The above calculations do not include the strips which are so often found alongside fences, covered by brambles, blackthorns, and other rubbish. Now we have seen what is the quantity of land occupied by fences, it will be our province to ascertain to what extent they may be reduced in size, and yet remain as useful to the agriculturist. The following table will exhibit the saving per hundred acres, by reducing the width of fences:— TABLE OF REDUCTION OF FENCES. +--------------------+---------+--------+------+-------+--------+------+ | | Width, |Width to| | Length| Saving | | | Geological |as in the| which |Saving| per | in |Saving| | Formation. |preceding| fences | in | hedge,|quantity| per | | | table. | may be |width.| per | per | cent.| | | |reduced.| | acre. | acre. | | +--------------------+---------+--------+------+-------+--------+------+ | | Links. | Links. |Links.|Chains.|Perches.| | |1. Red Sandstone | 15 | 9 | 6 | 2·83 | 2·71 |1-7/10| |2. Lias | 18 | 10½ | 7½ | 3·22 | 3·86 |2-2/5 | |3. Oolite, Forest }| | | | | | | | Marble, and }| 12 | 7½ | 4½ | 1·88 | 1·35 |0-7/8 | | Cornbrash }| | | | | | | |4. Oxford Clay | 16 | 9½ | 6½ | 2·53 | 2·63 |1-2/3 | |5. Coralline Oolite | 14 | 8½ | 5½ | 1·88 | 1·65 |1 | |6. Kimmeridge Clay | 16½ | 10½ | 6 | 2·28 | 2·18 |1-3/8 | |7. Upper & Lower }| 12 | 7 | 5 | 1·79 | 1·43 |0-9/10| | Chalk }| | | | | | | +--------------------+---------+--------+------+-------+--------+------+ The average quantity of the above saving is 1⅖ for every 100 acres. If this saving were effected, which is quite practicable, it would increase the cultivated land in England and Wales 490,000 acres, and would be similar in its effect to the addition of a new county, nearly equal in extent to Nottinghamshire, and somewhat larger than Berkshire.”—_Morton’s Cyclopædia of Agriculture_, p. 859. The above is the evidence of a highly practical gentleman as regards the loss by bad, wide, and straggling fences; and if we add to this the additional loss and injury which the land sustains by the growth of hedge-row timber, we shall find that we have even a greater account to settle. Now, if we inquire into the nature of these evils, we shall find that they result from shade, drip, and exhaustion by roots.