8 ORIGIN OF COMMONS. 
and other crops was inclosed and cultivated; the 
remainder was open to the cattle of all; and all the 
members of the community were entitled to cut turf 
and bracken there for their fuel and litter. The inclosed 
part was generally divided into three great fields for a 
three-course system of husbandry, of which one field was 
in turn left in fallow. ach of these fields was divided 
into a certain number of equal parts, which were 
distributed annually by lot among the heads of families 
constituting the village community. 
Very frequently the cultivated land was thrown 
open to the cattle of all, after the completion of the 
harvest, and until it was necessary to shut it off again, 
in the following year, for the next crop. Small portions 
of land were attached as gardens to the houses and 
homesteads of individual members, and acquired the 
status of private property. Other portions were in- 
closed from the open or common land, only as it became 
necessary to add to the cultivated part, in consequence of 
the increase of population. 
By degrees the individual ownership of land was 
extended. ‘The system of distributing the plots of the 
common fields by lot was given up; ownership in 
these parts became fixed in individuals, subject to the 
land being thrown open to the whole village after 
harvest. But the waste and uncultivated land still 
remained the common property of the community, and 
was called the “ Folk-Land ”—the People’s Land. 
It is certain that a very large portion of the inclosed 
part of England was in early times cultivated on this 
