34 Broughton Gifford. 



pieces of land, gained by old encroachments on the common. 3. 

 The improvement in the health of the adjoining population. In 

 winter Broughton common is hardly passable, even in summer the 

 wet rises under your feet. The subsoil is clay. Towards evening, 

 a fog settles over the whole. A low fever breaks out occasionally. 1 

 The drainage, for which there is every facility, would be an effec- 

 tual remedy. In all old documents this common is called Brough- 

 ton Marsh. 4. The expenses of the enclosure would be small. They 

 have been estimated by a most competent surveyor at £250, inclu- 

 ding new roads, footpaths, fences, and other works, together with 

 legal and valuing charges. These expenses would be met by the 

 sale of frontages and odd corners, which would fetch an "accommo- 

 dation" price. 5. The tenants were most favourable. Without 

 an exception, all the principal tenants signed an address to their 

 landlords in favour of the measure. One of the largest renters 

 said, that if he had twenty hands, he would hold them up for the 

 enclosure. 6. The landlords were favourable. The requisite form 

 of proposal to the Inclosure commissioners was signed by persons 

 representing interests far more in value than the act required. 

 Probably few measures, involving the rights and feelings of many, 

 were ever proposed with a greater amount of agreement. 



The following is the disposition of the arable land in the summer 

 of 1858. 



254 

 Of the pasture, about 700 are shut up for hay, leaving 507 for feed. 



1 A melancholy proof of the truth of these representations was given by the 

 mortality in the autumn of 1851, as I have already shown. 



