792 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK jx. ' 



But, while the stagnation of the air in confined situations may have 

 an injurious effect on vegetable as well as on animal life, the too free 

 exposure to the wind is not less objectionable, especially where the 

 elevation is considerable, as in mountainous and hilly farms. This is 

 sometimes demonstrated in the luxuriance of that part of the herbage 

 which is sheltered by the fence, and in the poverty and even the 

 barrenness of the centre of the fields. In such situations, therefore, 

 the hedges should be so planted as best to break the force of the winds 

 to which the land is most exposed. " It is as much," says the writer 

 we have just quoted, " on account of the shelter, shade, and equal 

 warmth, as of occasional fresh supplies of grass, that the Leicester 

 graziers have founded their opinion, that fifty acres in five enclosures, 

 are equal to sixty in one" 



Whatever be the dimensions adopted for the enclosures, the con- 

 venience of access to water must always be a prime consideration, 

 especially in enclosures where live stock are at anj r time to be kept. 

 The method of drainage, the position of the ground, and the bringing 

 together, as far as is practicable, of lands of similar quality, or that can 

 be cultivated or stocked under like circumstances even though this 

 may tend to render the enclosures in some degree unequal in size and 

 irregular in form are all objects of importance. Where, however, 

 there are no circumstances to prevent the enclosures being formed in 

 a regular manner, principal regard should be paid to the size of the 

 farms and to the course of cropping that can be most beneficially 

 practised on them. In such cases, they should be laid out to suit the 

 nature and extent of the farm, the system of cultivation, and the mode 

 of carrying off its products. 



In the primary division of the farm, regard should be paid to the 

 rotations of crops which its soil or other circumstances will probably 

 render desirable, and, if possible, two enclosures should be allotted to 

 each division of rotation. This is the principal consideration with 

 regard to moderate-sized farms, both in grain crops and in pasture. 

 In the former, one field may be devoted to potatoes to be, followed by 

 wheat, and another to turnips succeeded by barley ; whilst, on grass 

 land, the shifting of the pasture, so beneficial to every kind of stock, 

 can be more easily effected. 



With regard to the shape of fields, although this must be in some 

 degree determined according as the surface of the land is hilly or 

 otherwise, as well as by the position of roads, and many other local 

 circumstances, it is evident that for ploughed ground it is most 

 advantageous to have the fences in straight lines, and that the fields, 

 when large, should be rectangular, and when small, of an oblong 

 rectangular form, in order that the ploughing may be effected with as 

 few turnings as possible. Irregular-shaped fields often cause much 

 annoyance, and lead to waste of both time and land in their tillage. 



In the laying out of pasture land, the material object should be 

 shelter from the most prevalent and piercing winds. When, in the 

 laying out of a farm, it is necessary to have some of the fields of an 

 oblong shape, it is desirable that the longer direction should run, as 



