40 HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



in Conn'ecticut, which are eight feet wide at the top, the sides being 

 of immense blocks of granite laid to a face, and the center filled 

 with smaller stones. 



Under the best management such a fence, with its headlands, 

 will occupy land a rod wide, — or an acre for every half mile. Of 

 course, the reason for building fences such as this is that there are 

 stones to be cleared from the land ; but it would be much cheaper 

 to bury the larger stones where they lie, by digging pits under 

 them and dropping them out of reach of the plow, while the 

 smaller ones could be disposed of much more cheaply, and in a 

 way to do good instead of harm, by digging large trenches and 

 making stone drains. It costs less to dig a ditch four feet deep 

 and two feet wide, on an average, and put the stone in them than 

 to lay up a good wall of the same dimensions. In the one case 

 we make quite a serviceable drain, and in the other we encumber 

 the land and obstruct cultivation. 



Of course, in our ordinary method of managing a farm, we must 

 have fences around all fields which are to be used entirely or partly 

 for pasture. We must have lawful fences around the whole farm, 

 and must inclose the roads by which cattle are to be driven to 

 pasture. Still, the smallest possible amount of fencing that will 

 accomplish this, we should always seek to have. 



Pasture fields should be as large as is consistent with the neces- 

 sity for giving them occasional rests. The whole pasture land of 

 a farm should be divided into not more than three fields, and 

 two would be better ; although, if they are never to be plowed, 

 division fences, which may be standing, will do less harm than on 

 cultivated land. 



So far as the arable land of the farm is concerned, I think that 

 the greatest economy of cultivation, and the best results in crops 

 would be secured if it were not divided by fences at all. The 

 only reason why it should be, is, to enable us to pasture mowing 

 lands in the fall, or to use them for pasture after they have ceased 

 to produce paying crops of grass, — neither of which practices are 

 consistent with the best cultivation. A good hay field should 

 never have a hoof upon it, except during the operations of top- 



