Too Many Fences 337 



which served to discourage some of the larger 

 wild animals from destroying the crops. It is 

 easily seen why om^ ancestors in the wooded dis- 

 tricts fenced the farm into small fields. In some 

 cases the surface stones were so numerous on 

 the land that the larger ones had to be re- 

 moved to make way for the plow. Naturally 

 they were used for constructing fences, for the 

 most economical way to get rid of these too 

 numerous stones was to make fences of them. 

 The haul was short and the fences could be 

 increased in width and height until storage 

 room was provided for all the rocks which the 

 farmer cared to remove. So here, too, the 

 temptation was great to fence the farm into 

 small fields. The following diagrams show the 

 fields and the fences as they were on the old 

 homestead, and also as they are at the present 

 time (Fig. 137). 



Changed agricultural conditions imply fewer 

 fences and the adoption, in part at least, of the 

 soiling system. Then, too, the introduction of 

 the horn -fly makes a radical change imperative 

 in the summering of the dairy. This worst of 

 all dairy pests robs the cow of flesh and the 

 owner of profit. 



Now that the silo is an assured success, 

 except under rare conditions, soiling, or the 

 partial soiling system, should be adopted on 



