1914. 
OVERRATED PROFESSIONS. 
I read with much interest Mr. T. H. King’s pertin¬ 
ent comments on the excessive charges of lawyers. 
Members of the legal profession certainly have a high 
estimate of the value of their services. There is in 
fact no justice in their claim. The average lawyer 
studies less and knows less than men in several 
other professions. He has less capital invested than 
most professional men. Why, then, is he so over¬ 
rated? He makes and bedevils the law so that an 
ordinary man cannot understand it, the lawyers 
themselves differ as to its meaning, and the judges 
guess at it or make it over to suit their own ideas. 
Lawyers reap their harvest out of the ignorance of 
the people and their misfortunes. They also draw 
the large fees for protecting law-breakers against 
the penalties of their crimes. 
There is a remedy that the people will employ 
later on. Is it not strange that society as a whole 
employs lawyers and pays them to prosecute indi¬ 
viduals, while the individual must employ his own 
lawyer and pay the bills in order to get a hearing in 
coux-t? The district attorney works for one side 
only, whereas he should work in the interests of 
justice for the individual as well as for society. 
Things are now organized to give the strong an 
advantage over the weak, amounting in many cases 
to tyranny. There should be a change, and one will 
be made when the common man is fully in power. 
In fact, every man should be his own lawyei*. The 
laws should be made fewer and simplei’, and put in 
form to be easily read by men of ordinary intelli¬ 
gence. Too much mystei'y is thrown about the laws 
that everyone must obey. Our laws are still in 
primitive form, almost barbaric. 
The farmer suffers as much as anyone from ignor¬ 
ance of law and consequent fear of it. He dares not 
employ a lawyer and face the cost. He therefore 
submits to injustice and allows his dishonest neigh¬ 
bor to infringe upon his rights. The way to avoid 
war is to be prepared for it, and the way to keep 
out of the hands of lawyers is to know the law. 
A. C. HILL. 
DRAINAGE OF ONE FARM THROUGH 
ANOTHER. 
We have on our farms some muck lands that the Itha¬ 
ca Experiment Station pronounces first class. There 
are over 100 acres. One of our neighbors will not let us 
dig a ditch through his unbroken field to a creek, a dis¬ 
tance of say 75 rods. To get the fall the other way 
out would be three miles or so. I have offered to tile 
it, or any way it would drain his wet land, but he is 
very stern. Help us out. I have been to much expense 
ditching and clearing, but all in vain. As yet our near¬ 
by lawyers shake their heads. M. o. 
New York. 
Of course the best way to arrange these matters is 
to get a permit from your neighbor to cross his field 
with the drain, but if this cannot be obtained tliei’e 
is a way it may be done. The State Constitution 
provides that general laws may be passed permitting 
the owners or occupants of agricultural lands to con- 
struct; and maintain for the drainage thereof neces¬ 
sary ditches, drains, and dikes upon the lands of 
others, under proper restrictions and with just com¬ 
pensation. Laws have been passed allowing any i>ei'- 
son owning or possessing any swamp, bog, meadow 
or other low or wet lands within the State who 
wishes to drain the same in the interest of public 
health or for their improvement for agricultural pur¬ 
poses and who shall deem it necessary in order that 
a ditch or ditches, or other channels for the free 
passage of water should be opened through lands 
belonging to another person, may present a duly ver¬ 
ified petition to the county court setting forth the 
STRIPED CUCUMBER BEETLE AT WORK ON 
YOUNG SQUASH. Fig. 1G7. (See page 444.) 
facts and the names of the owners of all lands to be 
affected by the proceedings, and praying for the ap¬ 
pointment of three commissioners for the purpose. 
The court, if satisfied that such drainage is neces¬ 
sary, shall appoint a commission of three persons, 
one of whom must be a civil engineer or drainage 
expert, if one can be found in the county, who after 
THH KURAb NEW-YORKER 
due notice to all parties shall hear and determine 
the matter; first, whether it is reasonably necessary 
or practicable in order to drain such land that a 
ditch or ditches, or other channels, for the free 
passage of water should be opened through the lands 
belonging to others; second, whether it is necessary 
either for the public health or for the improvement 
for agricultural purposes, or for both, that such 
lands should be drained; third, the probable cost of 
such drainage and the result that such drainage 
CABBAGE WORM ADULT AND CATERPILLAR 
ON CABBAGE LEAF. Fig. 168. (See page 444.) 
would produce. The law then provides that the com¬ 
mission shall give notice to the parties, view the 
lands and take whatever proceedings they deem 
necessary to come to a conclusion in the matter. 
They shall then file their determination in the office 
of the county clerk and give notice of the filing there¬ 
of to the parties interested. Then if the commis¬ 
sioners determine that the improvement of agricul¬ 
tural purposes demands that ditches, drains or chan¬ 
nels should be opened or that lands should be 
drained, it shall be their duty, unless the petitioner 
or the owner of the property can do it to their satis¬ 
faction, or can agree that a map and survey are 
not necessary to do the work, and to employ 
a competent civil engineer or surveyor to make an 
accurate survey of the premises and of the ditch, 
drain or channel found necessary. The commission 
F. P. VERGON, A VETERAN FRUIT GROWER. 
Fig. 169. 
may then take all the steps necessary for the con¬ 
struction and completion of the ditches or drains 
they may deem sufficient for the complete drainage 
of the low lands. If the commissioners cannot agree 
with the owner of the land across which the ditch 
or drain is to be placed in regard to the compensa¬ 
tion for the damage done him, they shall proceed 
to acquire title to whatever easement may be neces¬ 
sary upon and across the land of such person in the 
manner, so far as applicable, prescribed by the con¬ 
demnation law. But the proceedings above outlined 
shall not be taken while a valid contract is in force 
between the owners of adjoining properties in regard 
to draining their wet lands. The commissioners are 
paid $5 each per day for every full day employed, 
and their expenses, and after they have finished 
their work they assess damages against the land 
owners benefited, or against the village or town, if 
it has been benefited, and apportion the assessment 
among those benefited. 
Of course, from these proceedings an appeal may be 
taken. These are quite lengthy and somewhat costly 
proceedings, but it was only by amending the Con¬ 
stitution that one person was given the right to con¬ 
demn the land of another, or to obtain without the 
consent of the other, the right to cross or to use the 
436 
latter’s lands. If you cannot get the consent of your 
neighbor, you must take this proceeding. If you 
can get a permit from your neighbor, it is easily 
drawn and should be acknowledged by him and filed 
the same as a deed in the county clerk’s office. 
M. D. 
GREAT NEW YORK APPLE RESULTS. 
Do we realize the value of our Eastern orchards? 
It is brought home to us by incidents of which the 
following is only one of many: Last week a car of 
apples was sold in New York City, and not five or 
ten barrels, but all the Greenings in the car brought 
$< per barrel. This sale was the result of sevei'al 
years’ hard work, careful study and invested capital. 
It meant that the greatest care had been taken with 
this particular crop from the pruning last Winter, 
the several sprayings during Spring and Summer, 
the constant cultivation, to careful handling, during 
the picking and packing season. 
No small credit is due the workers on the farm. 
Their thoroughness in the orchard work, painstak¬ 
ing care not to bruise the fruit in picking, and ac¬ 
curacy and good judgment in sorting and packing 
showed a personal interest in the work. 
It meant the cooperation of the chemical storage 
company, for eternal vigilance on the part of the 
storage is the price of safety, and the fruit received 
good care. It meant that the commission man, much 
abused and often unjustly so, had done his part at 
the other end, making the growers’ intei’ests his own 
and taking pride in having fruit to sell which called 
for no apology. It meant that with his aid a brand 
had been established on the market so that the buyer 
knew what he was getting without emptying every 
barrel, and a demand had been created for this par¬ 
ticular mark. 
And the resulting feeling of satisfaction comes 
from a knowledge that one’s produce is bringing 
what it is worth, and is possible to everyone, whose 
aim is not to do the consumer, but to bring his 
product up to the highest possible standard. It is 
again demonstrated by these prices that, compared 
with Oregon orchards at $12 and $15 an acre, there 
are orchards in the East worth at least $3,000 an 
acre. In fact, we know that some years they pay 
10 per cent on a valuation of $5,000. f. w. c. 
THE SOIL ALONG FENCE ROWS. 
I have owned four farms, and I have noticed that as 
a rule, a fine crop of locusts grows along fence lines 
and brooks when permitted. The land where fences 
have stood for many years is practically virgin soil 
from not having been cultivated. I have also noticed 
that trees always thrive along the borders of a brook, 
presumably because they never have to go thirsty. 
F. E. II. 
It is true that trees grow well along streams for 
the reason you give. On the uplands such locations 
are good for apple and sometimes for peach. On 
the lower lands the banks of streams are too wet 
for peach. Such varieties of apples as Northern 
Spy, Greening or Russet do fairly well on wet land, 
but it would be no place for a variety like Baldwin. 
The land along fence rows is usually rich. It has 
not been exhausted by cropping, and year after 
year large quantities of leaves as blown by the 
wind are caught and held by the fence rows. These 
decay there, as do the grass and weeds, briers or 
WORK OF WIREWORM IN POTATO. Fig. 170. 
(See page 444.) 
brush which grow and are cut down or left to 
decay. The fence row is also a place to throw 
stones. These accumulate, keep the soil moist, and 
attract thousands of insects or mice and other ver¬ 
min. These die and enrich the soil still further, 
so that these fence rows become the richest strips 
on the farm, and fruit trees always do well there. 
