FENCES. 533 



American army in every baltle-field ! Glorious for the national arms as have 

 been the results of every encounter, where the science of the school has directed 

 the valor of the soldier ; how yet much more beneficial for the great interests 

 of society would it be to have schools in every State, that would insure scientific 

 direction, every day, and every year, to the whole agricultural industry of the 

 country ! 



In alluding, however, to the diflRculty of procuring highly qualified professors, 

 in the various departments as described in the preceding article, we ought to add, 

 that if we rightly appreciate Mr. Gowen's temper, it is just of that sort, which 

 difficulties only stimulate until they are overcome. We need hardly add, far- 

 ther, that we hope and wish for his enterprise all the success to which its great 

 usefulness entitles it — amply provided for, and well conducted, as we cannot 

 doubt it will be. 



FENCES,- 



A BURDEN ON THE AMERICAN FARMER. 

 To the Editor of The Farmers' Library : Maryland, April, 1847. 



Sir : As the friend of Agricultural Reform, I have taken the liberty of address- 

 ing you on a subject of vital importance to the farmer of every State in the 

 Union, and more particularly important is it to those of the old States, where 

 every year the scarcity of timber is becoming more apparent. I allude to the 

 presentisystem of inclosing land, or, in other words, it may be called the " fence 

 oppression." Did the intelligent farmer reflect a moment and estimate the annu- 

 al tax which his fences impose upon him, he would not rest till the system was 

 abolished, or else the live hedge took the place of the present expensive fence 

 of timber. 



The system of compelling every landholder to inclose his property is peculiar 

 to the United States, with only the exception of England, where the fence nui- 

 sance appears again under the form of the hedge ; and although these hawthorn 

 hedges, when they are well tended — and not more than half of them are so — 

 are beautiful objects, and answer all the purposes of protection against the 

 inroads of cattle, still the public voice is beginning to cry out against them, 

 because of the enormous amount of land required to support them. Each hedge 

 is 5 or 6 feet wide at its base, and taking into account the amount of land they 

 exhaust on either side, the whole space cannot be less than 12 or 14 feet wide. 

 When it is recollected that the divisions and subdivisions of land in England are 

 very numerous, the amount of arable land abstracted from the purposes of Agri- 

 culture is very great. It has been estimated at several million bushels of grain. 



Now turn a moment and look at the situation of things on the Continent, par- 

 ticularly in France, Germany and Italy. In these countries a fence of any kind 

 is a rare sight ; cattle are never seen unattended (unless tethered) on the fields. 

 If the farmer has a piece of land he wishes to graze, the cattle or sheep are put 

 under charge of the shepherd's dog, and with his sagacity and the docility of the 

 animals, but little difiiculty is experienced in confining them to a limited spot. 

 Sometimes fi little boy or girl may be observed holding the cords attaciied to the 

 horns of 3 or 4 cows, while they graze quietly around.* In connection with this sub- 

 ject, it may be proper to remark, that neither in Great Britain or on the Continent 

 are cattle allowed to go at large upon the public highways. In journeying through 

 France — now one of the best cultivated countries in Europe, 100 square miles 

 producing, probably, at least as much as the same amount in England — it seems 



* In Turkey they consider an annual gras.fin,^ of three weeks as necessary to the health and condition 

 of their horBes. About the 1ft May th(;y are sent into the country and placed in fields of grass or grain 

 which has just arrived at a mowing stale. Each horac is tethered to a stake by a rope al.out eight feet 

 long ; this gives them a circle of sixteen feet diameter to feed from, fiom which, when they have eaten 

 close, the stake is drawn and moved to a fresh spot, a very economical plan of consuming the product of 

 a field. All the horses wore heavy woolen covers. 

 (1053) 



