Farm 'uKj of Northamiyton^ldre. 



107 



neglecting it. The farmers of this county who have done the 

 best for themselves and tlieir families have been those who, by a 

 judicious apj)lication of their capital to the soil, have received in 

 return an additional profit. 



Considerable heriejit ivould be realized to the tenant farmer if 

 more attention was paid to the fences^ and by the cutting down 

 of timber-trees in hedge-rows adjoining arable fields. Keeping 

 the hedges on a farm in good order forms no small outlay every 

 year on the best managed arable farms. When free from hedge- 

 row timber, great attention is paid to the fences ; they are kept 

 down very low, and regularly clipped every year, and the ditches 

 kept well cleaned out ; they give a very neat appearance to the 

 farm, and some districts show a great superiority over others in 

 this department. Many persons object to the topping of hedges 

 during the summer, on account of the thorns getting amongst the 

 hay and corn, thereby liable to injure the hands of the labourers 

 and to lame sheep. In order to remedy this, Air. J.Webster, of 

 Peakirk, tops his hedges annually, during the last fortnight in 

 May, and again in the last fortnight in July ; by pursuing this 

 system he cuts the shoots before they become strong enough to 

 do any injury. 



Wlien hedges are not clipped the quicks are permitted to grow 

 from six to eight years ; they are then cut and laid down, the 

 wood being used for firewood, or for the erection of temporary 

 lences. Hedging and ditching is done by the chain of 22 yards ; 

 prices varying from \s. 6c?. to 25. ^d. per chain, according to the 

 strength of the fence antl depth of the ditch to be cleaned out. 



The fences round grass land are allowed to attain from ten to 

 twelve years' growth, thereby affording a strong fence and also 

 shelter. In some of the old enclosures the fences are very rough 

 and ragged at the bottom, and are sometimes permitted to run 

 wild, and to occupy a very wide space of gi'ound ; and even when 

 not thus neglected they are difficult to keep in good order, being 

 composed principally of different kinds of wood, viz. w^hite and 

 black thorn, maple, hazel, elder, and bramble-bushes ; they 

 grow very uneven, and form at best a very miserable looking 

 fence, and the more so from their frequently being both irregular 

 and crooked. W^hen they are united with open gaps and broken 

 gates they give a farm a neglected and slovenly appearance. 



The only remedy is the entire stocking up of such old fences, 

 and the replanting of young quicks ; but this sort of improvement 

 IS much neglected, and some occupiers do not always clean out 

 the ditch when they cut the hedge ; the water is thus permittcxl to 

 stagnate, to the injury of the adjoining land and the young shoots 

 of the fence, as well as blocking up the drainage. 



I do not wish to destroy the beauty of my own native county, 

 and should therefore have no objection to see many sturdy oaks left 



