420 
Hedges and Enclosures of Devonshire. 
(where dunged for mangold) ; but where soot was used for the 
mangold, I think it best to put dung for the turnips. 
In conclusion, I can only say, that in this county there is a quan- 
tity of old grass land, just in the state that mine was, producing 
grass only about six months in the year, which, if drained, subsoil- 
ploughed, &c., would produce more of the necessaries of life in 
five years than in twenty previous ones : whereas a vast number 
of acres are quite over-tilled, and would be more profitable if 
allowed to rest a year extra when in grass, and in good condition. 
Should you, Sir, think these remarks worthy a place in the 
Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, or otherwise, I shall 
be satisfied, and remain, 
Dear Sir, 
Your most obedient servant, 
George Turner. 
Sarton, near Exeter, October 15, 1844. 
XXIV. — A few Remarks on the large Hedges and small Enclosures 
of Devonshire and the adjoining Counties. By John Grant, 
Surveyor and Land Agent. 
Every practical farmer coming into Devonshire for the first time 
is struck with the fertility of the soil and the genial climate with 
which the county is favoured. He may not be equally struck with 
the quality of the farming, though this has of late made an im- 
mense stride ; but he is certainly astonished at the small quantity 
of the produce of the soil returned per acre, a much greater being 
produced in districts immeasurably behind Devon in natural ad- 
vantages. A superficial observer places this to the credit, or rather 
discredit, of the farmer : the practical man is not long in discerning 
that not the least of the causes is the baneful effiect of the high 
hedgerows and small enclosures, which add so much beauty to 
the scene at so great a cost to the landlord and tenant. 
Struck with these reflections I resolved to make some actual 
measurements, in order that the landed gentry and agriculturists 
of the county might see the full extent of the evil. 
At the present time there is a strong tendency towards improve- 
ment in farming; the general opinion being that none of the 
sciences is in so backward a state. But no very great advance 
can be made in this, and a great part of the adjoining counties, 
so long as the enclosures are so small, and the hedges so 
many and so large, that upwards of 7 ])er cent, of the land is 
occupied, besides that which is otherwise injured, by them. 
" What," it has been asked me by more than one intelligent and 
extensive farmer, " is the use of our being told that we should 
