174 On the Nature and Advantages of Inclosures. 



of the loose stones to be met with in the soil ; the vicinity 

 of the quarry where the stones are dug ; and the advan- 

 tage of obtaining lime at a moderate expense, by which the 

 construction of the wall can be much improved, and rendered 

 more durable. Where all these favourable circumstances 

 are combined, stone walls, though not so ornamental as 

 hedges, are preferable in point of utility ; the benefit of the 

 inclosure being immediate. They also occasion the least 

 waste of ground ; do no injury to corn crops ; do not 

 harbour vermin, if well built or edged with lime ; and are 

 free from the weeds and rubbish which almost invariably 

 accompany live hedges (76). 



The expense of erecting stone walls is considerable. 

 Where they are built with lime, and five feet three inches 

 in height, the expense of inclosing a field of moderate size, 

 cannot be estimated at less than ten pounds per acre, even 

 in cases where the lines of division are neither crooked nor 

 irregular fj^. 



Where lime is not used, " the Galloway dike" is prefer- 

 red to every other species of dr.y stone wall. It is built 

 double ; that is to say, the two sides are formed of two dif- 

 ferent sets of stone, resting against each other, and con- 

 nected by larger stones, which, from time to time, are laid 

 across the wall. The whole, according to the more recent 

 improvements, is completed, by putting upon the top of the 

 dike, as close as they can be laid together, stones placed 

 edgewise; and when a considerable extent has been thus 

 laid, thin stones are driven in like wedges, at small intervals, 

 which bind the whole so firmly together, that, when well 

 built, a stone can hardly be taken out of the top, without 

 an iron crow ( 7 8). Long experience has fully proved, that 

 animals are more deterred from attempting to get over this 

 rugged coping, than a more solid wall, even of a great height, 

 without that peculiarity in its construction. 



Through the whole range of the Cotswold hills of Glou- 

 cestershire, (from Bath to Stow on the Wold), stone walls, 

 about five feet high, are employed as fences ; and the prac- 

 tice is fast extending into the adjacent vales, owing to the 

 uncontrollable disposition of the poor to destroy every com- 

 bustible article. 



The stone is of the white sort, and commonly lies near 

 the surface, in flat beds or strata. This stone perishes by 

 the action of frost, on any wet being confined in it. The use 

 of lime or other mortar, is therefore necessarily rejected ; and 

 the prudence or propriety of erecting this fence, in no sort 



