142 QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



SO that the person who works with the switching-bill has to stand 

 in the ditch ; and when the ditch is two and a-half feet deep, and 

 the hedge four feet high, the work is both unpleasant and slowly 

 performed ; for the highest part of the fence is the place where 

 the shoots are strongest, and, of course, most difficult to cut. It 

 will be seen that more than one advantage will be gained by ban- 

 ishing open ditches from fields where it can conveniently be done, 

 and, in many cases, it can be done with little expense and trouble. 

 They can be made into drains, and filled with such materials as 

 are commonly used in draining land, and the filling wuth soil is 

 done very simply — by means of the plough taking earth from the 

 headlands or sides of the field, so that, in a short time, the farmer 

 may have the cultivated part of his farm considerably enlarged at 

 very little expense ; for I have been informed, by those who have 

 tried the experiment, that they were more than paid for their trouble 

 by the first year's crop. More land could be broken up by the 

 plough than is commonly done. It is the practice of some far- 

 mers, after ploughing as much as can be properly done by two 

 horses, afterwards to use one, and by altering the line of draught, 

 are enabled to come a little nearer to the fence. Still there is some 

 land left — could it not be brought into cultivation in the same 

 manner that the acute angles of fields are managed, namely, by 

 digging 1 A laborer or two would not be very long in digging 

 what may be left by the plough ; they could do it on day's w^ages 

 or piece-work, as may be found answerable. It is done by nurse- 

 rymen and market-gardeners, who have generally higher rents to 

 pay for their land than farmers, and if they find a remuneration 

 for their outlay, would it not be profitable also for the agricultu- 

 rist 1 It would increase the produce of the farm in that which 

 would be useful, and also cut off the source from which many of 

 the foes of the cultivated crops are propagated ; and the nearer 

 the farm can be brought to that of a well cultivated garden, the 

 better will it be for the producers of food as well as for the con- 

 sumers ; and surely it would add to the prosperity of the country, 

 when, instead of the thistle shall come up the wheat, and instead 

 of the cockle, shall come up the barley. If such simple means 

 were adopted for increasing the produce of the farm, it would 

 enable many tenants to look forward with a lighter heart towards 

 the rent-day, and also to banish from their grounds many of the 

 enemies that assail the labors of their hands. 



