FENCING. 41 



they can be irrigated and the soil is moist, but of course 

 this is only the case in lands or gardens. 



Mutual Fencing, — By this ^Ye mean a boundary 

 fence erected between two neighbours, each sharing 

 the expense. All the Australasian colonies have found 

 it necessary to legislate on this matter, to save the 

 enterprising farmers from being deterred from fencing 

 in their land, by the very natural feeling of not caring 

 to bear the whole expense of erecting a fence which 

 will benefit the adjoining neighbour equally with them- 

 selves ; whilst anything that tends to deter a man 

 from fencing in his land is not only detrimental to the 

 individual but to the whole community. And as it is 

 of primary importance, both to the state and to every- 

 body in the country, that the land should be made 

 to produce as much as possible, and as it is an 

 undisputed fact that enclosed land will carry a much 

 heavier stock than unenclosed land where the stock 

 is herded, these countries have seen it is one of 

 those subjects in which private rights and inclinations 

 must be made to give way to the general weal. And 

 seeing that the country is saved from being deteriorated 

 when it is enclosed, whereas it rapidly deteriorates 

 when the stock is driven about in flocks, they have 

 all passed acts varying in detail, but all embracing 

 the main feature, that where a farmer fences a boun- 



