CHAPTER V. 



FARMS. 



SECTION 1. Size of Farms. 



THAT too small farms are objectionable in the economy of landed 

 property, is a fact which of late years has been fully exemplified in the 

 experience of several proprietors who have had to deal with them ; and 

 hence, in some parts of the country, we find many large farms which 

 have been made up from the consolidation of numerous small holdings. 

 I shall just advert to the principal difficulties experienced in regard 

 to having numerous small farms to deal with in the management of an 

 estate. 



First, they are expensive to keep up. On the score of farm-buildings 

 alone there is nearly as much expense incurred by the proprietor in 

 erecting these for a farm of from 30 to 50 acres, as there is where the 

 buildings are suitable for one of 100 acres; and for a farm of, say, 150 

 acres, there is nearly as much expense necessary in preparing building 

 accommodation for it as there is for one fully one-third larger in extent ; 

 and so on in proportion ; in all cases the larger the farm the smaller is 

 the expense on it per acre for buildings. This, therefore, is of itself a 

 strong objection to the continuance of small farms, because they involve 

 more expense to proprietors, both in the erection of the necessaiy build- 

 ings in the first instance, and also in keeping them in proper repair after- 

 wards, than is experienced in dealing with larger subjects. 



But small farms are objectionable on another score of expenditure ; 

 namely, that of fencing. The expense of erecting fences, and of main- 

 taining these in proper condition, on small farms, can be understood only 

 by those who have had experience in dealing with them; and I have found 

 the expense of the fencing necessary on small farms to be a very serious 

 drawback to the profitable management of an estate encumbered with a 

 great many such holdings. This is to be expected from a simple common- 

 sense view of the matter, for on a small farm there must be necessarily 

 small enclosures in proportion. Say that a farm of 100 acres has to be 



