November 21, 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
397 
Black (nigra), Golden (concordia), and Scarlet (coccinea) Oaks have fine 
foilage, the latter being particularly striking in autumn. Poplars, Black 
Italian, Lombardy, Ontario, and Silver-leayed, the latter very remarkable, 
may be mentioned as suitable for moist soils. Birch “The Lady of the 
Woods” is among the finest of trees, the Fern-leaved Weeping and Silver 
Weeping being particularly attractive. All those should have stems of not 
less than 6 feet in height up to 8 feet, with well-furnished heads. Such trees 
are kept in stock by the principal ;nurserymen, and are frequently trans- 
planted so as to ensure their safe removal. Single trees for lawns move 
quite safely when of such a size as to be effective. A few of the finest 
deciduous trees for lawns are Malus floribunda, Asculus rubicunda nana, 
Laburnum (Cytisus), Parksi, Scotch and Weeping ; Thorns, double scarlet, 
double pink, and double white; Mountain Ash, Salisburia adiantifolia ; 
double-flowered Almond, double-blossomed Cherry, and Stag's-horn Sumach, 
with a number of weeping trees. All should be of good size so as to be 
effective at once. It is necessary in planting trees on opposite sides of a 
drive or entrance that they be of the same kind so as to correspond, for to 
plant a Beech on one side and a Sycamore on the other would be equally 
destructive of effect as would a very elaborately chiselled gate pillar on 
one side and a rough one on the other. 
ABUTILON (Abutilon)—Your seedling is very good; colour rich yellow, 
petals short and incuryed, and flower of good form. It resembles Reine d’Or. 
NAMES OF PLANTS (4. C.).—1, Send when in flower; 2, Enonymus eu- 
ropeeus ; 3, Hscallonia rubra ; 4, Leycesteria formosa ; 5, Polygonum vaccinii- 
folium. (Sandgate).—Gesnera zebrina. (2. Jf P.)—Cestrum (?) sp. (the 
flower withered) ; 2, Bouvardia sp. (£. P. /.).—Hibiscus cannabinus. (J. W. 
Hopkins).—1, Coboea scandens ; 2, Mercurialis annua. (A. H. S..Calford).— 
We have had some} difficulty in determining the name of the Dendrobium, 
which is, we think, D. aqueum. 
THE HOME FARM: 
POULTRY, PIGEON, AND BEE CHRONICLE. 
THE LAYING-OUT AND DIVISION OF ARABLE 
LAND. 
THIS subject may seem comparatively unimportant until it is 
considered in its various aspects, when we venture to say it will 
be admitted to form a most essential item connected with the 
home farm and its profitable management. Railways have 
effected a great alteration in the face of the country in every 
district through which they pass, and these alterations have 
generally been of great benefit to adjoining properties, including 
both owners and occupiers, and have suggested that alterations 
may be advantageously made on many estates not intersected by 
railwiys. On yarious properties and home farms which have been 
under our management we have found fields in a diversity of shapes» 
and a removal of fences has been the result, with a great gain of 
land for cultivating purposes ; but taking the kingdom at large 
very much yet remains to be done, the full advantage of which it 
is impossible to estimate. Railways, although their formation first 
called the attention of the agricultural interest to the subject, 
haye absorbed extensive tracts of land in this country ; it then 
becomes a question as to how much land can be gained by well- 
considered schemes of laying out the available land. In some 
cases as much Jand may be gained for agriculture as has been 
taken by the railway, especially when we consider that by the 
removal of fences large fields are formed of square or oblong 
shape, which are an improvement for steam culture and also 
ordinary cultivation. 
The first impediment we have to notice to the proper laying- 
out and division of arable land are the old crooked fences, and 
more especially those with high banks and deep ditches. Let us 
for a moment refer to what was originally the cause of the fences 
for the division of the land. We can only suppose the object was 
to keep the boundary and fences against animals, also for drainage 
of the land; but modern improvements have doomed them to be 
cleared away, and it is only in a few instances when horned cattle 
are required to be fed in the fields they may be retained. In all 
those cases where sheep only are kept the live fences and ditches 
are not necessary, but quite the reverse; and with regard to the 
drainage of land it must be considered as good policy to drain 
and fill-in the ditches as it is to drain the adjoining fields, the 
pipe drain being a better main carrier for any draining in the 
field than an open ditch, with its constant expense in scouring, 
&e. Hedges, ditches, and fences upon arable land usually occupy 
an area which can be turned to much better account ; and upon 
farms in general, particularly where the land is undulating, they 
occupy the best land, being usually placed in the lowest valleys, 
besides which they encourage the growth of timber, which cannot 
be grown without loss to the occupier between the cultivated 
fields.. The banks and hedges, too, encourage and protect vermin. 
We have recently noticed the young wheat just vegetated almost 
destroyed by rats, and it is found necessary upon some farms in 
certain districts, particularly where there are many rabbits, to 
keep some persons continually employed to destroy the rats, 
Fences, also, from various causes are often badly placed; they 
are either crooked, thereby enhancing the cost of tillage, or placed 
where they divide the land injudiciously, for each field should be 
as nearly as possible of the like soil as regards value and texture. 
We have often been forcibly struck with the damaze arising from 
hedges even in the most exposed situations along the seacoast 
and in the hill districts in various counties, where they have been 
retained ostensibly for affording shelter to the corn fields, for 
we have seen on the lee side of the hedges great damage caused 
by the eddying action of the wind on the eve of harvest, the ears 
of corn being twisted and broken off and the grain beaten out ; 
whereas in the open fields where the wind, powerful as it often 
is, passes over in a regular way, the corn, waving to and fro 
almost like the waves of the sea, receives scarcely any damage. 
Again, where do we find most sprouted corn in a wet harvest ? 
Do we not often see the open part of our fields without damaged 
corn, whilst near the hedges enough is sprouted to injure the 
sale of the grain? Look also at the effect of banks and fences in 
fouling the land. In them sufficient weeds are reared and nursed 
often to seed the whole farm. It is true that cutting the 
borders for turf and burning it into ashes, or cutting the border 
grass for feeding cattle, tends to prevent weeds from seeding, 
but this is done perhaps only by the best farmers, whilst some of 
their neighbours’ seed weeds enough in their hedges to plant a 
whole parish. As long as hedges and banks are retained they 
are sure to contribute to feed the fields with couch and coarse 
grasses, which the action of the harrows, &c., in turning will 
testify ; and further in the case of what is termed the best kind 
of fence—a trimmed whitethorn—the cuttings and prunings which 
are often left on the land cause serious injury to sheep when 
the thorns enter their feet. 
We will now allude to the exceptions where fences are requisite 
—yiz., at the sides of roads, the bounds of the farm, the bounds 
of premises, &c., and particularly the boundary adjoining the 
pasture or park lands. These fences should if possible be of 
whitethorn kept neatly and closely trimmed. Our railway com- 
panies often set us a good pattern in this respect. We cannot 
leave this part of our subject without naming hedgerows, as upon 
many farms they form the divisions of fields, and the argument 
is still stronger against them than ordinary hedges. The shape 
of fields should be square or long with square sides, and may 
vary in size from fifteen to twenty acres each upon small farms, 
but upon large occupations they may be set out at thirty or forty 
acres at each roadway connection, haying due regard to the roads 
and approaches at the boundaries. ‘The fields, likewise, when 
possible should be of similar soil, in order that the cultivation 
and course of cropping may be regulated thereby. In the 
arrangement of fields due regard should also be had to access 
when labour is going on, such as harvesting of corn, the carting 
of manure, roots, &c., and the facility for steam ploughing with 
easy access for the removal of machinery, &c., appertaining 
thereto. The interest of the proprietor should always be kept in 
view, in order that the land should yield its full value in rent. 
We have now stated what we consider the leading points to be 
observed in laying out our arable lands, and in order to illustrate 
the matter more fully we cannot do better than refer to what has 
been done upon farms of our own and others under our superin- 
tendence. On one farm in particular which came under our 
management we found the arable land divided into eleven fields 
and separated by fences, some of which were capital whitethorn 
hedges, others were of high banks and deep ditches ; and although 
they had been for some twenty years kept neatly trimmed, still 
they were a source of expense, and occupied so much valuable 
land that we determined upon their removal. The argument against 
the banks and ditches being the strongest they were the first to 
be removed. The quickset hedges we retained several years 
longer; we, howeyer, soon felt convinced of the advantage of 
removing the whole of them by the benefit we derived from the 
first removal. At the present time we have no inside fences upon 
the arable land of this farm. The gain in land was upwards of 
three per cent. for cultivation, saying of expense for trimming 
hedges, scouring of ditches, &c., and twenty-one less gates and 
panels of pales to keep in repair, whilst grubbing the fences 
furnished sufficient soil to cover the adjacent shallow lands. 
Access to the different fields is now complete, whilst formerly the 
fields could only be entered by the gateways. At present any 
carting can be done by crossing the fields in any direction, making 
a saving in labour in various ways of at least twenty per cent. In 
the place of a number of short ploughings there are now, but 
few, and those consequent upon irregular boundaries, which can- 
not be altered. Roads at right angles throwgh the farm, giving 
access to all fields not adjoining a highway, are made with 
or in some cases without gravel, the latter form being useful 
