52 



Plan of a Farm — Stone Fence, 



Vol. III. 



or cross walls, according to the accompany- 



"Plan of enclosing Land," &.c. — Fig. 3. 

 Thus the land will, in the easiest and most 

 convenient manner, be at once divided into 

 4 fields of 16 acres each; 4 of 8 acres; and 

 a middle compartment of 4 acres, to be ap- 

 propriated to the home-stall, house, barn, 

 stables, cattle-sheds and yards, garden, orch- 

 ards, and enclosures for raising seeds for the 

 use of the farm and garden. Cultivate, at 

 first, the 4 fields of 8 acres each only, the ro- 

 tation of crops being roots, barley or oats, 

 clover, wheat. The 4 fields of 16 acres each 

 might, in the mean time, be top-dressed with 

 lime, marl, and compost, and fed with cattle 

 and sheep, to be regularly changed from pas- 

 ture to pasture, upon those fields not devoted 

 to the hay crop. When, at a future time, it 

 should be deemed desirable to sub-divide those 

 fields, two walls, carried in the direction of 

 the dotted lines, will do the business most ef- 

 fectually, turning them into 4 fields of 8 acres 

 each. This addition to the cultivation of the 

 farm, will be found sufl^cient for some consid- 

 erable time, the remaininsj two pieces of 16 

 acres each, still continuing in pasture; for 

 the grand arcana of agriculture is, to plough 

 no more than can be tvell dressed arid culti- 

 vated. These sub-divisions can, however, be 

 continued, until all the fields are square and 

 contain 4 acres each. It will be observed, 

 that on this plan all the fences will be strait, 

 and the land thrown into such form as will 

 admit of being cultivated with the greatest 

 ease and economy. 



Stone Fence—Proper Construction* 



My decided preference for stone walls over 

 other kinds of fence, has been produced by 

 an opportunity of forming a judgment, to an 

 extent which scarcely any other person can 

 expect to be favored with ; and in every case, 

 their superiority is scarcely to be estimated. 



In the first place, as a writer observes, they 

 are major from the day of their erection, and 

 are most easily kept in repair, for if a portion 

 should fall, there are the materials on the 

 spot to rebuild it, which is but the work of a 

 few minutes. And if, at any time, it be de- 

 sirable to shorten the road from the home- 

 stall, or to save adjoining crops from the in- 

 jury of passing carts or cattle, it is only to 

 make a temporary breach and put in a gate, 

 which can be removed and the wall rebuilt 

 in a very short time by any laborer on the 

 farm. Then the saving of land is very great, 

 as the plough might and ought to pass close 

 to the foot of the wall, by which the weeds 

 and their consequences are destroyed ; this 

 gain will be equal, in every year, to the in- 

 terest of the sum expended in the erection. 

 But the chief recommendation »f stone fences 

 is, in the shelter which they afford to cattle 

 and sheep from every wind that blows, and 

 the facility which they aflxird f(T the erection 

 of temporary or more permanent sheds at the 

 angles, to which the cattle or sheep may re- 

 tire, and be fed under cover, in stormy wea- 

 ther. Indeed, in every point of view, stone 

 fences have ever been with me the ne plus 

 ultra of good management. I know that in 

 many situations they are not to be obtained ; 

 but where stone is plentiful, they will be 

 found the cheapest fence in the end, as well 

 as the best by far, both at the beginning and 

 end. The expense of erection must vary ac- 

 cording to circumstances. I have had the 

 work done for !f!2 per perch of 22 feet in 

 length, by 6 feet in height, quarrying the 

 stone and carrying included ; while in some 

 situations, I have given three times that sum 

 for the same work : and although it might 

 not be practicable, in point of expense, to en- 

 close the whole of a farm with stone walls at 

 first, yet, if at leisure times stones are carried 

 to the line of tiie intended fence, and there 

 deposited, to be put up when sufiieient but 

 for the erection of a single perch at a time, 

 the work would be accomplished sooner than 

 could be imagined, once and for ever. They 

 are built, according to directions given at 

 page 242* I ought to say, however, that I 

 have learned, by long experience, it is best, 

 in all cases, to remove the surface of the 

 earth upon which the wall is to be erected, 

 for I have had miles of wall completely ruin- 

 ed by the frost of wmter, which, by penetrat- 

 incr the surface where it had not been remov- 

 ed from under the wall, has lifted it up; and 

 when a thaw has taken jilace, a subsidence in 

 the same surface has done the business ; those 

 portions of the wail which have not fallen 

 have been so shaken and twisted and dis- 

 placed, that the appearance has led me to 

 wish that it had alj gone; while ali attempts 



♦ See Farmers' Cabinet, Vol. IL page H-i. 



