560 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



in a better condition than they commonly are. Horses often receive injuries that render 

 them lame for life through such negligence, to say nothing of the danger to the life and limb 

 of the driver, while the wear and breakage of wagons and carts are no small item in this 

 connection. Roads when not properly cared for will also become so worn by constant use, 

 that the middle of the bed will be concave instead of convex, where the water readily col 

 lects and often makes a channel lengthwise until it finds an outlet, cutting gullies in its 

 course, A single rain-storm will frequently cause great damage to a road when in this con 

 dition, while if but a small proportion of the amount necessary to expend in properly repair 

 ing it had been devoted to keeping it in good condition at first, time and money would have 

 been saved. Good roads on a farm, as well as in the locality of it, are not only a very great 

 convenience, but increase the value of land. Such farms will always find a more ready and 

 remunerative sale, other conditions being equal, than those that are not thus provided with 

 proper means of transit from one point to another. 



FARM FENCES. 



TO what extent farm fences are a necessity, is a question that is at present attracting 

 considerable attention from agriculturists. That an immense amount of needless 

 expenditure in time and money are employed in making and keeping in repair fences 

 that are not only of no practical benefit to the farm, but which, if dispensed with, would 

 greatly improve in appearance the lands which they enclose, cannot be denied. In no 

 country on the whole globe is there such an enormous fence-tax as in the United States. In 

 fact, it might be stated in a general sense, that the custom of entirely encircling farms and 

 separating one owner s lands from another by fences, is an innovation, and one that is pecu 

 liar to this country. 



In Germany, England, Italy, and many other countries of the Old World, long under 

 cultivation, and containing a dense population, fences for the purpose of marking the terminus 

 of land, or as lines of demarkation, are rarely seen. In this country, especially in many 

 portions of New England, farms in many instances are divided and subdivided by lines of 

 fences that enclose small areas, and which must have cost, in the aggregate, nearly as much if 

 not more to construct, than the entire farms, in some cases, will now sell for. Frequently 

 these lines of division have little or no regularity, and seem to be entirely without any 

 established plan or system. 



Under the usages and customs of a former generation, who, in settling their country, 

 first cleared a field and then fenced and cultivated it, permitting the farm stock to run in the 

 uncleared portions, this system of fencing was inaugurated. But the necessities of that 

 remote period are not the necessities of to-day, and the customs and usages of that generation 

 are not essential to the present. 



&quot;While fences on a farm seem, to a certain extent, to Tbe a necessity, yet, according to the 

 former custom of fencing, they are far more extensive than is essential, except, perhaps, in 

 the prairie regions; and that which is spent in making and keeping them in repair might 

 much more profitably be appropriated to other purposes. 



Surplus fences are not only expensive and unprofitable, but they are an incumbrance to 

 the land. Many of them are so constructed that they take up valuable land that might 

 otherwise be under cultivation, such as the stone walls common in many portions of New 

 England, the zigzag or Virginia fence, etc. Besides, the general appearance of a farm that 

 is not divided by numerous lines of fences is much more in conformity with good taste. 



