72 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY 



Section xiv. 



COMMON FIELDS & IJVCLOSURES. 



JL HERE is flill a confiderable deal of common- 

 field land in Norfolk, though a much lefs pro- 

 portion than in many other counties ; for, notwith- 

 itanding common rights, for great cattle, exift iri 

 all of them, and even fheep-walk privileges in 

 many, yet the natural induflry of the people is 

 fuch, that wherever a perfon can get four or five 

 acres together, he plants a white-thorn hedge 

 round it, and fets an oak at every rod d> fiance, 

 which is confented to by a kind of general cour- 

 tefy from one neighbour to another. 



It has long been a fubject. of infinite conjec- 

 ture, how the land of different eftates became 

 originally fo fcattered and divided in common 

 fields. Lord Chief Juflice Coke, in his Reports, 

 fays, " The policy of old times, in feveralling of 

 " fields in fmali parcels, to fo many different per-* 

 " fons, was to avoid inclofure, and to maintain 

 « tillage." 



Many 



