560 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



valued by at least two men of character and ability, and to divide them into parcels or 

 lots, according to situation, and so as to render them of superior value to adjacent pro- 

 prietors. Then fix upon each parcel such value as it is fairly worth to the owner of th& 

 lands with which it is naturally united ; and give him the refusal of it. Such parcels as 

 are not disposed of in this way, may either lie open to private contract, or be sold by 

 public auction, the motive for selling being, in every case, openly declared. It is to be 

 remarked, however, tliat for a sale by auction, a fresh arrangement of lots will be 

 required, the principle of allotment being in this case the reverse of the former. At an 

 auction, a certain degree of competition is requisite to raise the article on sale to its full 

 value ; and it is no more than common prudence in the seller to make up his lots in such 

 a manner as will bring together the greatest number of competitors. 



Chap. II. 

 Appropriating Commonable Lands. 



3476. Commonable lands, or such as lie intermixed, or are occupied in common by the 

 inhabitants according to certain laws and customs, may be considered in regard to their 

 origin and kinds, and their appropriation or division. 



Sect. I. Origin and different Kinds of Commonable Lands. 



3477. A very few centuries ago, nearly the whole of the lands of Britain lay in an open, 

 and more or less in a commonable, state. (See Fitzherbert on the Statute Extenta Manorii.) 

 Each parish, or township (at least in the more central and northern districts), comprised 

 different descriptions of lands ; having been subjected, during successive ages, to specified 

 modes of occupancy, under ancient and strict regulations, which time had converted to 

 law. These parochial arrangements, however, varied somewhat in different districts ; 

 but, in the more central and greater part of the kingdom, not widely ; and the following 

 statement may serve to convey a general idea of the whole of what may be termed com- 

 mon-field tow^nships, throughout England : 



3478. Each parish, or township, was considered as one common farm ; though the 

 tenantry were numerous. ( See also JBlackstone's Commentaries, art. Tithing of Toivnsh. ) 

 Round the village in which the tenants resided lay a few small enclosures, or grass 

 yards, for rearing calves, and as baiting and nvu'sery grounds for other farm stock. 

 This was the common farmstead, or homestall, which was generally placed as near 

 the centre of the more culturable lands of the parish or township as water and shelter 

 would permit. 



3479. Round the homestall lay a suite of arable fields, including the deepest and 

 soundest of the lower grounds, situated out of water's way, for raising corn and 

 pulse, as well as to produce fodder and litter for cattle and horses in the winter 

 season ; and, in the lowest situation, as in the water-formed base of a rivered valley, or 

 in swampy dips, shooting up among the arable lands, lay an extent of meadow grounds, 

 or ings, to afford a supply of hay, for cow^s and working stock, in the winter and spring 

 months. 



3480. On the outskirts of the arable lands, where the soil was adapted to the pasturage of 

 cattle ; or on the springy slope of hills less adapted to cultivation ; or in the fenny bases 

 of valleys which were too wet, or gravelly lands thrown up by water which were too dry, 

 to produce an annual supply of hay with sufficient certainty; one or more stinted pastures, 

 or hams, were laid out for milking cows, working cattle, or other stock which required 

 superior pasturage in summer. 



3481. The bleakest, worst-soiled, and most distant lands of the township, were left in their 

 native wild state, for timber and fuel, and for a common pasture, or suite of pastures, for 

 the more ordinary stock of the township, whether horses, rearing cattle, sheep, or swine, 

 without any other stint or restriction than what the arable and meadow lands indirectly 

 gave ; every joint tenant or occupier of the township having the nominal privilege of 

 keeping as much live stock on these common pastures, in summer, as the appropriated 

 lands he occupied would maintain in winter. 



3482. The appropriated lands of each township were laid out with equal good sense and 

 propriety. That each occupier might have his proportionate share of lands of different 

 qualities, and lying in different situations, the arable lands, more particularly, were divided 

 into numerous parcels of sizes, doubtless, according to the size of the given township, and 

 the number and rank of the occupiers. 



3483. The whole was subjected to the same plan of management, and conducted as 

 one common farm ; for which purpose the arable lands were divided into compartments, 

 or " fields," of nearly equal size, and generally three in number, to receive, in constant 



