STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 67 



and I desire that onr farmers should begin to reflect upon this subject, 

 and see if it is not time to commence a reform in that direction." He 

 then advises the farmers of New York to wisel}^ prepare themselves 

 for a change that is sure to come, sooner or later, and says he has already 

 commenced the change by doubling the size of hia fields, lessening the 

 quantity of inside or division fences, and strengthening the outside fences, 

 assuming these will bo the last they will dispense witb. Now, if the 

 farmers of Europe, after a long experience, which has brought them to 

 understand this question in all its business and economical bearings, have 

 not only stopped the outlay for sustaining fences, but are actually grub- 

 bing up the green hedges, which they had to some extent substituted 

 instead, and the farmers of New York and other old Eastern States, 

 almost all of whom have the necessary timber for fencing growing on 

 their own farms, and have only to cut and split it into stakes and rails to 

 prepare it for use, have deliberately come to the conclusion that they have 

 heretofore been acting upon the wrong principle, and unnecessaril}'' 

 incurring a large expense, and are earnestly preparing to dispense with 

 this expense in the future, ought not the subject at least to claim the 

 calm and unprejudiced consideration, not only of the agriculturist, but 

 also of all others who have the best interests of the State at heart, and 

 who by their position and influence help to shape the policy of Califor- 

 nia in this respect? We, as an agricultural community, are now passing 

 through that trjnng and discouraging period to which nearly all new 

 States have been subject, resulting from a want of constant and capa- 

 cious markets for our products, and easy and cheap communication 

 between the great producing districts and those markets; and now is 

 the time, not only to curtail our present expenses, but to seek out and 

 adopt those principles and rules of action to which we may profitably 

 adhere in the future, when more prosperous times await us. 



The expense of building and keeping fences in repair in California, 

 owing to the distance of proper and available timber from the agricul- 

 tural districts, and the cost of transportation, is probably greater than 

 any other country in the world. 



In New York, by the estimates of Mr. Cornell, a good rail and stake 

 fence can be built for thirty cents a rod, or ninety-six dollars a mile — 

 costing one hundred and ninety-two dollars to build a good fence around 

 a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. In California a good post and 

 plank fence, the cheapest good fence that can be built, will cost two 

 dollars and nineteen cents a rod, or seven hundred dollars a mile, and 

 fourteen hundred dollars to inclose the same sized farm. In connection 

 with this fact, let us look at the relative prices of some of the products 

 of the farm in the two States. 



In New York, wheat at wholesale prices is worth two dollars and a 

 half per bushel, and barley is worth one dollar and twenty cents ; while 

 in California wheat is worth only one dollar and twenty cents per 

 bushel, and barley but fifty cents. Add to these facts another very 

 material one, that while in New York the farmer sells his wheat and 

 barley in the bulk, in California he is obliged to sack all his grain for 

 market at an expense of from fifteen to twent}'- cents per bushel, thus in 

 effect reducing the above prices that amount per bushel — and is there 

 any difficulty in solving the problem of the unprofitableness of th,e pres- 

 ent system of fencing farms and raising grain in California, and of the 

 necessity of a change to prevent universal banki'uptcy to this interest? 



It is estimated by a gentleman for a long time in tlie grain business in 

 this State as a merchant and owner of flouring mills, that the annual 



