352 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



commons increases atijiospheric impurity, and by its evaporation 

 produces fluctuations of temperature that cause chills and aggra- 

 vate diseases. Therefore, in whatever point of view the business 

 of inclosing common or waste land may be contemplated, it pro- 

 mises advantages of the most important kinds. The humble 

 workman, the wealthy proprietor, and the country at large, must 

 be equally benefited by the salutary influence of such a system 

 wherever it is permitted to take place. 



FENCES. 



In the enclosing of lands, by means of fences, regard is neces- 

 sary to be had to a number of circumstances, such as the size of 

 the farms and the nature of them, as well as the uses to which 

 they are to be converted ; the particular objects that are in view, 

 or to be expected from them, and the materials of which they 

 are to be formed. It is evident that such inclosures as are 

 chiefly intended for the production of grass ought to be smaller 

 than those in which grain is mostly to be grown. On the lighter 

 sorts of sandy or gravelly soils, too, the divisions should be small 

 in proportion to their dryness, and the particular kind of crops 

 which can be raised and cultivated to the greatest advantage 

 upon them, and the inclosures for sheep should be regulated by 

 the same circumstances. If grain is sown in small inclosures, it 

 will be the first to sufi'er in a dry summer, particularly near the 

 fences, because the sun is too much excluded, and the dampness 

 generated cannot prevent the redundancy of moisture from chill- 

 ing the plants, and leaving a harvest that will be of no value to 

 the farmer. If your fences are hedges, they should be kept 

 closely dipt, and every possible method taken to promote the 

 free admission of the sun's rays, with a perfect drainage and 

 evaporation. 



But though the stagnation of the air in confined situations 

 may have an injurious effect on vegetable as well as animal life, by 

 preventing the proper degree of evaporation from taking place, 

 it is not less injurious to the feeding of animals than the 

 growth of vegetables, when it circulates too much or too rapidly 

 over a district, especially where the elevation is high, for in such 

 cases the warmth of the animals is too suddenly carried off by 

 the too frequently renewed application of cold air, and the growth 

 of the vegetable thereby checked and retarded. In such situa- 

 tions hedge fences should be used, and particular attention 



