40 SIZE AND SHAPE OF FIELDS. 



ces of the case will admit of, to the principles above laid 

 down, shall now be stated. 



1. Every farmer who has attended to the subject, will ad- 

 mit, that it is a material drawback to cultivation, if the 

 fields, instead of being regular in size or form, are laid out 

 arbitrarily, without attention to any judicious system; and 

 where the whole farm is divided into fields of various sizes, 

 from 5 to 10, and thence to 20 or 30 acres each, it is ex- 

 tremely difficult to equalize them, so as to suit any judici- 

 ous rotation of crops; whereas, by having fields of a proper 

 size, the whole strength of a farm, and the whole attention 

 of the farmer, is directed to one point, which gives an emu- 

 lation to the ploughmen, when they are assembled toge- 

 ther.* 



2. It is evident, that small fields are liable to many ob- 

 jections. Besides the original expence of the inclosures, 

 and the injury to grain crops produced by want of circula- 

 tion of air, and the shelter given to numerous small birds, 

 the very site of numerous hedges, with their attendant 

 ditches, and the uncultivated slips of land on both sides of 

 them, rob the farm of a much greater quantity of arable 

 land, in proportion, than when divided into large fields. 

 The crops in fields thus sheltered, must also be moi'e liable 

 to disease, as the rust and the mildew, the exclusion of air 

 encouraging the growth of fungi, or the mushroom tribe. 

 Hedges and ditches likewise, more especially if accompa- 

 nied with hedge-rows, exhaust the ground near them of its 

 fertility, whence the grain is of inferior quality ; they nou- 



* Rectangular fields of considerable size are advantageous, as it may 

 be thereby known whether the ploughmen have done their duty ; that is, 

 if there is one man in the whole who can be depended on. Indeed, in 

 fields of this shape, the work done, is known by the length of the ridges, 

 and number of furrows, of a certain breadth ploughed. 



