362 



FARM DEVELOPMENT 



expensive for fencing, unless in exceptional situations, 

 as about small paddocks near the barns, and even here 

 heavy woven wire is better, except where tight fences 

 are especially needed to serve as protection from cold 

 winds. Rails and poles in the place of boards serve the 

 purpose of the pioneer with whom the poles are some- 

 times more easily 

 procured than the 

 money with which to 

 purchase wire. Thus, 

 tamarack poles often 

 serve a good purpose 

 in wooded districts, as 

 do also poles from the 

 quickly grown willow 

 and other trees in the 

 prairie regions. But 

 fences made in this 

 way are short lived, 

 and, at the best, are 



Figure 247. Anchoring fence ribbon between posts not nearly SO Safe aS 

 miikes it possible to use fewer posts. . 



are wire fences. The 



old-fashioned rail fences are made up in a number of dif- 

 ferent ways, but cannot be classed as very satisfactory 

 fences. They are often blown down by heavy winds, are 

 rubbed down by cattle, require considerable labor to 

 keep them in repair, and are not very durable. 



Hedge fences have been much used in mild climates, 

 as in England and in some of the middle and Southern 

 states, but they have almost dropped out of use for field 

 fences, and wire is supplanting them. They add much 

 to the beauty of the landscape if kept in repair and 

 travelers think they add much to the country, but they 

 are usually poor field fences. Where a portion of a hedge 

 dies out animals can pass through the gap ; besides, gaps 

 soon make a fence look ragged and weak. Very many 



