502 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



in the Farmers' ReTister, before ihe close of this i cording to the American system, each half of 



, , °] r •^.. n.iih tiipthis larm would be surrounded by a lence, and 



volume, and the end of our connexion wnh the almost every portion within their enclosures would 



publication, but which now must necessarily be 



excluded, for want of room. 



In the (bllowing article will be seen views on 

 this same subject, and esiimatps o!' lose thereby 

 incurred, from Pennsylvania. But there the law 

 of enclosure, bad as this writer shows its opera- 

 tion to be, is not half so cosily as the Jaw of Vir- 

 ginia would be there. In Pennsylvania, as we 

 understand, and in most if not all other states 

 north of Virgmia, hogs are not permitted by law 

 to go at large, and therefore the fences are not re- 

 quired to exclude boss, and therefore they need 

 not have more than half as many rails, or to cost 

 more than half the money. If the law of Virginia 

 was in (brce in Pennsylvania, the (bllowing esti- 

 mate of the cost of fencing would have to be in- 

 creased 100 per cent.; or if in Virginia there was 

 introduced merely the partial relief which the law 

 of Pennsylvania would afford, the present enor- 

 mous cost of i'ences might be reduced one hal(^ — 

 Ed. F. R.] 



From the. Pliiladelphia Public Ledger. 



One of the greatest differences betw( en the 

 United States and any civilized country of Eu- 

 rope, which an agricultural traveller would dis- 

 cover in passing over both, is in ihe fences. In 

 Europe, no'hing is fenced but the nasture. In 

 the United States, every thing is fenced but the 

 pasture. In the former, every pro[Kietor of cattle 

 fences them against trespass on his neighbors. 

 In the latter, every proprietor ol crops fences them 

 against the cattle of every body. In the former, 

 he may pass over extensive regions of growing 

 crops, without seeing a single lence upon the road, 

 or a single animal at liberty in it. In the latter 

 he could not find a mile o!' highway without fences 

 on both sides, and scarcely travel a mile without 

 meeting cattle at large. 



Which custom is the best ? The question is 

 easily decided by a calculation of the cost. Every 

 Ameiican farmer will say that fencing is his great- 

 est agricultural expense, and that he incurs this 

 expense because fencing is his first agricultmal 

 want. He will say thai a farm without a fence is 

 like a house without a chimney, or a ship without 

 masts and a rudder, a thing utterly useless, be- 

 cause incapable of being used. Therefore in buy- 

 ing an old farm, his first inquiry is about the 

 fences ; and in buying a new one, his first care is 

 to fence it. A western farmer, who buys new 

 land, will say that he must dear and fence before 

 he can raise a crop. All that is wrong. Insiead 

 of fencing crops, the farmer should fence cattle ; 

 he should build fences merely to confine cattle, 

 instead of building fences every where to confine 

 every thing against cattle. Let us suppose a 

 farm extending a mile upon each side of a high- 

 way, and half a mile at right angles to the high- 

 way upon each side, and containing fifty acres 

 of pasture in one body. This farm contains a 

 square mile, or six hundred and forty acres. Ac- 



be fenced excepting the pasture. Thus the 

 mowing grounds would be iienced, the corn-fields 

 would he fenced, the wheat fields would be fenced, 

 every thing would be fenced but the pasture ; 

 and upon a moderate comi)utation, this farm 

 would contain ten miles offence. Thus two miles 

 would bound the highway, two more parallel 

 with these, would divide it from the adjacent land 

 and the halt mile at each end, on each side of 

 the highway, would amount to two mi es more, 

 the whole being six milts; and the li^ncing of 

 fields within this outside lence against neighbors 

 and the highway, wou'd amount to lour miles. 

 Ten miles contttin 3,200 rods ; and estimating 

 the first cost of this lence at two dollars lor the 

 rod, we shall find a first cost of $6,400 ! The 

 interest of this at six per cent, is only $384 ! ! 

 And if the annual expense of keeping this tience 

 in perpetual repair be only twelve cents and a 

 hall per rod, though we believe it would be much 

 more, the annual tax upon this farm for fencing, 

 besides the interest on the capital sunk, would be 

 $400! Therefore the whole annual expense of 

 ihis lieucmg is $784 ! ! 



Now let us examine the European system. 

 Under this, all lencing would be dispensed with 

 excepting that lor the pasture; and if this, con- 

 taining fifty acres, he ten acres in lengih by five 

 in breadth, it would require 480 or 360 rods of 

 fence. An acre contains 16U square rods, or a 

 space 20 rods in lengih and 8 rods in breadth. 

 Then if this field were 200 rods in length and 

 loriy in breadth, or 100 in length and 80 in 

 breadth, it would in either case, contain an 

 area ol 8000 rods, or 50 acres. Any other cora- 

 binaiioii o( length and breadth upon fifty acres 

 would give a length of fence approximating to 

 one or the other of these numbers. Bui assuming 

 the highest number 480 rods, we find a first cost 

 lor lencing the pasture of $960, an annual interest 

 upon it of $57.60, and an annual tax lor repairs, 

 of $60, and a whole annual tax of $117.60. 

 The reader will perceive some difference in capital 

 sunk between $6400 and 960; and in annual tax 

 between $784 and 117.60! The capital saved at 

 first is only $5440; and the capital saved from 

 annual tax in ten years, without any estimate 

 of annual interest on the savings is only $6664 ! 

 Such if the difference between iencing cattle out 

 of a corn-field, and fijncing ihera in a pasture! 

 But this is not all the difference. At compound 

 interest of six per cent., a capital is doubled in 

 about twelve years. Then if two farmers begin, 

 each with a square mile of land equally divided 

 by a highway, and each containing fifty acres 

 of pasture, both under equal cultivation but with- 

 out fences, and one farmer adopt Ihe American, 

 and the otlier the European system of lencing, 

 what will be the difference between them at the 

 end of twelve years? Let us calculate. The 

 American begins with fencing his farm complete- 

 ly, upon an expenditure of $6400, and keeps this 

 lence in repair at an annual expenditure of $400. 

 At the end of twelve years, he possesses a well 

 lenced fiirm, which has cost him $12,800 in 

 capital sunk lor fences, and $4800 in annual re- 

 pairs, and $1817 in interest on these repairs; the 

 aggregate being $19,417 ! The European begins 



