NORFOLK SOCIETY. 449 



SUGGESTIONS 



To the Members of the Norfolk Agricultural Society., Written at 

 the Request of the Trustees, by one of its Members. 



BY B. V. FRENCH. 



The writer does not intend to give instructions, or even 

 hints, to the old farmers of this society. Those who have been 

 long in practice, know better than himself what should be 

 done, and if old practitioners, and not wise in their calling, 

 they will be too old to learn. So to the new beginner alone 

 will I address myself. 



I will imagine you are about commencing on a worn out 

 farm. If your buildings will answ^er at all, let them remain 

 until you have fully determined what disposition to make of 

 them. If new ones are to be erected, avoid a high elevation, 

 let them be placed well back from the road, and thrown off at 

 liberal distances one from another, as you can make no better 

 use of your land than by giving ample space to your build- 

 ings. In your mansion, study coziness and a degree of sim- 

 ple elegance, rather than an imposing exterior. On this, I will 

 not enlarge, but refer you to the works of the lamented Down- 

 ing, on country houses, cottage residences and grounds. They 

 contain plans and estimates adapted to every style, from the 

 simple, yet taseful farm house, to the costly summer residence 

 of the man of wealth and leisure. Before you move in this 

 matter, obtain a survey of your lands, sit like a juror in your 

 case before you commence, for it is enough for a farmer to do 

 his work once ; he cannot afford to take down and rebuild. Do 

 a little at a time, bring around you all the information that you 

 can command, and do that little well. We will presume that 

 you have now decided on the location of your buildings, and 

 the future enclosure of each of your fields. Let them be rather 

 large, from ten to twenty acres each, unless you have a sur- 

 plus of stone to be disposed off; in that case let your en- 

 closures be no larger than to dispose of all your stone ; first, 

 dig up all the stone that can be raised by iron bars ; two men 

 should work at this together. Dig round and lay bare all the 

 boulders, pull up by oxen such as can be canted out of their 

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