THE FARM AND FARM BUILDINGS. 485 



dary lines, from description in the deed ; and you can pace off 

 the starting points of division-fences, so as to make a map good 

 enough for your own use. When the winter has really set in, 

 and you have long evenings and stormy days for house-work, 

 study well this map, and develop a plan for future operations : 

 what to do about fieldings ; what fences to remove, so as to 

 enlarge fields ; what to rebuild ; what land, if any, to drain ; 

 what crops to plant ; what stock to keep ; how to improve the 

 pastures ; which meadows to break up ; which to top-dress and 

 bring into better mowing condition. These, and a hundred other 

 questions, will present themselves, and they must all be decided 

 with the most careful judgment. Though you do your best, 

 many mistakes will occur ; and when, in the spring, you come 

 to review in the field the winter's work in the house, you will 

 see many reasons for changing plans. But, for all that, these 

 plans will be profitable in many ways, and you will be in a 

 better position to decide on the best course, after having made 

 them. 



FENCES. 



It will be a happy day for American farmers when they can 

 escape the necessity for building expensive fences, and can 

 bring into their fields, and into clean cultivation^ the weedy 

 headlands which are now worse than wasted. But that day 

 will not come in many long years, and, for the present, we must 

 content ourselves with making them with as little expense, and 

 as little of a nuisance as possible. 



In the ordinary management of a farm, fences must be had 

 around all fields, and in whole or in part for pasture. Lawful 

 fences must also be built around the entire farm and along the 

 roads. The smallest amount of fencing that will accomplish 

 this should be carefully considered. In the usual methods of 

 farming, pasture-lands should be divided into smaller lots than 

 the lands to be used for raising crops. In fact, lands used for 

 cultivation need not be burdened with inside fences. Fences 

 are always in the way of the plow and other machinery, and 

 should be eliminated wherever possible. It is impossible to 

 establish any universal rule for all farms, or for all farmers ; but 

 it may be stated, as a general rule, that fences are an expensive 



