HEDGES AND ENCLOSURES. 19 



here a great waste of land and labor. One of the most compe 

 tent judges of agricultural improvement in England says, how 

 ever, that &quot;his tenants never wish to have more than one 

 ploughed field on a farm.&quot; 



The loss in land by too many fences, the loss of time in culti 

 vating in small fields instead of large, on account of the necessity 

 of more frequent turnings, and ploughing the head lands by 

 themselves, and the actual cost of making and of maintaining the 

 fences, not to add that these fences are a shelter for weeds, and 

 a harbor for vermin, are serious considerations. The statement 

 of an intelligent practical farmer in Staffordshire, on the highly- 

 improved estate of Lord Hatherton, whom I had the pleasure of 

 visiting with Mr. P. Pusey, M. P., as given to Mr. Pusey, is well 

 worth recording. Speaking of the farm called the Yew-Tree 

 Farm, he says, &quot; The turnip field is sixty-five acres : it was, two 

 years back, at the time I entered upon the farm, in eight enclo 

 sures. I have taken up 1914 yards of fence, and intend divid 

 ing it into three fields : it will take 800 yards of new fence. 

 The field in which I was subsoiling is forty-two acres : it was in 

 six enclosures. I took up 1264 yards of fence ; if I divide this 

 field, it will take 300 yards of new fence. The land Lord 

 Hatherton mentioned on my Deanery Farm was originally in 

 twenty-seven enclosures; ninety-one acres. I took up 4427 

 yards of fences ; it will now lie in five fields, and will take 1016 

 yards of new fence.&quot; 



&quot;I cannot,&quot; he adds, &quot;really say what land is gained by the 

 different operations; but some of the fences were from three to 

 four yards or more wide, that the plough never touched ; my 

 new fences are upon the level without ditches. In the whole 

 of the old fences there was a great number of ash-trees, which 

 are all stocked up, as well as a good part of the oak, only leaving 

 a few for ornament and shelter. I think the greatest gain in 

 land will be from getting rid of the trees.&quot; * 



This is the experience and opinion of a sound practical farmer, 

 and is entitled to great weight. In some of the counties large 

 enclosures prevail. In parts of Lincolnshire the enclosures 

 embrace about fifty acres each ; and on the best managed farms 

 which I saw, these fields were mostly laid either in parallelograms 

 or squares. In the fens or redeemed lands of Lincolnshire, the 



* Journal of Royal Agricultural Society, vol. iv. part 2, p. 306, note. 



