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A short Historical Sketch of Agricultural Improvements 

 in the County of Roxburgh, / Scotland, J with some 

 Account of the means whereby it was accomplished^ 

 by Mr. John Lang. 



Read, March 9, 1813. 



From forty to fifty years ago, the old system of out- 

 field and in-field was universal, with very few excep- 

 tions. There were generally no fences of any kind, 

 except a few fields, or parks as they were called, near 

 a gentleman's seat. On common farms, the only fence 

 was a stone wall or dyke, built without mortar, round 

 the barn yard ; and in some instances, two or three 

 acres were inclosed in the same manner, near the farm 

 house, called a croft. These crofts were most common 

 in small villages, where the land had been let on ground 

 rent, in lots of a few acres, for building. 



There were few or no artificial grasses ; their hay 

 was all from natural meadows or swamps. The pas- 

 ture-ground and fields of grain lay promiscuously in- 

 terspersed over the farm, without any security from 

 the depredations of the farmer's own cattle, or those 

 of his neighbours, except from the vigilance of the 

 shepherds and their dogs. Thus, though the whole 

 country would have appeared to an American in a state 

 of commons, every man's property was held sacred, 

 and damages were recoverable at law, for trespasses 

 committed upon a neighbour's grain or pasture, &c. 

 That part of the farm which lay most contiguous to 

 the farm house, was termed in-field ; upon which por- 

 tion was put all the manure made upon the farm. This 



