474 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. 



on large farms. But the advantages of this arrangement are not confined to the equal- 

 isation and economy of labour ; it may also, in a great measure, render the annual produce 

 uniform and equable, notwithstanding a considerable diversity in the quality of the soil. 

 A field of an inferior soil may be connected with one that is naturally rich ; and in the 

 consumption of the green crops, as well as in the allowance of manure, the poor land 

 may be gradually brought nearer, in the quantity and quality of its produce, to the rich, 

 without any injury to the latter. Thus a field under turnips may be so fertile that it 

 would be destructive to the succeeding corn crops to consume the whole or the greater 

 part on the ground ; while another may be naturally so poor, or so deficient in tenacity, 

 as to make it inexpedient to spare any part for consumption elsewhere. By connecting 

 these two under the same crop, by carrying from the one what turnips are wanted for the 

 feeding-houses and straw- yards, and eating the whole crop of the other on the ground 

 with sheep, the ensuing crop of corn will not be over-luxuriant in growth on the 

 former, while the latter will seldom fail to yield abundantly. The same plan will also 

 be advantageous in the case of other crops. Hay or green clover may be taken from 

 the richer field, and the poorer one depastured ; and on the one wheat may succeed both 

 turnips and clover, while the more gentle crops of barley and oats are appropriated to the 

 less fertile field. These observations are particularly applicable to turnip soils, of such 

 a quality as not to require more than one year's pasturage, and which are therefore 

 cultivated with corn and green crops alternately ; but the same principle may be extended 

 to clay lands, and such as require to be depastured two or more years in succession. 



2963. Where hedges are employed as fences, it is of importance that the ditches be 

 drawn in such a direction as to serve the purposes of drains, and also that they may 

 receive the water from the covered drains that may be required in the fields contiguous. 

 According to the greater or less convenience of the line of the fence in this respect, the 

 expense of draining may be considerably diminished or increased. 



Sect. II. Different Kinds of Fences. 



2964. Fences, in regard to kind, may be arranged as live fences, dead fences, and 

 mixed kinds ; but there are four elementary species which are the foundation of all the 

 others ; the hedge, the ditch, the wall, and the paling. The hedge, when formed of the 

 whitethorn or blackthorn, of the plum or crab, or of the holly, is the cheapest, most dura- 

 ble, and the handsomest of all fences on a good deep soil : the ditch is the best on low, flat, 

 wet lands requiring much drainage ; the wall is the best for farming purposes in almost 

 all cases whatever ; and the paling, whether fixed or temporary (as of hurdles), is the 

 most convenient as a nurse-fence to hedges for immediate or temporary use, and for 

 fencing in parks and scenery where an air of lightness and freedom is a desirable object. 

 From these simple or fundamental fences, a variety of compound ones may be formed. 

 We shall consider them in the order of ditch or drain fences, hedge fences, compound 

 hedge fences, paling fences, and wall fences. 



SuBSECT. 1. Ditch or Drain Fences. 



2965. Ditch fences, in their simple and original state, were considered rather in the 

 light of open drains than as fences. In a variety of instances, ditches are made for this 

 purpose only, where there is no intention whatever to enclose the field. They are, bow- 

 ever, sometimes meant as a fence, but, in such cases, they are made very deep and wide ; 

 and the earth taken out of them is sometimes formed into a bank, the height of which, 

 when added to the depth of the ditch, forms a tolerable barrier. In general, however, 

 the ditch is of greatest value when used in conjunction with other fences. 



2966 The form of ditches is various : some of them being of a uniform width both at top and bottom ; 

 others are wide above, and have a gradual slope downwards ; a third kind have one side sloping and the 

 other perpendicular. For whatever purpose the ditch is meant, the sloping form is by much the best ; as 

 it not only costs less money in the digging, but is at the same time niuch more durable, and has a neater 

 appearance. Where open ditches are indispensably necessary for the drainage of the field, the sloping 

 ditch is preferable to every other, as the sides are not liable to tumble in, or be undermined or excavated 

 by the current of water, when properly executed. The slope should be considerable : perhaps never less 

 than three, nor more than six, times the width at top that it is at bottom , ^ ,j ^i. 



2967 The simple ditch, with a hank of earth, consists merely of a ditch sloping gradually towards the 

 bottoiri ; the earth taken out of it being formed into a bank on one side, leaving a scarcement, or projecting 

 space, of six or eight inches, on the side where the bank is formed, to prevent the earth from tumbling in 



^^^^'rheMiuc ^flarth, tvitk an upright facing of turves, and a slope behind, is a very common sort of 

 fence and in some situations extremely useful T in making folds, for instance, for the confinement of 

 sheep or cattle. It is also valuable on the sides of highways, for defending the adjoining grounds, and for 

 lavhig off clumps or belts of planting in the middle or corners of arable fields, for enclosing stack-yards 

 laying on ciuraps or ut; ^^^V ^^^^^ ^^ ^j^g ^^^^^ of th^ bank is made of a very steep slope with 

 453 the turf pared off from the surface of the sloping ditch, and the mound at the back 



with the earth taken out of it. ^ , ^ ^u .. 



2969 The ha-ha, or sunk fence, is calculated chiefly for fields that require no 

 shelter and where a uniform unbroken prospect is an object, as is the case in 

 gardens and extensive lawns ; but in all situations where shelter is wanted, the 

 sunk fence ought to be avoided, unless a hedge is planted "pon the top ot it. 

 Sometimes a medium between the sunk and raised fence {Jig. 453.) is adopted, 

 which makes both a durable and unobtrusive barrier. 



