BOOK THE NINTH. 



ON THE CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT OF GRASS LANDS. 



CHAPTER I. 



ON THE SIZE AND SHAPE OF FIELDS. 



IN the expenditure connected with a farm, the items for fences usually 

 constitute a prominent feature. There is no doubt that much un- 

 necessary expense, and also much waste of land, are incurred by dividing 

 the land into small enclosures ; but farmers are too generally bound to 

 maintain it as it was originally laid out. The extent of the fields 

 should be regulated by the size of the farm, the nature of the soil, and 

 the objects for which they are intended. 



It has been remarked by a judicious writer, that " equal care should 

 be taken to guard against the extremes of too much exposure, and a 

 thick damp atmosphere ; for the health, thrift, and beauty of animals 

 are greatly promoted by proper shelter, and a due circulation of air." 



Many examples are to be seen in Devonshire, " the land of small 

 enclosures," where fully one half of the existing fences might in places 

 be removed without unduly exposing the land or depriving it of shelter, 

 and much land could thereby be added to the cultivated area. Nume- 

 rous instances are noticeable in which adjoining fields, of 2 to 3 acres 

 apiece, on the same farm, are under the same crop, and where the 

 division fences could be spared without the slightest interference with 

 the cropping, and without prejudice to the grazing of the seeds. As a 

 case in point may be mentioned a farm near Totnes, upon which the 

 total number of enclosures is 90. Of these, 13 are under one acre 

 (mainly orchards), 14 others under two acres, 17 between two and four 

 acres, 23 between four and six acres, and 23 between six and nine 

 acres. The largest is 8a. 3r. 7p. The length of fences dividing these 

 fields (exclusive ot 9| miles of boundary and road fences) is ten miles. 

 The gates number 200, and as they cost, with their ironwork, 15s. 

 apiece, to say nothing of the posts or pillars of masonry at each side, 

 their erection and maintenance locks up capital which might be more 

 usefully applied elsewhere. 1 



1 See Mr. F. Punchard's articles in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, 1890, 



