The open-field districts were by no means entirely lacking in
hedges. Small closes used as paddocks were common immedi-
ately round the villages; and walls or hedges might be made
along the parish boundary, both to separate the common pas-
ture of one village from that of another, and to provide shelter.
Similarly the meadow might be separated from the arable fields
by a hedge; but not the arable fields from the common pas-
ture, because the boundary was indeterminate; the better the
ploughing season, the further the arable stretched.
The enclosed districts had a much larger proportion of their
area under grass, and devoted much more attention to the
production of meat and dairy products; the traditional associa-
tion of Devonshire and Dorset with butter, of Somerset (Ched-
dar), Gloucestershire, and Cheshire with cheese, holds to this
day. A greater variety of crops was cultivated in the south-



XX INTRODUCTION

eastern corner of England, Kent particularly being famous for
cherry orchards and hop gardens.
Throughout the eighteenth century there was controversy
over the respective advantages of oxen and horses for plough-
ing. Those controversialists who found their way into print
generally advocated oxen, but this did not prevent a practical
preference for horses from being gradually established. During
the first half of the century, however, the type of ox that was
most admired was one more suitable for the plough than for the
butcher, with big, solid bones.
Every parish, whether in the open-field or the enclosed coun-
try, was a unit of social life and governmental organization.
