Book II. 



LAYING OUT THE FARM LANDS. 



689 



4203. The drainage and wafer-courses, if any, on farm lands, require to be attended to 

 in laying out the fences, so as if possible to make the ditches of the latter serve as open 

 drains ; also, when opportunity offers, for conveying streams to be used in irrigation, or 

 for driving machinery. The fences and roads will, to a certain extent, be guided by the 

 course of such stream or streams. 



4204. As an example of laying out farm lands from a newly enclosed common, we 

 submit the case of a flat surface, a strong retentive clay soil, a moist climate, a situation 

 distant from markets, with no other obje-ct in view than that of making as much of the 

 lands as possible. 



4205. A public road {fig. 623. a) passes the farm, and the farmery is approached by a private road (6). 



coa The size of the farm deemed 



"" proper is 350 acres; the most 



profitable mode of occupation 

 is, 180 in arable, and the re- 

 mainder in pasture. The arable 

 subjected to a rotation of 1st, 

 beans drilled, or naked fallow 

 dunged ; 2d, wheat ; 3d, clover 

 and rye-grass, fed off or mown 

 for soiling cattle ; 4th, wheat 

 or oats, if the clover was mown, 

 dunged. The grass-lands are 

 supposed to be wholly fed off, 

 chiefly with cattle, but also 

 with ten cows, for butter and 

 breeding, and a few sheep. 



4206. The buildings (e) are 

 placed in the centre of the farm, 

 and contain stabling for four 

 work-horses, and open sheds for 

 eight oxen ; 130 feet of sheds 

 for thirty fatting cattle ; a barn, 

 with threshing-machine im- 

 pelled by wind; houses for ten 

 cows, and other conveniences 

 in proportion. There is a 

 kitchen-garden, orchard, rick- 

 yard, and two paddocks (d,f), 

 adjoining the farmery. 



4207. The grass-fields (g), con- 

 tain only ten acres each, to 

 admit of the great advantage of 

 shifting the stock from one to 

 another. They are most distant 

 from the farmery, because re- 

 quiring least cartage ; and, some 

 of them being in the lowest part 

 of the farm, they may be irri- 

 gated. Trees are avoided in 

 the fences, as injurious in flat 

 surfaces and adhesive soils. For 

 the purposes of shading cattle, 

 one or two might be planted in 

 the angles of the field; but a 

 temporary shed of the rudest 

 and slightest materials, and 

 easiest taken down, removed, 



and reconstructed, is preferable, as calculated to distribute the manure produced by the cattle when at 



4208. The arable lands (h) are preserved in the centre, to save carting to and from the farmery ; and 

 the enclosures are four times the sizeof the grass-fields, each shift forming one large enclosure, containing 

 four fields, divided only by open ditches for carrying off the surface water. The two small central fields 

 shown under aration, are supposed alternately in turnips, potatoes, cabbages, &c. for cows, &c. and wlieat. 

 The paddocks and closes are for calves or colts. 



4209. The chief, and almost sole, products of this farm will be wheat and beef: the 

 former best worth sending to a distant market ; the latter easily transported to any dis- 

 tance ; and both staple commodities. 



4210. With respect to roads, sometimes a farm is situated on both sides of a highway ; 

 in which case all the fields may be made to open into it, either directly or through an inter- 

 vening field. Hence no private road is wanting, excepting a few yards to reach the farmery. 

 But when, as is most generally the case, the lands are situated at a distance from a great 

 road, and approached by a lane or by-road, then from that by-road a private road is re- 

 quired to the farmery, and a lane or lanes from it so contrived as to touch at most of the 

 fields of the farm. In wet and clayey soils, these lanes must be formed of durable mate- 

 rials ; but in dry soils, provided attention be paid to fill in the cart ruts as they are formed 

 (by the leading out of dung, or home of corn), with small stones, gravel or even earth, the 

 lane may remain green ; and, being depastured by sheep or cattle, will not be altogether 

 lost. It is essentially necessary to make a piece of road at the gate of every enclosure, 

 that being the spot which is most frequently in use. Without this precaution, it often 

 becomes a mire where corn is thrown down and spoiled in harvest, or, if it is attempted 

 to avoid the mire, the gate-posts and neighbouring fence are often damaged. {Commw 

 nications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 251.) 



Y y 



