350 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



HEDGES AND WALLS, AND FENCING. 



This question was called up. 



INCLOSING LAND WITH WALLS AND HEDGES. 



Mr. R. L. Pell — Beneficial consequences necessarily result from 

 the inclosure of land. Where it is in a state of arable culture, 

 without inclosure, the crops, of whatever kind they may be, must 

 constantly be exposed to depredations of various kinds ; and if 

 in grass or pasture, injuries of the most prejudicial nature must 

 frequently be unavoidably sustained. Inclosing land is a means 

 of obtaining, by art, a certain degree of that genial warmth so 

 essential to the production of valuable crops. Where grounds 

 are sheltered from the violence of wind, by outside walls or plan- 

 tations of trees, they are more productive, and vegetation is 

 earlier, than in others similar in every respect, except as regard 

 to exposure. It is well known that the warmest air lies nearest 

 the surface of the earth, being that portion of the atmosphere 

 which, like a blanket, nature spreads over the earth and its pro- 

 ductions, this outside fences prevent from being blown away. 

 Animals that are kept in a warm, well sheltered barn yard, will 

 be found invariably to advance more rapidly in flesh, and be more 

 free from diseases than those kept in unfenced yards where "they 

 have no shelter. There are in many districts, extensive, barren 

 and hilly tracts of land that can never be inclosed with the least 

 advantage ; or if they could, that would never derive any ame- 

 lioration from such.a measure. The only means by which they 

 can be improved is, by being rendered, in particular situations, 

 free from injurious surface moisture, by proper drainage, by the 

 introduction of proper breeds of cattle, or by converting them 

 into timber plantations. But, in general, where lands are culti- 

 vated under a sytem of management, such as that of alternating 

 grass with grain, and thereby combining improvement in the 

 breed of live stock with that of arable cultivation, the practice 

 of enclosing must always be advantageous. 



But, notwithstanding the advantages in numerous points of 

 view, that result from the enclosing of land, the practice is far 

 from having been so much attended to as its importance and 

 utility would seem to demand. This may have proceeded partly 

 from the difficulty that must necessarily attend the business in 

 every case, and particularly in waste land, from the diversity of 

 claims. When the enclosing system is fully appreciated, by its 



