PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 353. 



should be paid in planting them, so as best to break off the 

 wind they would be most exposed to. There is no doubt but 

 that if inclosed land be intended for the purposes of grass, grain 

 or root crops, it will be the most advantageous to avoid the ex- 

 tremes of very large or very small inclosures, but in the latter 

 case they may be left more large and open than in the former. 

 From fifteen to twenty acres, according to the extensiveness of 

 the farm for grazing land, and from thirty to sixty for arable 

 land. 



It may be concluded, that the more equable, in respect to tem- 

 perature, such fields as are intended for pastures can be made by 

 means of judicious fencing, provided they be properly drained, 

 and a due circulation of air preserved, the better they will fatten 

 the animals that are kept in them. Fences are of different kinds, 

 and built of different materials, according to the situations, and 

 the particular circumstances under which they are constructed, 

 but, in general, so far as the farm is concerned, they may be con- 

 sidered either as hedges, ditches, palings or walls. It is obvious, 

 from the nature of these different fences, that one variety of them 

 from its being formed of some dead material, must, in every 

 instance, from the time it is completed, be constantly getting 

 worse, or proceeding to a state of decay, while another, being 

 composed of living plants, where properly managed and attended 

 to, must be advancing to a state of greater improvement 

 and advantage. This difference shows the advantage of hav- 

 ing recourse to one sort of material in preference to the other, 

 where there is a possibility of doing it ; but in some districts, 

 and many exposed situations, it is often a matter of great diffi- 

 culty and expense to procure such sorts of materials as would 

 be the most beneficial for the purpose ; in such cases that sort 

 must be employed which is the most ready and convenient. The 

 dead kind of fences, whether they be formed of earth, stones, or 

 wood, can rarely, from the expense, be made by the farmer of 

 such height, or in such ways, as to be of much utility in afford- 

 ing shelter. Where this sort of material is employed as a fence 

 on elevated and exposed places, it should be constructed in a 

 firmer manner, and be built higher than when used in lower and 

 more sheltered situations. 



[Am. Inst.] W 



