ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE. 47 r 



is presumed until the contrary is estab- 

 lished; assessors and commissioners of 

 highways perform the duties of fence- 

 viewers. 



Pennsylvania. — In Pensylvania towns 

 and counties secure special legislation as 

 to the running of stock or other cattle at 

 large. Fences in New Jersey are required 

 to be four feet and two inches in height, 

 if of post and rails, timber, boards, 

 brick or stone ; other fences must be four 

 and a half feet, and close and strong 

 enough to prevent horses and neat cattle 

 from going through or under. Partition 

 fences most be proof against sheep* 

 Ditches and drains made in or through 

 salt marshes and meadows for fencing 

 and draining the same, being five feet 

 wide and three feet deep, and all ditches 

 or drains made through other meadows 

 being nine feet wide at the surface and 

 four and a half feet wide at the bottom, 

 three feet deep, and lying on mud or 

 miry bottom, are considered lawful fences. 

 Division fences must be equally main- 

 tained. If one party ceases improving 

 he cannot take away his fence without 

 first having given twelve months' notice. 

 Hedge growing is encouraged by law. 



Delaware. — In Newcastle and Kent 

 Counties, Delaware, a good structure of 

 wood or stone, or well-set thorn four and 

 a half feet high, or four feet with a ditch 

 within two feet is a lawful fence; in 

 Sussex County four feet is the height 

 required. Fence-viewers are appointed by 

 the court of general sessions in each 

 ••hundred." Partition fences are provided 

 for the same as in other States. 



Maryland, Virginia, "West Virginia, 

 and North Carolina — There is no general 

 law in Maryland regulating fences, the 

 law being local and applicable to par- 

 ticular counties. In Virginia a lawful 

 fence is five feet in height, including the 

 mound to the bottom of the ditch, if the 

 fence is built on a mound. Certain 

 water courses are specified as equivalent 

 to fences. Four feet is the height of a 

 legal fence in West Virginia, and five 

 feet in North Carolina. In the latter 

 State persons neglecting to keep their 

 fences in order during the season ot 

 crops are deemed guilty of misdemeanor, 

 and are also liable to damages. Certain 

 rivers are declared sufficient fences. 



South Carolina. — In South Carolina 



fences are required to be six feet high 

 around "provisions." All fences strongly 

 and closely made of rails, boards, post 

 and rails, or an embankment of earth 

 capped with rails or timber of any sort, 

 or live hedges five feet in height, measured 

 from the level or surface of the earth, are 

 deemed lawful; and every planter is 

 bound to keep up such lawful fence 

 around his cultivated grounds, except 

 where a navigable stream or deep water- 

 course may be a boundary. No stakes or 

 canes that might injure horses or cattle: 

 are allowed in an inclosure. 



Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Missis- 

 sippi. — The laws of Georgia provide that 

 all fences, or inclosures commonly called 

 worm fences, shall be five feet high, and 

 from the ground to the height of three 

 feet the rails must not be more than four 

 inches apart. All paling fences are 

 required to be five feet from the ground, 

 and the poles not more than two inches- 

 apart. Any inclosure made by means 

 of a ditch or trench must be three feet 

 wide and two feet deep, and if made of 

 both fence and ditch, the latter must be 

 four feet wide and the fence five feet high 

 from the bottom of the ditch. All water- 

 courses that are or have been navigable are- 

 deemed legal fences as far up the stream, 

 as navigation has ever extended, when- 

 ever, by reason of freshets or otherwise,, 

 fences cannot be kept, and are subject to- 

 the rules applicable to other fences. The 

 fences in Florida are required to be five 

 feet in height, but where there is a ditch 

 four feet wide the five feet may be 

 measured from the bottom of the ditch. 

 If the fence is not strictly according to law, 

 no action for tresspass or damages by 

 stock will lie. In Alabama all inclos- 

 ures or fences must be at least five feet 

 high, and, if made of rails, be well staked 

 and ridered, or otherwise sufficiently 

 locked; and from the ground to the 

 height of three feet the rails must not be 

 more than four inches apart; if made ot 

 palings, the poles must be not more than 

 three inches apart; or if made with » 

 ditch, four feet wide at the top; the fence, 

 of whatever materials composed, must be 

 five feet high from the bottom of the 

 ditch and three feet from the top of the 

 bank, and close enough to prevent stock 

 of any kind from getting through. No 

 suit for damages can be maintained if the 



