488 
Essay upon Fences. 
large fences in various parts of the kingdom be cut far closer and 
reduced within proper limits. Let those points which the Society 
have prominently put forward be fully attended to, and the mag- 
nitude of the present evil destroyed. Where, upon mature con- 
sideration, it is deemed necessary to maintain any fences, let their 
number be materially decreased; and if the whole farm be not 
thrown into one common field (I speak of the arable land), let 
the fields be increased to the size of 40 or 50 acres. But let the 
vast majoritv, and if there be not extremely strong and local rea- 
sons to the contrary, the ichole of the hedges between arable 
lands be grubbed up ; let the overabundance of hedgerow tim- 
ber be felled, the roots be grubbed up, and the land upon which 
it stood be added to the adjoining fields. Let the landowners 
and farmers co-operate to carry out these improvements, and they 
will at no very distant day have the satisfaction of having (it may 
be in a less important degree than by uniform sound thorough 
drainage, but still in a very material degree) increased the pro- 
duction of the soil, and developed the agricultural resources of 
their native land. 
Summerford, Withyam, Sussex. 
XXXIX. — On Drillbifi Maiden Earth for Turnips. 
By R. S. Graburn. 
To Mr. Pusey. 
My dear Sir, — It is evident in the districts where turnips have 
been repeatedly cultivated, that they certainly do not plant so 
uniformly, or grow so vigorously, as they did several years ago ; 
that with the advantages of the present period in procuring arti- 
ficial manures for the support of the established plant, fields re- 
peatedly sown with turnips occasionally exhibit large patches 
completely bare; the seed vegetates^ the young plant makes its 
appearance, after a few days turns yellow and dies, leaving the 
ground in spaces distinctly defined without a single plant ; ouHng 
to the exhaustion of certain elementary parts of the soil necessar}' 
for the immediate support of the young plants, and not, as is 
frequently attributed, to the ravages of the wireworm. 
To guard against tliis disappointment it has long been my 
practice to deposit with the seed, by the aid of the drill, a seed- 
bed of maiden earth and rotten dimg, rich in the elements essential 
for the support of the young plant, securing the uniform and rapid 
growth always experienced in fresli broken-up ground. 
The compost is formed from soil collected from the sides of 
hedges and roads mixed with spit dung, and frequently turned. It 
