1915. 
THE rcURA.lv NEW-YORKER 
ROAD AND FARM LAW QUESTIONS. 
Closing a Road. 
A MAN bought a farm in Pennsylvania. 
A road passed the house for the 
last 25 or 35 years, and was worked 
by the public for said number of years. 
The place was sold about five years ago, 
and since it changed hands the super¬ 
visor refused to work or make said road, 
and states that if the man is not quiet he 
will close the road. Must the township 
make said road? Can that road be closed 
after it had been used by the public for 
over 20 years? A. F. F. 
Pennsylvania. 
The road authorities in all the States 
have in a general way the authority, 
under proper supervision, of discontinu¬ 
ing roads which have become useless. In 
your State the courts have authority on 
application by petition to inquire of and 
to change or vacate the whole or any 
part of any private or public road which 
may have been laid out by authority of 
law whenever the same shall become use¬ 
less, inconvenient or burdensome. The 
proceeding is by views and reviews in 
about the same manner as new roads are 
opened. As long as this road is not 
vacated it is the duty of the supervisor 
to keep it in repair—and it is not for 
him to tell you to keep quiet. Make 
him do his duty, and if he applies to 
vacate the road do your best on the hear¬ 
ing and before the viewers to show that 
the road is not useless, inconvenient or 
burdensome. Then it might be well to 
work for a new supervisor when the op¬ 
portunity offers. Anyhow don’t let 
him scare you. lie cannot leave you 
high and dry without a way out. You 
can have a private road. 
Blocking Private Road. 
I HAVE a farm along a public road, 
and the gate to my pasture is close 
to Mr. C.’s barns. He puts his 
wagons and buggies in front of it, so 
that I have to move them to open this 
gate. I have asked him not to put them 
there but he still does it. Can anything 
be done to put a stop to it, as it is the 
only way I have to let my cattle in and 
out of my pasture? It is very trouble¬ 
some to me to be moving them all the 
time, but as soon as I get out of sight 
he puts them back again. Please tell me 
what can be done. F. G. 
New Jersey. 
Your neighbor certainly has no right 
to block the entrance to your pasture. 
The only question is how you can get 
remedy without too much trouble. He 
cannot use highway space for wagon 
storage and possibly a little pressure 
from the highway authority might be of 
benefit. You may undoubtedly enjoin 
him by court proceedings from continu¬ 
ing this unlawful blockade, but these 
remedies are for the rich. Possibly a 
little kindness applied at the right time 
would woi’k greater wonders than an in¬ 
junction. *• 
Line Fences for Sheep. 
1 EXPECT to get some sheep, and some 
of my neighbors have division fences. 
Am I compelled to make fence in 
this State, that is, fence that is not my 
part to build? J. h. s. 
Pennsylvania. 
Any trouble or dispute in regard to the 
division fences and question of whose 
duty it is to maintain them, and whether 
they are proper fences, must of coursre 
be taken up with the town auditors 
or fence viewers. Most of the legal line 
fences, however, will not turn sheep, and 
if you are contemplating keeping them 
it will be your duty to keep them on your 
own land or pay the damages if they get 
out. This may make it necessary, for 
you to fix the fence even where it is 
your neighbor’s duty to maintain a legal 
division fence. If they also wished to 
keep sheep, it would seem to be their 
duty to share in the cost of making a 
sheep-tight division fence. 
Road-Making Material; Fence-Off Line. 
T HERE is a public road running by 
my place. Some of the road is all 
on my land and some is between a 
neighbor and myself. The supervisor has 
been taking out and blasting stone and 
hauling dirt off the banks of my part of 
the road, and using it for filling in at 
a road that leads to a new bridge, and 
the stone he used for building walls for 
the bridge, which is on another road. 
I would like to know if he has the right 
to do this on his own responsibility with¬ 
out getting my consent. I would like 
to know what the law says in this case, 
and if I can claim anything for what 
he has taken. 2. I bought a place a few 
year ago, and find that for some reason 
some of the fences are not on the line 
where the markers are set, and which my 
deed calls for. I suppose it has been 
this way for a good while. Is there a 
limit of years that would cut out my 
right to this ground that is not fenced? 
My deed describes the line and the mark- 
el's are nearly all there. A. M. w. 
Pennsylvania. 
1. The road laws of nearly all the 
States give the .highway authorities 
power to enter the lands of owners ad¬ 
joining the highway and take gravel and 
other aecessary material and your State 
is no exception. But the material taken 
and the damage done must always be 
paid for, by agreement, if possible; if 
not then by application to justice of the 
peace, who shall appoint one disinter¬ 
ested appraiser and each of the parties 
one, who shall decide on the amount of 
damage. 
2. The limit is 20 years of adverse 
possession of your neighbor. If both 
parties have recognized the line as being 
where it now is for a long number of 
years they have probably made this the 
boundary by consent. If you wish it 
changed take it up in a friendly way with 
your neighbor and see what can be done 
as it is undoubtedly true that you can 
do nothing by trying to force him to 
change the line. 
Line Fence Trouble. 
A MAN is sued before a justice, de¬ 
manding $25 for cutting a few 
brush out of his way to build a 
division fence. The owner of the adjoin¬ 
ing land claims he cut beyond the line 
and the defendant claims the fence is 
still on his land. I advised the defendant 
to call in one of the fence viewers 
and give plaintiff eight days to call the 
other; that they should settle disputed 
damages and locate the line; that a 
justice of the peace has no jurisdiction 
in the matter. Provided the fence is on 
the line, which defendant denies, how far 
beyond the line may he cut brush to build 
his fence? The brush is thrown over on 
defendant’s land. May not_ the fence 
viewers order a survey? What should 
the defendant state and claim in his de¬ 
fence? Can the plaintiff set up any claim 
for damages without a survey on the 
ground that the fence has been built 20 
years and cannot therefore be moved? 
To what extent may one person trespass 
on another or make use of his land for 
the purpose of a survey or building a 
fence? If a fence has been built 20 years 
and kept up in a ramshackle way, does 
that prevent a survey and relocation of 
the fence? D. P. B. 
New York. 
In the first place, fence viewers have 
no authority to decide where a line fence 
shall be. Their province is to decide 
as to the equitable proportion which 
each party is to maintain. Nor has the 
justice of the peace and the justice’s 
court jurisdiction to decide questions 
where the title to real property comes 
into question, as it would with respect 
to the proper location of a line fence. 
The justice would, however, have juris¬ 
diction on the question of damages re¬ 
sulting from the illegal cutting of brush 
of another, or whether the brush were 
illegally thrown upon his land. 
Where a line fence has been recognized 
by all parties for a space of 20 years to 
have been in the proper place, the pre¬ 
sumption is that it is the proper line. 
The line fence now between these parties 
is presumably in the proper place, and 
the thing for them to do under all the 
circumstances is to get together and de¬ 
cide upon their line and upon which part 
of the fence each shall maintain. If 
they cannot do this, they should start 
an action in the Supreme Court to have 
determined just what is the line, and 
have accurate surveys made. One per¬ 
son may trespass on the land of an ad¬ 
joining neighbor to the extent of making 
a proper survey or building a proper 
line fence, but no further. The pro¬ 
cedure here then would be first to de¬ 
termine by survey or otherwise where the 
line fence should be; second, to determine 
with the help of the fence viewers, if 
it cannot be done otherwise, the part of 
the fence which each party is to main¬ 
tain. It will save a great deal of ex¬ 
pense to both parties if they can do this 
amicably without outside assistance. 
Belle City 
G ET the whole wonderful story_ of the Belle City’s 
World’s Championship Hatches in my great Free Book, 
“Hatching Facts.’’ The winners of the 21 World’s 
Championship Hatches tell the story of their money-mak¬ 
ing, prize-winning success in their own words. Book 
gives you full information, facts, proofs and particulars 
about nigh percentage hatches everywhere with World’s 
Champion Belle City hatching outfits. 327,000 in use. 
Write f or“Hatching Facts** Today 
A Postal Brings It 
It tells everything. Illustrates the Belle City Incubator 
and Brooder in actual colors—shows what makes the Bello 
City the 21 Times World’s Champion—gives facts about 
hatching success, bigger and better than you have ever 
heard of before. Book gives 
My $800.00 Gold Offers 
Here’s the greatest chance Get this 
you ever had to make money — - 
with a batching outfit. Con¬ 
ditions so easy every man, 
woman, boy or girl may re¬ 
ceive biggest pay. Book 
f 'ves full particularsof my 
. 2, 3 months’ Home Test 
Offer, my 10 year money 
back guaranty and my low 
prices. Freight prepaid. 
Go after the gold. Don’t 
let anybody get ahead 
of you. I ship quick 
from Buffalo, Kansas 
City, Minneapolis or 
Racine. Write now. 
Jim Rohan, Pres. 
Belle City Incubator Ce-* Box 48 Racine, WW 
124 different men in 
124 different N. E. towns 
E ACH FARMING HIS 
OWN WAY, under his 
own weather conditions, 
using his own kind of seed, 
his own peculiar methods of 
cultivation and planting on his 
own soil, but 
ALL USING 
BOWKER’S FERTILIZER 
ALONE 
averaged 86 bushels shelled 
corn and 329 bushels potatoes 
per acre,—over three times the 
U. S. average yield. These 
were full acres; not small ex¬ 
perimental plats. 
The largest crop 
of potatoes was 545.4 bush, per acre. 
The largest crop 
of shelled corn was 160.4 bush, per acre. 
Sf 
For the land's sake"—use 
Bowker’s Fertilizer 
Get the Story of the crop Contests and ask for 
prices of mixed or unmixed fertilizer. State number 
of acres and what crops. 
FERTILIZER COMPANY 
DU TV rVHil\ 43 Chatham St, Boston. 
We have agents all through Eastern half U. S., but can use 
more. Ask for terms and carload inducement. 
Nothing doing, 
Mr. Fertilizer Agent 
I MIX MY OWN FERTILIZER 
with 
G E N U / N E 
Peruvian Guano 
SAVE $10.00 PER TON 
GET BIGGER CROPS 
NITRATE AGENCIES CO. 
106 Pearl Street, New York City 
Write to-day for FREE Formula 
Book and Sample of 
Genuine Peruvian Guan • 
CORNELL IS 
GASOLINE 
BROODER HEATER 
Equal to five Kerosene Heaters 
Improved 1915 
Cares for 250 Chicks 
Needs little attention 
No lamps to tritv 
No ashes, no dirt, no soot 
Absolutely safe 
Perfect ventilation 
TRICE COMPUTE 
* 10.92 
Recommended by the New York 
State College of Agriculture 
Send for Free Catalog 
TREMAN, KING & COMPANY 
DEPT. 311, 
ITHACA, N. Y. 
Manufacturers of Poultry House 
Appliances 
Will burn any kind of Gasoline 
Count your chicks 
after they 9 re hatched! 
A properly balanced feed like H-O Steam- 
Cooked Chick Feed help* to bring chicks past the 
danger period. It contains only the safest and 
cleanest of grains—including cut oatmeal, steam- 
cooked to make digestion very easy. 
It makes chicks develop rapidly, builds bone 
and flesh and at the same time provides sufficient 
warmth, fat and energy for their bodies. Write 
for free sample, prices and circular about 
H-O Steam-Cooked 
Chick Feed 
H-O Feeds include feeds to meet the require¬ 
ments of poultry in every stage of development:— 
Scratching Feed, Poultry Feed, Chick Feed, and 
Dry Poultry Mash. 
John J. Campbell 
fiensral Sales Agent 
HARTFORD, CONN. 
The H-O Company 
Mills: 
BUFFALO, N. Y. 
