284 



FARMERS' REGISTER— LAW OF ENCLOSURES. 



deemed of little or no immediate value to the pro- 

 prietor: fencing materials arc becoming' compara- 

 tively very scarce, and thereby the actual expense 

 of labor in collecting and applying them has been 

 enormously enhanced, while the products of our 

 impoverished fields can verj- illy sustain this most 

 unnecessary deduction from their net proceeds: 

 add to this, the opinion is daily gaining ground, 

 that even uncultivated lands will much improve by 

 excluding every kind of stock from them. All these 

 circumstances combined, render legislative interfer- 

 ence imperatively necessary-; for the evils enumera- 

 ted admit of no other remedy. They have prevail- 

 ed so lone indeed, as to give rise to notions in some 

 parts of our countr}^, n^lalive to landed rights, 

 which, if general in regard to other rights, would 

 reduce us nearly to a state of nature. These no- 

 tions make all land, not actually cultivated in some 

 crop, a species of common property^ free for all 

 who choose to turn their stock on; and this too,^ 

 whether they be imder enclostire or not. Now, if 

 our lands be really our property, it follows as a 

 HDecessarj^ consequence, that each land oAvner has 

 an indisputable right to the exclusive possession 

 as well as use of it, and a just claim to protection 

 therein by the laws of his coantry.. This ia a 

 universally admitted fact as to every other species 

 of property — why not then, in regard to land also? 

 When we rest our horses to avoid wearing them 

 ©«f; when we lay aside our clothe? for the same 

 purpose, he who takes and useseitherwithout our 

 knowledge or consent, may not only be prosecuted 

 and punished by law for such act^ but incurs the 

 risk of being utterly disgracetl by it. Yet, when 

 we rest our lands to avoid wearing ihcm oui, and 

 in hopes of improving them thereby, which we 

 have an equally clear rigid to do, free from all in- 

 teiTuption by others, we are compelled by the ex- 

 isting law of our State to keep an enclosure round 

 ihera of a certain height, or any other person's 

 stock may depredate upon them the whole year 

 round, even if m cultivation, without our being 

 able to obtain the slightest compensation whatever 

 for such depredation: nay, if any injury be done 

 to the trespassing animals, their owner may reco- 

 ver damages from tlie cultivator of the land, al- 

 though the land itsellj and every thing growing on 

 it, in the language of the law, is styled, as if in 

 mockery, "■his property!''' 



ThesCy may it please your honorable body, are 

 crying evils, — of legislative creation too! and for 

 whose benefit, we would respectfully in(]uire] For 

 none whatever, but that very small portion of our 

 community who may attempt to raise stock with- 

 out sufficient means af their own to support them. 

 Thiar attempt the present law sanctions as fully as 

 if it conferred the privilege in direct and express 

 terms: sanctions too, without the least cost what- 

 ever to the stock-owners, while it compels all the 

 planters and farmers throughout the State, annu- 

 ally to increase their labor — at the s-mallest com- 

 putation, one-twelflh, if they would guard them- 

 selves against injuries which this law of the land 

 empowers others to inflict jjn them with entire im- 

 punity. We venture to affirm that the code of no 

 civilized nation on earth can show an instance of 

 BO very small and doubtful a benefit accorded by 

 legislative enactment to the few, at so great a)id 

 certain expense to the many. Indeed, wc think it 

 susceptible of the most satisfactoiy proofj that 

 much more stock, and of far better (juality would 



be raised than at present, if the law were changed, 

 as we pray that it may be. Such woidd he the 

 sfiu'c result of applying i/uit labor which each cul- 

 tivator would pave from fencing out other peoj)le's 

 stock, to making more food for his own, and taldng 

 better care of th-em. He would have at least one- 

 twelfth more time to devote to the profitable em- 

 ployment of improving and cultivating his land, 

 instead of spending that twelfth, as he now does, 

 in the unprofitable occu|)ation of extra fencing. 

 Though last, not least, the peace, comfort, and 

 harmony of e\erf Jieighborhcod would be incal- 

 culably increased by removing forever,, this most 

 copious, most pernicious source of contention and 

 animosity. Make it, therefore, we intreat your 

 honorable Body, no longer to depend upon the 

 height of each man's fence whether his neighbors'' 

 stock !?hall he raised upon hia- lands or not; but let 

 it rest, as it always should do, ypon his own free 

 choice, how far he himself will extend the privi- 

 lege to others- It would often be granted, and 

 would thus prove a bond of uni^on, instead of being 

 what it now is, a brand of continual discord. 

 All which is respectfully submitted. 



OIV TUli PEEVAII^ING HABITS AND OPIJVIOIVS; 

 WHICH OBSTRUCT AfJRICUI^TURAL IJXL- 

 I'ROVEMEIVT. 



To ttie Editor of She Farmers' RegJEter. 



"Am I therefore ticcoTnc your enemy because I tell you tlie 

 trutli?" 



Among the various interesting and valuable 

 productions which have appeared in your widely 

 circulating work, I have not seen a solitary one 

 that treats of the fundamental causes which have 

 affected the fertilhy of our land; and the very 

 many avocations which have been, directly or in- 

 directlyj instruraentaJ in preventing,, more or less,. 

 the regular and systcnoatic course necessary to the 

 improvement of our farms. 



VVhere once stood the majestic oak, the tall 

 hickory-, the lofty poplar, and the expanded dog- 

 wood, with its beautiful foliage in .the opening 

 spring,, can no^v be only seen, in many sections of 

 our State, a wide and extensive view of barren 

 farms with scarcely timber enough to enclose them 

 with fences sufficiently good to keep out the wan- 

 dering and half-fed stock, which ever are pests to 

 badly regulated fiirms. 



Why this silence on this all important subject? 

 Has fiilse pride prevented the investigation of the 

 causes? Or is it the fear of displeasing some few 

 individuals of different professions that such valu- 

 able information is withheld? 



Impressed with the fullest belief in the Justness- 

 of my cause, and under the most anxious solici- 

 tude for the restoration of the fertility of our once 

 beautiful and luxuriant fields, I propose to point 

 out some of the most prominent causes of the 

 poverty of our land; also some of the very many 

 impediments to its improvement, and what, in my 

 opinion, is indispensably necessary for us to pursue 

 to improve our land, to increase our products, and 

 to place us in such situation as to lend instead of 

 borrowing money. In the discharge of this duty, 

 / declare positively, that I disclaim all personalities;^ 

 I am laboring lor the improvement of the soil of 

 my native State; for the prosperity of agriculture; 

 for a change in our habits of life; for the adoption 

 of a diHerent manner in many cases of raising our 



