OF FENCES, AND GATES. 45 



the soil is light or strong, the strongest soils being put into 

 the smaller inclosures. 



Of such importance does it seem to Scotch farmers, to 

 enlarge the size of fields, to reduce their number, and to 

 put them into as regular a shape as circumstances will ad- 

 mit of, that it is one of the first circumstances attended to, 

 wherever the Scotch system of husbandry has been intro- 

 duced into any part of England. By means of that reduc- 

 tion, a considerable extent of ground is obtained, and the 

 land is rendered better calculated for the production of 

 corn. 



Here it may be added, on the authority of a farmer, (Mr 

 Brown of Markle), who has paid particular attention to 

 this subject, that where inclosures are made by hedge and 

 ditch, the quantity of ground lost upon ten acres, amounts 

 to not less than one-tenth, in other words, that a ten-acre 

 field is reduced to the size of nine acres, which is a strong 

 argument against small inclosures. 



I have been led to dwell longer, than otherwise would 

 have been necessary, on the interesting subject of this sec- 

 tion, as it is a topic which has not hitherto been so much 

 attended to as its importance deserves. 



SECT. IV. Of Fences and Gates. 



IF the fields are of a proper size, it will add greatly to 

 the value of a farm, to have them judiciously fenced. 

 Hedges of a proper construction, with trees regularly 

 planted in the corners of the fields, (see the annexed en- 

 gravings of the plan of a clay-land, and turnip-land farm), 



