SIZE AND SHAPE OF FIELDS* 33 



four fields with white crops, after turnip and grass.* Others 

 recommend giving the sheep as much fresh turnips each 

 day as they can eat, as the turnips, when not consumed on 

 the day given, are often damaged by the wet and frost, or 

 destroyed by the sheep going over them. Mr Walker of 

 Mellendean concurs in opinion, that on turnip soils, where 

 it is necessary to consume the turnips upon the ground, 

 the fields should never much exceed thirty acres, if the 

 situation will admit them to be made of that size. When 

 they are larger, it becomes difficult to give the sheep the 

 quantity necessary at a time, without confining them all 

 round with nets or hurdles, which is always attended with 

 much loss. When one division is done, and a new one 

 taken in, the sheep should always have liberty to fall back, 

 and rest upon the cleared ground, which they naturally do, 

 by which means the turnips are kept much cleaner, and a 

 great deal of meat saved ; and he has always found, that a 

 field of the above dimensions, will contain as much stock, 

 of any kind, as can be fed together with advantage. 



3. The Rotation adopted. It is considered to be a pro- 

 per rule, that whatever is thought to be the rotation the 

 most suitable to the soil, the fields should be, in some mea- 

 sure, apportioned accordingly ; that is to say, a farm with 

 a rotation of eight courses, should in general be divided 

 into eight fields ; six courses into six fields ; five courses 

 into five fields, and four courses into four fields or inclo- 

 sures.f That rule is laid down by Mr Murray, (Kirkland- 



* It is stated, as an objection to this plan, that the grass land could 

 not be ploughed and sown, till the turnips were consumed, which would 

 render it impossible to have autumn wheat upon the clover ley, and even 

 the oats in March, could not be sown in time for the last of the turnip. 



t The size, it is said, should be equal to the fallow-break, or the por- 

 tion of the farm under fallow. The fields under fallow should be of the 



VOL. I. C 



