LAN LAN 
cart-boot, &c. And where they are carefully planted 
and prelerved, furnifti him with timber and alfo mail 
for his fwine ; or where the hedge-rows are planted 
with fruit-trees, there will be a fupply of fruit for cy- 
der, perry, &c. which in moft parts of England are 
of no fmall advantage to the hufbandman. 
By this method of inclofing, there is alfo much more 
employment for the poor, and is therefore a good re- 
medy againft beggary •, for in thole open countries, 
where there are great downs, commons, heaths, and 
waftes, there is nothing but poverty and idlenefs to 
be been amongft the generality of their inhabitants. It 
is very obfervable of late years, how much advan- 
tage the inclofing of the Land in Worcefterfhire, and 
fome other counties at a diftance from London, has 
been to the inhabitants : for before this method was 
introduced amongft them, the Lands for the moft part 
lay in commons, &c. Upon which the poorer fort of 
people built themfelves cottages with mud walls, 
where they contented themfelves with a cow or two, 
and fome fwine ; and thole of them who were more 
induftrious than the reft, travelled to the neighbour- 
hood of London every fpring, where they were em- 
ployed in the gardens and fields for the fummer feafon ; 
and in autumn they returned to their native countries, 
wherb they lived in winter upon what money they had 
laved in fummer. But fince they have converted 
their waftes and commons into inclofures, there are 
but few of the inhabitants of thole countries, who 
come to London for work, in comparifon to the 
numbers that formerly came ; fo that moft of the 
labourers, who come to London for employment, 
are either Welch, or inhabitants of fome more diftant 
counties, or from Ireland, where this improvement 
hath not as yet been introduced. 
The advantages of inclofing Land are now fo gene- 
rally known, that there is no occafion for me to enu- 
merate them here ; fince the improvements which 
have been made of late years in feveral parts of Eng- 
land, and the increafe of rent that is every where made 
by thofe who inclofe, are fufficient arguments to en- 
force the practice, and render it general ; more efpe- 
cially in the north, where it is moft negle&ed, be- 
caufe it would greatly fhelter the Lands, and render 
them much warmer than they now are. 
In inclofing of Land, regard Ihould be had to the 
nature of the foil, and what it is intended for, be- 
caufe Corn Land Ihould not be divided into fmall par- 
cels ; for befides the lofs of ground in hedges, &c. 
the Corn doth feldom thrive fo well in fmall inclo- 
fures, as in more open fields, efpecially where the 
trees are large in the hedge-rows. The Grafs alfo in 
paftures is not fo fweet near hedges, or under the 
drip of trees, as in an open expofure fo that where 
the inclofures are made too fmall, or the Land over- 
planted with trees, the herbage will not be near fo 
good, nor in fo great plenty, as in larger fields ; 
therefore, before a perfon begins to inclofe, he fhould 
well confider how he may do it to the greateft advan- 
tage •, as for inftance, it is always necelfary to have 
fome fmaller inclofures near the habitation, for the 
flicker of cattle, and the conveniency of fliifting them 
from one field to another, as the feafon of the year 
may require j and hereby the habitation, barns, {ta- 
bles, and outhoufes, will be better defended from 
ftrong winds, which often do great damage to thofe 
that are expofed to their fury. Thefe fmall inclofures 
may be of feveral dimeniions, fome of them three, 
four, fix, or eight acres in extent ; but the larger di- 
vifions for Corn fhould not contain lefs than twenty or 
thirty acres or more, according to the fize of the farm, 
or the fituation of it. 
'The ufual method of inclofing Land is, with a ditch 
and bank fet with quick. But in rnarfh Land, where 
there is plenty of water, they content themfelves with 
only a ditch, by the fides of which they ufually plant 
Sallows or Poplars, which being of quick growth, in 
a few years afford {hade to the cattle •, and when they 
are lopped, produce a confiderable profit to their own- 
ers. In fome counties the divifion of their Lands is 
by dry Walls made of fiat ftones, laid regularly one 
upon another, and laying the top courfe of ftones in 
day, to keep them together, the" weight of which fe- 
cures the under ones. But in fome parts of Suffex 
and Hampftiire, they often lay the foundation of their 
banks with fiat ftones, which is of a confiderable 
breadth at bottom ; upon which they raife the bank 
of earth, and plant the hedge on the top, which in a 
few years makes a ftrong durable fence, efpecially if 
they are planted with Holly, as fome of thofe in Suf- 
fex are. 
In marfhes and open paftures, where there are no 
hedges, the ditches are generally made fix feet wide 
at the top, efpecially thofe which are on the fide of 
highways or commons ; but the common ditches 
about inclofures are feldom more than three feet and a 
half wide at top, and one foot and a half at bottom, 
and two feet deep, that the fides may have a good 
Hope, and not be too upright, as they are frequently 
made about London, fo that they are continually 
waffling down with great rains. In thefe narrow bot- 
tomed ditches, the cattle cannot ftand to turn them- 
felves, fo as to crop the quick ; but where the ditches 
are made wider, they fliould be proportionally deeper : 
as for inftance, if the ditch is made five feet broad, it 
muft be three feet deep -, and if fix feet broad, three 
feet and a half deep, and lo in proportion. 
The method of inclofing Lands, by raifing high 
banks of earth, on the fide of which the quick is 
planted (as is too much practifed in many places near 
London) is intolerable, for it is not only unfightly, 
but very expenfive ; becaufe thefe banks are continu- 
ally waffling down, fo that they mi lift be repaired 
every year at leaft, if not oftener, otherwise the 
earth will be in a few years waihed from the roots of 
the quick, and for want of proper nourifhment, the 
hedge will foon decay, which is the cafe with the 
greateft number of the hedges about London : be- 
lides, it is a very uncertain way of planting quick on 
the fide of a fteep bank, where all the moifture runs 
off ; fo that if the fpring Ihould prove dry after it is 
planted, there is a great hazard whether half the 
plants will grow, and thofe that take feldom make 
much progrefs •, whereas thofe planted on the plain 
furface, where they enjoy the advantages of fun and 
moifture, will in four years make a better fence than 
one of thefe bank hedges will in eight or ten, and 
will continue good much longer than the other. 
Therefore I advife, that the banks on which the 
hedges are to be planted, fliould not be raifed more 
than one foot above the furface of the ground, where 
the Land is dry, and in wet Land not more than two 
feet, which will be enough. 
I fliall now mention the moft proper plants for mak- 
ing of fences for the different foils and fituations, fo 
as to aniwer the expectation of the planter : and firft, 
the white Thom is efteemed the beft for fencing, and 
will grow upon almoft any foil and in any fituation, 
but it fucceeds beft on a hazle loam. Of this there 
are three or four varieties, which differ in the breadth 
of their leaves and the fize of their Haws, but that fort 
with the fmalleft leaves and Haws will make the clofeft 
fence. For it is very certain, that the branches of all 
forts of trees are produced at a diftance, in propor- 
tion to the fize of their leaves i fo that Yews, and 
other Evergreen trees with fmall leaves, will always 
make a clofer hedge than other trees whofe leaves are 
larger. Therefore, for the clofeft hedge, the fmalleft 
Haws ihould be chofen •, but where the moft vigorous 
{hooters are required, for the advantage of lopping,, 
there the largeft Haws Ihould be preferred. But as 
thefe hedges are ufually planted from a nurfery, where 
the Haws are promifeuoufly fown, it is very common 
to fee two or three forts planted in the fame hedge 
which may be eafily diftinguiftied, when they have 
obtained ftrength, by the difference of their growth. 
Indeed, where a perfon is curious in raifing of his own 
quick, it is worth while to gather the Haws fepa- 
rately, and fow them apart ; and each fort ihould be 
planted in a feparate hedge, which will render the 
7 hedges 
iAt 
