( 6o ) 



to the improvement of the different breeds. While 

 the numerous inconveniencies attending the occupa- 

 tion of land, ib difperfed and intermixed, as open 

 field lands always are, will remain for ever a bar 

 to the introdudlion of any improved fyftem of huf- 

 bandry ; the greateft, indeed the only objedion 

 againft inclofing is, the depopulation of the panlli, 

 which, it is fiid, generally takes place in confequenge 

 thereof: AVhile it maybe admitted, that the in- 

 habitants of a parifii mua undergo a very material 

 alteration in their fituations, in confequcnce of its 

 being incloied ; yet it does not follow of courfe, 

 that depopulation muft be the confequence; as, 

 though feveral of thofe who occupy fmall farms, 

 muft necemirily be removed, in order to enable the 

 proprietors to clafs the lands into tarms of a pro- 

 per fize -, vet it is equally clear, that a new let of 

 people muft be introduced, fuch as hedgers, ditch- 

 ers, road-makers, and labourers of every defcription ; 

 and therefore, this may rather be called a fliifting 

 of population from one village to another, than an 

 expulfion from one particular parilh : And were it 

 clear, that depopulation was the conlequence of in- 

 clofing a parifti, that depopulation does not arife 

 from the inclofing, but from the total alteration of fy- 

 ftem which commonly takes place in the management 

 of the lands. For if, in place of laying down the 

 lands in grafs, which but too generally happens on 

 thefe occafions, they were cultivated in an al- 

 ternate courfe of corn and grafs huftjandry, the 

 number of hands necefl-ary for the cultivation, and 

 carrying on the various improvements, which would 

 in fuch a cafe be immediately introduced, would 

 be at leaft equal to the number of inhabitants in 

 the open field ftate. 



The average rent of an acre of open field land in 

 this diftria, including the value of the tithes, which 

 mav be reckoned at 3 s. 6 d. per acre, may amount 



