ARID AGRICULTURE. 399 



omj. The time is coming when a ranch or farm 

 will not be considered one unless fenced with 

 woven wire, or something else equally as good. 

 Barbed wire is the material usually used. ^X<t 

 less than three or four strands of barbed wire 

 should be used. A poor fence teaches stock to 

 be breachy, and causes loss by the stock getting 

 tangled in it and being killed or injured with 

 wire cuts. One of the most important problems 

 met with in the arid region is the securing of 

 suitable fence posts. Over much of the region 

 pitch pine, white pine, cedar, cottonwood, or 

 willow posts may be secured. Posts made of iron 

 pipe set in cement are sometimes used. Cement 

 posts are now being made, but they are usually 

 too expensive for the new-comer. A good re- 

 inforced cement post costs from thirty to fifty 

 cents. 



TREATMENT A> posts of some kind of timber are ordina- 



rily used, it will be found advisable to treat them 

 to increase their length of life. An ordinary, 

 dry cottonwood or spruce post placed in the 

 ground will rot off in two years. Posts made of 

 mountain spruce are very short-lived. Pitch- 

 pine or cedar posts will last from ten to fifteen 

 years when set in the ground. Many ranchmen 

 who have land to spare build buck fences. The 

 bucks are made by setting a post at an angle of 

 from thirty to forty-five degrees, supporting 

 them with one. or two sticks used as props set in 



or POSTS 



