MAY. 



acres, that the cattle should have it all at once : if 

 it is divided into eight or ten fields, the gates of all 

 to be set open, for the stock to feed where they 

 like. Secondly, the other set advance, that large 

 fields of fifty, eighty, or an hundred acres, should 

 be divided, that the farmer may change his stock 

 from one to the other, and give the grass fresh and 

 fresh. And each of these parties assert, that they 

 know themselves to be right from experience. But 

 that is impossible ; one must, undoubtedly, be 

 wrong. Let us consider the point from reason : it 

 is one that will never be decided fairly from expe- 

 riment ; for two pieces of grass, each of eighty or 

 an hundred acres, contiguous and perfectly alike, 

 are not to be met with in the king's dominions ; 

 and, if they were, two sets of stock exactly similar, 

 would not be found. The divisions into fields by 

 hedges and ditches, for the purposes of draining 

 and shelter, is not the inquiry, the comparison not 

 being fair ; as such divisions may be fed at once, 

 by setting all the gates open, as well as one field. 

 The inquiry is, whether the cattle will spoil the 

 grass more in one way than in the other ? and 

 whether the grass will go as far in one as in the 

 other, by fatting or feeding the beasts as well ? 

 The argument of giving the grass fresh and fresh, 

 appears to be rather vague ; for it supposes that 

 the cattle will not eat it fresh, if they have the 

 whole range at once, which may be a mistake : 

 they will riot be seen in the evening where they 

 were feeding in the morning, but vary their food 



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