484 
Essay upon Fences. 
excess in number, and the over-abundance of timber which they con- 
tain." 
First, They are injurious to the farmer by reason of their size. 
In many parts of the kingdom, and especially in some enclosed dis- 
tricts in the southern counties, this is a very prominent evil. I 
have no doubt, as I have remarked before, that one acre in ten is 
often subtracted from the cultivated land on a farm, by reason of 
the size of the hedge. These being for the most part of the class 
I have above described, and composed of black-thorn, hazel, and 
rough underwood, with brambles and other rubbish growing at 
their roots, are continually encroaching on the fields ; the rough 
grass and rubbish also grow out upon the headland, and frequently 
cause that to grow but very little corn, &c. This to the farmer, 
who is anxious to keep his land in a good and clean state of culti- 
vation, is a very serious injury. Again, these very large fences 
are generally very full of hedgerow timber ; and although this 
comes under a distinct head, I may yet here remark, that large 
fences are, from their size and thickness, more liable to give pro- 
tection to the young ash or oak tellow, untd it attains an age when 
the tenant is precluded from cutting it down ; and so long as these 
hedges are suffered to continue of this size, so long will it be found 
almost impossible to get rid of the hedgerow timber. Again, the 
little value of these fences is another strong argument against them. 
What is the value of a few hundred house and kiln faggots once in 
eight or nine years in comparison with an acre of cultivated land, 
producing its corn and green crop every succeeding year? There 
is also another reason which renders large hedgerows injurious to 
the farmer, and that is because they are frequently full of gaps; 
and when once in that state, the cattle feeding in the adjoining fields 
will get into these gaps or breaks, and eat off the young underwood 
and grass, and increase these gaps in size, and the sheep will more- 
over crawl in among the bushes and tear their wool, giving them a 
very rough appearance, and injuring their growth of wool. And, 
lastly, the size of these fences contributes in a most material de- 
gree to deprive the fields of all the benefits of a free circulation of 
sun and au', which is perhaps the greatest injury these ■•thick 
and numerous fences entail upon the land. It is well known that 
sunshine and a free admission of air are both essential in a pri- 
mary degree to the growth of plants, and the proper ripening of 
corn ; now these fences by their thickness and height deprive the 
adjoining land of these benefits. Again, on land lying in an open 
situation, exposed to the free action of the sun and air, the soil 
soon becomes dry enough, after rain, to enable the farmer to get 
up<m his land to sow his corn; whereas in small fields, surrounded 
by large fences, he would have to wait three or four days longer 
before he would find his land- in a fit state to be sown. The same 
