30 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



angles. But when a farm is cut up with highways, railroads, 

 and deep gullies, which do not run parallel with the outside 

 boundaries, the young farmer must exercise a little judgment and 

 skill in giving them a shape that will be most convenient of 

 access from the barn. If the buildings are so located that the 

 fields must necessarily be all on one side of a lane, leading to the 

 barn, it would be more convenient to have the fields eighty or 

 one hundred rods long, and of a narrow width, and let them 

 extend from the farther boundary of the farm to the lane, than to 

 have the fields square and be obliged to cross one or two fields 

 in order to reach a distant field. Sometimes it seems desirable 

 to make the fields of an irregular shape, in order to allow animals 

 in each field to have access to water. But it is not always ad 

 visable to give a field an irregular shape for the sake of a stream 

 of water, when it can be brought to that field for a small expense. 

 It is always desirable to have the fields of a uniform size, especially 

 when one adopts, in raising crops, a rotation system. 



6. The first settlers of our country were accustomed to locate 

 their buildings almost anywhere ; and to clear and cultivate the 

 best and dryest land first ; and to fence around those parts of the 

 farm which were too wet to plow, and to keep them for pasture 

 only. The result was, that the fields of many farms were as 

 irregular in shape as a shapeless rock. When the location is 

 such that such places can be drained, the fences should be made 

 in the desired places, and all wet places and corners made dry by 

 ditching. Having decided upon the form and size of each field, 

 let marks be delineated in the plan to represent the fences. Let 

 each field be designated in the plan by some name, or title, or by 

 some tree, or rock, or pool, or they may be designated as the 

 fields A,- B, C, &c. This plan, or map, should be placed where 

 every one connected with the farm could see it often, and under 

 stand the location of every field, and woods, and yard, and build 

 ing, from the map. Now, if there are little streams running 

 across the farm, let them be represented by dotted lines, running 

 at about the same angle in the map that they do on the farm. 

 When under-drains are made in any field, dotted lines should be 



