Disappearing dykes
Sir: I have roughly ten miles of dry-stone walls (we call them dykes) on this farm, and while my attitude is different from that ap- parently taken by Gloucestershire farmers (Letters, 18 June) — we maintain them as we value the shelter they give to stock — I think it is worth pointing out that a major cause of the disappearance of dykes is government policy. Although dykes look like permanent landscape features, they are always falling down, in this district mainly because of slipping foundations, often pushed apart by frosts; I have to repair about 200 yards each year.
For this back-breaking work I receive no financial assistance, and ask for none. However, were 1 to give up repairs, the dykes would cease to be stock-proof in a year or two, and I would then be able to claim a 50 per cent grant towards the cost of erecting wire fences in their place.
Humphrey Errington
Lockhouse Farm, Beattock, Moffat, Dumfriesshire
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