complete 
evidence of title good in any court. This certificate is 
transferable like a certificate of stock. When a transfer 
of land titles takes place the certificate is surrendered 
for a new one bearing the name of the new owner. 
Of course records are kept, by the Government, of all 
transfers or claims, but the main fact stands out in 
distinction from our system that the certificate is the 
title backed by all the powers of the government. 
DIFFICULTIES IN THIS COUNTRY.—The sys¬ 
tem has worked well in Australia and it seems so 
simple and secure that thoughtful people have attempted 
to have laws enacted whereby we might take advantage 
of the good features of the system. We have adopted 
some of the methods of the Australians, and profited by 
them, but it is not always possible to take laws which 
have been successful in one country and tranfer them 
bodily to another. The fundamental law of the land 
may render this impossible without radical changes. 
For instance, Australia is a colony of England, and has 
no written constitution, the Legislature is supreme, and 
can make and enforce such laws as it may choose. 
With us, on the contrary, whatever laws are passed by 
the legislative branch must conform to our written 
constitution. The constitution of practically every 
State, as well as that of the United States, contains a 
provision prohibiting the taking of private property 
without due process of law. That means that every 
one claiming to have any interest in the land has a 
right to be heard. Taking our titles as they exist to¬ 
day, there is in almost every case more than one per¬ 
son who at some time has had-some claim to title. 
Before a certificate could issue which should definitely 
and finally decide ownership these claims must be 
acted upon by some court of competent jurisdiction. 
Any modification of the Torrens system in this country 
must provide for a court empowered to make such de¬ 
cisions, and every person who has a claim must have 
legal notice, and is entitled to his day in court. Every 
State which has attempted to enact a law based on the 
Torrens system has experienced grave difficulties in so 
framing it that property can be conveyed simply, inex¬ 
pensively and legally. 
THE LAW IN ILLINOIS.—During the great fire in 
Chicago the public records of Cook County were de¬ 
stroyed. The abstracts of these records were owned by 
private individuals. Being practically at the mercy of 
parties who had a monopoly on necessary information, 
there was a strong demand for the enactment of some 
law which would furnish relief. A statute based on the 
Torrens system was enacted; it was promptly declared 
unconstitutional, for reasons stated above. Tt was 
reenacted into a law which avoided these objections, 
and seems to be valid. The law left it optional with 
parties making transfers to use the new or the old 
system. In spite of the necessity for a new system, and 
notwithstanding the fact that the law is perhaps the 
best so far adopted in this country, there has been but 
a small minority of the people who have transferred 
their land titles under it. Last year a law was passed 
requiring that all estates submitted for probate in Cook 
County should transfer real estate under this system. 
This will in time place all real property in Cook 
County, Illinois, on this basis, and time alone will de¬ 
termine its adaptability to our needs. Other States 
have adopted some modification of the Torrens system, 
but in none has it been an unqualified success, as is 
NEW EARLY POTATO, IRISH COBBLER. Fig. 333. 
See Ruralisms, Page 780. 
shown by the limited number of people taking advan¬ 
tage of it. The present system has answered reason¬ 
ably well for many years, its defects are thoroughly 
understood. The Torrens system has answered well 
for the Australians, but its shortcomings under our 
laws are to a large extent unknown. It has been in¬ 
troduced in perhaps a dozen States, but in no case 
have its tremendous advantages been so apparent that 
any considerable number of people have used it. States 
which have not adopted the system can well afford to 
wait until it has been tried out in at least one American 
community. c. b. c. 
OBJECTIONS TO ALFALFA ANSWERED . 
The quotation in The R. N.-Y. from the Maryland 
Farmer (page 707) starts a multitude of thoughts re¬ 
garding the plant. The tone of it is adverse to its 
propagation, in line of so much that was published a 
few years ago. The “farmer of the fifties” would best 
remain with his day and generation. The crops and 
times were sufficient then to his happiness and pros¬ 
perity, and will doubtless continue so to the end. About 
one year ago I had a letter from one of the editors of 
the leading farm paper of Ohio, expressing the belief 
that it would only grow in the Miami and Scioto Val¬ 
leys of Ohio, and not north of Columbus, and only 
successfully in the limestone soil formations of Ohio. 
Recently the experimentalist at the Wooster Station, 
seconded my opinion that it will grow in every county 
in Ohio. It is now grown in one of the most northern 
counties of the State. 
About seven years ago, the first sowing was made in 
this part of the State. A few days ago I made out 
from memory a list of 50 farmers who are growing it, 
or making the effort. These, in the main, do not cover 
a very large range of country. There are many 
growers about the county seat, Chillicothe, whom l do 
not know. A seed dealer told me about August 22 , 
that so far that month, they had sold about 60 bushels 
of seed, which would mostly be used in the county of 
Ross. When a farmer once has an Alfalfa field he 
need not worry, and lose sleep, because his tools do 
not suit the crop, or its destruction, for there) will be 
time for the plow to be invented that will cut the roots 
by the time he wants to plow it. The western farmers 
do not howl about the difficulty of plowing it, when 
they want to do it, no more than the silo user howls 
about climbing the ladder into his silo once or twice a 
day. In the pleasing contemplation of the value of the 
two products, they forget these minor inconveniences. 
I have a field that I have been mowing for five years. 
With the finish of this season it will have been mown 
17 times. Now I am not anxious as to what kind of 
a plow I will have to possess to be able to plow it. I 
am more anxious as to my possible ability and skill 
to keep a plow out of the field. I can grow Alfalfa 
easier than I can corn, my land suits it better. Some of 
my neighbors have better corn land than mine, the kind 
that never fails to give them a crop, and they have 
corn to sell. Corn sometimes fails to give a satisfac¬ 
tory crop on my land, but when Alfalfa once is set, 
I can be sure of a satisfactory return. Since I have 
had Alfalfa there have been two or three horses on the 
farm, driven in by callers, that would not eat it when 
given to them. In a very short time horses develop 
an appetite for it. My farm team only gets Alfalfa 
hay and Blue grass, and do the heaviest farm work, 
such as hauling manure, gravel, etc. No man has 
accused me of feeding short. 
Alfalfa roots go deep, but they are slim, averaging 
nearer one-half inch in diameter than one inch; this, 
with roots on my own farm that are now six years old. 
Many farmers will not sow it because it cuts a field 
out of regular rotation. Most farms and 
their owners will be benefited by such a cut 
out. A large area of Alfalfa on a farm that 
has been given to regular crop rotation, will 
necessitate some changes in the management 
of the farm. Some crop—or a part of it— 
must be dropped out, or else there must be 
more help employed at stated times. So far 
in my five years’ experience, putting up 
Alfalfa hay, I have had but little, if any, 
trouble to secure the needed help. But if all 
my neighbors made Alfalfa hay it would 
be different. The first cutting comes before 
clover hay harvest, the second after wheat 
harvest, the third after the thrashing is done, 
and the fourth after corn cutting, and much 
of the seeding is done. So where Alfalfa 
is not generally grown, the day-working 
men can be had to help handle it. Most 
farmers who undertake to grow a large area 
will find it convenient to drop out some crop 
in rotation, or change the use of a crop. Do 
not quit growing clover, but quit growing 
for hay and seed. On this farm wheat is 
dropped out of rotation, and rye substituted, 
but not harvested in the usual way, but 
harvested with stock. A few acres of Al¬ 
falfa on a stock farm will easily double the stock¬ 
carrying capacity of the farm. One-fourth the area of 
this farm, or nearly' so, 21 acres out of 86 ^ 2 , makes it 
possible for me to stock up with 600 feeding lambs, 
when if I did not have Alfalfa, and if I was not vastly 
more fortunate with clover than others in this section, 
I would not have clover hay for 100 . A farmer can 
hardly understand the possibilities till he is in posses¬ 
sion of a few acres and undertakes to care for it as 
it should be cared for. john m. jamison. 
Ross Co., Ohio. 
EXPERIENCE WITH MELON BLIGHT. 
The articles that have appeared from time to time in 
The R. N.-Y. on muskmelon growing, have been read 
with interest, having been engaged 15 years in a small 
way growing muskmelons. This year I branched out 
a little more, and planted nearly three-eighths of an 
acre. I have picked to date 2,600 fruits. Some were 
large, readily selling at 15 cents apiece, quality Al. I 
lost 175 by blight. The variety grown was largely an 
improved strain of Emerald Gem; five years ago I 
discovered a melon of merit in my patch of Gems. 
The seed was saved and planted, carefully selected from 
year to year, until the above strain has been obtained. 
A part of my patch was planted to Original Osage. 
This variety had to be planted over, thus bringing the 
ripening season late. The Gem withstood the blight 
much the better. Different growers disagree as to 
spraying with Bordeaux Mixture for blight. I advo¬ 
cate a liberal use of Bordeaux. I sprayed seven times 
in as many weeks, and got the melons. Possibly other 
people grow them for the fun of it. but nothing short 
of melons, and lots of them, satisfies me. I had no 
trouble to sell a dozen while our local dealers sold one 
melon grown in the South. henry e. brown. 
New York. 
