OX INCLOSING LAX I)

3015

In regard to the form, size, and number of inclosures onany farm, these circumstances must be regulated by the na-ture of the soil, surface, and climate of the particular farm ;the purposes for which it is chiefly to be applied, and the ex-tent of the farm itself. In arable farms, the number of in-closures ought to be suitable to the plan of rotation intendedto be pursued, and their size therefore must be regulated byan attention to that important consideration, combined withthe size of the farm itself. Yet, on large arable farms, moreespecially if the soil be unequal in point of quality, it is ge-nerally found advantageous to have at least twice as many in-closures as the number of breaks or divisions in the proposedcourse of rotation. By this plan of subdivision, turnips, forinstance, may be drawn from a rich inclosure, and consum-ed by sheep, on the surface of one that is poor: A richerfield may be sown in wheat, barley, or early oats, accord-ing to circumstances; while one that is poorer in qualitymay be sown with bear or bigg, or with common oats: Aricher field in sown grass or clover may bci cut for hay orsoiling; while one that is poorer may be devoted to pasture.By this plan, likewise, the farmer has it in his power tochange his plans of rotation with more facility, or to intro-duce new, or improved, or double rotations. In a farm ofvarious soils, so subdivided, each individual field may have,in some measure, its own separate plan of rotation, contrivedto suit the nature and fertility of its own soil; the generalwants of the entire plan of the farm always being held in view.This v plan of subdivision, however, cannot be convenientlyfollowed, unless the farm consist of two or three hundredacres; as on small farms, so great a number of inclosureswould render each too small, and too great a proportion ofthe land would be occupied by the sites of fences.

In rich arable districts, where the soil is so extremely valua-ble, small fields are evidently productive of loss and inconve-nience. The growing corns suffer materially from the toesgreat closeness of the hedges, and the want of a free circula-