Book III. 



IMPROVING FARM LANDS. 



683 



for shelter, and no inferior divisions are made. In two of the plantations are field-barns, 

 sheds, &c. where the corn grown on one-half of the arable lands is threshed by a moveable 

 threshing-machine, and the straw consumed by cattle. There are cottages at each of 

 these barns for laborers to attend to the stock, &c. The ridges in each of the breaks or 

 shifts are supposed to extend their whole length ; or they may be ploughed as if the whole 

 break were only one ridge, by which means not a moment is lost in turning at the ends, 

 &c. Hereford or Devon oxen are supposed the beasts of labor on this farm. 



4215. In place of the above rotation, wheat may be added after the second year of arti- 

 ficial grasses, and one shift kept entirely under saintfoin. This saintfoin division must of 

 course be changed every sixth or seventh year. However, if a proper mixture of 

 artificial grasses are sown, such as red, white, and yellow clover, rib-grass, burnet, saint- 

 foin, timothy, cocksfoot, rye-grass, and soft grass, the produce will be superior to that 

 from either saintfoin or lucern alone, on a soil such as this, or even perhaps on any soil. 

 Every agriculturist of observation must be aware that the efforts of annual and biennial 

 plants are powerful for a few years at first, and that they uniformly produce a greater bulk 

 than perennials : the latter seem to compensate for this temporary bulk by a steady durable 

 produce. 



4216. The old pasture near the house is supposed to be irrigated from the upper part of 

 the lake, by a cut passing near the house. These pastures are particularly advantageous 

 for early lambs, milch cows, &c. and for stock in general in seasons of great drought. 



4217. Correcting the outlines of fields is one of the most obvious sources of ameliora- 

 tion on many, perhaps on most estates. The advantages of proper sized and shaped 

 enclosures have been fully pointed out, when treating of laying out farm lands, and in 

 altering existing fences the same principles must be steadily kept in view ; for though, 

 unless by a total eradication of all the existing fences, every requisite may not be 

 attainable, yet such a number may be gained as amply to compensate for the expense. In 

 altering the shape and size of fields, besides the advantages resulting from the improve- 

 ment in form, it will generally be found that a number of culturable acres may be added 

 to the fann in proportion to the crookedness of the fences and their width. Better 

 drainage and roads will also be obtained, and where ornament is an object, a park-like 

 appearance may be produced by leaving as single trees a part of what may have stood in 

 the eradicated hedge-rows. 



4218. As an example of improving the shape and size of fields, we shall refer to a farm of 

 350 acres, situated in Middlesex, {fig. 545. ) In this case, the fields were larger than 



M C/utins 



usual, but the fences were in many parts from ten to fifteen yards in width, more 

 resembling strips of copse wood than fences, as they contained hazel , dogwood, black 

 and white thorns, wild roses, brambles, and a variety of native shrubs. The lines of 

 these fences were so ill calculated for carrying off the surface water, that in one half of 

 the fields there were open gutters for the discharge of the water collected in the hedge- row 

 ditches. 



4219. In the centre of one field (25), for example, above an acre was rendered waste 

 by the water from other fields (19, 20, and 21), which water, it is curious to remark, 

 might, if led over the same acre agreeably to the principles of irrigation, have produced 



