1883.] 
AMERIOA^ AGRICULTURIST. 
223 
Prepare Now for Next Christmas. 
Rather early to talk about Christmas you will 
rill ink. Itis so, au< t it is purposely early. Next 
winter, whether you are helping to decorate the 
church, or the school room, or are putting up 
Christmas green at home, you will say : ‘' I wish 
this did not all look so dark aud heavy. How a 
few bright flowers would lighten it up. I wish I 
had some of those pretty everlasting-flowers.” The 
way to have everlasting-flowers next Christmas is 
to sow the seeds now. There are a number of dif¬ 
ferent kinds and they are only known by their 
botanical names. The most delicate of all are the 
.Rhodanthes, from Australia, but they are better 
fitted for making up into line bouquets, than for 
•Christmas work. The most useful for this are the 
Helichrysums, as their flowers are large and showy 
and of a variety of colors—white, rose, yellow, pur¬ 
ple, and some have brownish shades. The seeds 
• can be had in distinct colors, though it is much 
• cheaper to get the mixed seeds, if the seedmen will 
be sure aud put all colors in the mixture. Acro- 
clinium is another good everlasting, and gives 
the purest white and rose-colored flowers of all. 
There are several others which you will find’ de- 
. scribed in the seed catalogues. If wanted for use 
.at Christmas only, the Helichrysums will be fouud 
the most satisfactory. The seeds may be sown in 
the open ground, but it will be better to sow them 
in boxes and afterwards transplant out in any 
good garden soil. They grow to be quite large 
and bushy plants, and should not be nearer to one 
another than two feet. As the flowers are just 
about to open, cut them, tie in little bunches and 
hang them heads down. When the stem is 
thoroughly dry, lay the flowers singly in drawers or 
in shallow boxes, where they can be kept from the 
•dust until used. By cutting the flowers as fast as 
.they appear, the number produced will be much 
larger than if they were to remaiu and produce 
rseeds. Provide now for a stock of everlastings to 
use next Christmas. 
Law for Farmers.—Drainage Rights. 
BY HENRY A. HAIUH, DETROIT, MICH. 
The great practical importance of drainage in 
■developing the fertility of soil is now generally 
well appreciated by intelligent agriculturists. It 
may not, at this season, be inopportune to briefly 
:set forth the law of the subject. The farmer’s 
rights in artificial water-courses are somewhat dif¬ 
ferent from those in natural streams. The latter 
: appear to possess some rights of their own which 
:must not be interfered with by man. 
“ Men may come and men may go, 
But I go on forever,” 
■says Tennyson’s “Brook,” as though it recognized 
an equal duty and offie'e which it must fulfill to 
• each and all who live along its course, and which 
must not be appropriated by any one to the injury 
• of the others. But with artificial water-ways it is 
■otherwise. Where a natural stream flows through 
th'e farm, the farmer’s rights in it are limited by 
those of his neighbors above and below. He may 
■ drain his lands into it, provided he does not thereby 
• seriously increase or befoul its waters, so as to 
flood his neighbor below, or render the water unfit 
for use, but this would almost never be done by 
ordinary farm drainage. He may make reasonable 
use of its waters for domestic purposes, watering 
his stock, irrigating his lands, etc., provided he 
•does not so diminish its volume as to interfere with 
a similar use of it by his neighbors below. He 
■ cannot divert it from its natural channel unless he 
returns it thereto before it leaves his land. 
Each owner along a stream has the right to have 
it remain about as Nature made it, and if any one 
of them wishes to do anything with the stream 
which will encroach upon this general right, he 
must get the consent of those whose rights will be 
affected. This permission should be given in 
writing, as it amounts to an easement, which is an 
interest in land, and such an interest can only be 
•^created or transferred by deed, duly executed and 
delivered. This precaution should also be ob¬ 
served where the farmer procures the right to run 
a ditch or drain through his neighbor’s land. Such 
a right, if perpetual, is an interest in land which 
cannot be created by verbal agreement; and the 
farmer who acts under a mere verbal license in 
such a matter, even though lie expend considera¬ 
ble money in constructing his drain, may lose his 
privilege whenever the owner of the laud chooses 
to “go back on his word ” ; and though his “word 
may be as good as his deed,” it will not bind his 
heirs or grantees. This is the general doctrine 
adhered to in New York and nearly all the States.* 
Where there is no natural water-course running 
through the farm, it is important to know how to 
get a proper and legal outlet for drainage purposes. 
Surface waters, which include all that falls as rain 
or comes from melting snows, and all that oozes 
from the ground, unlike those of natural streams, 
belong absolutely to the farmer, and he may do 
with them as he chooses, so that he does not in¬ 
jure others. 
In Roman law, where adjoining farms are so 
situated that the surface waters from one naturally 
descend upon the other, the owner of the upper 
one has the right to have them continue to do so, 
and the lower proprietor must suffer such waters 
to be discharged upon his land. The upper pro¬ 
prietor cannot, however, collect.the waters into a 
drain and discharge them in one place upon the 
lower farm, his right being simply to have Nature 
take its course. There has been some attempt on 
the part of the Courts of a few of the States to 
establish a similar doctrine in America ; but the 
numerous cases bearing upon different phases of 
the subject are inharmonious, and cannot well be 
reconciled to this, or in fact any other general prin¬ 
ciple. Their general tendency, however, is strongly 
against the doctrine that the lower estate is obliged 
to receive the surface water from the upper one. 
Yery many of the cases hold directly that every 
land owner has the right to fill in or build up his 
land as high as he pleases, for purposes of im¬ 
provement, etc., even though it renders it incapa¬ 
ble of receiving surface waters from upper lands, 
or causes such waters to set back and do injury to 
lands above.f It may be said to be well settled 
that if the surface waters of one farm have been 
discharged in one place upon another for a period 
of twenty years, that a right has thereby been ac¬ 
quired to have such discharge continue ; but it 
would not be safe to say that any such right ex¬ 
isted in the first instance. 
While, therefore, it is unfortunately impossible 
to lay down any single broad proposition which 
would be good law for the whole country, it is 
possible to say with truth the following: Even 
though there may be in some States a shadow of 
right for one farmer to drain his lands upon those 
of another, it is an unfair and unneighborly thing 
to do, without full consent. If the farmer finds it 
necessary to drain through the land of his neigh¬ 
bors for the purpose of reaching a natural outlet, 
he should arrange with such neighbors for the 
right to do so. And his neighbors should, in most 
instances, not only willingly grant him the priv¬ 
ilege, and release to him the right of way for such 
purpose, but should unite with him in bearing a 
portion of the expense, for in nearly all instances 
they will be benefited, by such a drain. 
But, alas! for our humanity, men will not always 
agree. Hence it has been found needful in nearly, 
if not quite all the States, to make statutory pro¬ 
vision for such cases, where the proposed drain is 
a public necessity. The provisions of these drain 
laws vary somewhat with the varying conditions 
and necessities of the different States. In general, 
they provide that where, for the purposes of agri¬ 
culture and public health, it is necessary to run a 
drain through the lands of unwilling owners, any 
freeholder or certain number of freeholders can 
unite in a petition to the Court having proper 
jurisdiction, or sometimes to an official, often called 
* 2 Am. Leading Cases, 682-700. 
+ 25 Wise.. 223; 47 Penn.. 155; 50 N. H., 439; 20 Am. 
Law Reg., 19-24: 31 N. J. Law, 352. 
a Drain Commissioner, to have such drain con¬ 
structed. The Court, acting upon such petition, 
usually proceeds by appointing Commissioners, 
who act in the matter. Where such Commission¬ 
ers are regularly elected officers, they proceed by 
making an inspection of the proposed line and 
locality of the drain, and having a survey of the 
same made. If it seems to them necessary that 
the drain be made, they proceed to construct the 
same, usually by contract, assessing the cost of it 
upon the lands benefited thereby, and fixing upon 
a compensation to be paid to those who were un¬ 
willing to release the right of way. Not infre¬ 
quently it is provided that a jury shall be called to 
pass upon the necessity of the proposed drain, and 
assess the damages to be paid those whose lands 
are disturbed against their will, as well as the 
amounts to be paid by them for the benefits result¬ 
ing from the drain. It is not infrequent that a 
portion of the expense of such a drain is assessed 
against the township or county, for the general 
good resulting thereto by way of increased health¬ 
fulness, improvement of public roads, etc. 
The benefits which have accrued to the country 
at large by reason of the operation of these public 
drain laws can hardly be estimated. It speaks 
well for the enterprise of American farmers, that 
they have so generally adopted and applied the 
system. 
Preserving Eggs. 
At this time when- there is a great abundance of 
eggs, many wish to store away a portion of them for 
use or for sale in a season of scarcity. As a conse¬ 
quence, inquiries about preserving eggs are very 
numerous each spring. Packing the eggs in salt 
and other inert powders has been tried. Coating 
the exterioi; of the shell with some kind of grease 
oi with a varnish, to completely close the pores, 
has been partially successful. Some have placed a 
coating on the inside of the shell; this is done by 
putting the eggs in a basket or net and holding 
them in boiling water just long enough to harden 
a thin layer of the white of the egg. This closes 
the rest of the egg in a complete covering which 
the air cannot penetrate, and prevents the contents 
from evaporating. While eggs thus treated would 
not be salable, we know those who prefer this 
method to any other for keeping eggs for family 
use. Farmers who have large numbers of eggs to 
preserve, store keepers, who take eggs “ in trade,” 
and all others who handle large quantities of eggs, 
depend upon lime-water as a preservative. Casks 
of various kinds are used to hold the eggs, and 
some country store-keepers have so many that 
they require large brick cisterns placed in the cellar, 
that are cemented, and hold immense quantities. 
Blow Lime-water is I’sed. 
While some immerse the eggs in simple lime- 
water, others hold that the addition of a small 
quantity of salt increases its preservative qualities. 
Those who have had an extended experience, ad¬ 
vise slaking a bushel of stoue lime and adding water 
to make 60 to 65 gallons, and four quarts of salt. 
This mixture is stirred a few times at intervals and 
allowed to settle. The perfectly clear liquid is 
dipped off and poured in a cask to the depth of 15 
inches; then eggs to about a foot in depth are 
placed in the liquid, and some of the pickle that 
is a little milky is added. More eggs are placed in 
the cask, and some slightly milky pickle is added 
for each foot in depth. When the eggs are within 
about four inches of the top of the cask, they are 
covered with a piece of cotton cloth, and upon the 
cloth is spread two or three inches of the lime that 
settled after the slaking, ltis important thatthere 
be always sufficient pickle to cover the lime on the 
cloth. The object of placing upon the cloth the 
lime that had settled, is to keep the water con¬ 
stantly saturated with it. Should some of the 
dissolved lime be changed into carbonate, more 
is at hand to be dissolved. 
We are not aware that the chemistry of the pro¬ 
cess, including the action of the lime-water upon 
the egg shells, which are themselves carbonate 
