132 



JV. Biddle's Address. 



Vol. VI] 



we will not keep the weeds out by plough- 

 ing, we ought, at least, to give the corn a 

 larger share of the field, so as to have twice 

 the quantity of corn, and only half the quan- 

 tity of weeds. 



But the most serious grievance in our 

 farming, and one to which I ask your special 

 attention, is our very bad system of fencing. 

 When the country was first settled, it was 

 natural in felling the timber, to enclose with 

 the logs, the clearing, just as in New Eng- 

 land, the stones on a farm may be as well 

 formed into a fence, as carried further. But 

 as wood became scarcer, the expense has in- 

 creased, till now it has become a real op- 

 pression. I have heard of a farm surrounded 

 by a cedar fence, which would actually sell 

 at auction for more than the farm itself. A 

 most respectable member of our Society has 

 assured me that the fencing of his farm, of 

 perhaps 300 acres, cost him 5,000 dollars. 

 The extent of this burthen in Pennsylvania, 

 will surprise you all, as it astonished me 

 when I came to make this calculation, which 

 is of course very rough, but as I give the 

 elements of it, you may rectify its errors. 



The whole surface of Pennsylvania is said 

 to be 2S,000,000 of acres. Deduct for un- 

 enclosed lands, wliat seems to be a large al- 

 lowance, say 18,000,000, and there remain 

 enclosed in a post and rail fence, 10,000,000. 



The size of* the lots into which they are 

 sub-divided, varies; near laTge cities and 

 towns, the lots are of a very few acres — in 

 remoter places they are larger; but for con- 

 venience, I have assumed as a basis of cal- 

 culation, that the sub-divisions of a Penn- 

 sylvania farm are on an average, about 10 

 acres. 



Now, to enclose a field of 10 acres, you 

 have on each side 660 feet, and calling a 

 panel 10 feet, you have 66 panels on each 

 side, or 264 panels to go round the whole — 

 but as every panel serves for an enclosure 

 on each side, the number of panels should 

 be reduced of course to one half; so that, 

 upon a large scale of enclosure, every 10 

 acres require 132 panels of fence. Now 

 10,000,000 of acres, thus divided into fields 

 of 10 acres, amount to 1,000,000 fields, each 

 of which requiring 132 panels, the whole 

 amount of panels is 132,000,000. The price 

 of a panel varies in different parts of the 

 State. Here it would cost one dollar a 

 panel. But taking the average price at 

 eighty cents a panel, we have $105,600,000, 

 or in round numbers, $100,000,000. 



Consider now the interest on this outlay, 

 the wear and tear of the fence, and that the 

 whole of it will not last more than 10 or 15 

 years, and you have as the annual tax upon 

 agriculture in Pennsylvania, a sum of 10, 



000,000 of dollars. If this estimate appear 

 still too high, reduce it one half, and yo 

 have still a tax of s5,000,000. 



Look at it in another point of view. Se 

 how many post roads, private roads and lane 

 there are, with a row of fences on each sid 

 — see how every farm is cut up into littl 

 divisions of a few acres — and the result wi 

 not vary much from what I have statec 

 They say that every man's house is his ca: 

 tie — one would think every man's farm wa 

 his fortification, so cut up is it with thes 

 piles of logs, like so many entrenchment! 

 Indeed the best use of a fence that I knov 

 is that at the battle of Bunker's Hill ; th 

 farmer warriors brought two fences togethe: 

 and filled the interval with new hay, as a 

 impromptu rampart. But in times of peac 

 they are absolute nuisances. 



For what is the use of all this fencing 

 In my judgment it is of no service at al 

 We might get rid of the whole expense < 

 it. We are so accustomed to be shut up i 

 those wooden pens, that we can scarcely ui 

 derstand how we are to do without then 

 But we can surely do without these fence 

 just as all the rest of the world does. 



I remember a friend of mine from th 

 South telling me, that until he left hom< 

 he believed to have the fever and ague, wa 

 a necessary infirmity of human existenci 

 to which every body was subject from h: 

 birth. So among some nations a person; 

 deformity becomes first general and the 

 fashionable, till every man is supposed to h 

 an ugly fellow unless he has a goitre or 

 humpback, and we think that all the rest < 

 the world must have wooden fences. Thi; 

 a gentleman of Pennsylvania once told m< 

 that on his return from Europe he was cor 

 versing about his travels with an old Gei 

 man friend, whose ideas of luxury wer 

 confined to what he had long enjoyed unde 

 the old fashioned porch, or stoop, and he sai 

 to him, — "Well, I suppose the king of Eng 

 land must have a most beautiful stoop." 



Go over all the continent of Europe, tak 

 Portugal and Spain, and France, and Italj 

 and Germany, there are no such things a 

 these fences. The lands are divided b 

 stone marks, or other indications of bounc 

 ary, which are just as sacred as a post an 

 rail fence. The cattle are generally kef 

 up in barns and other places, where thei 

 manures are husbanded, instead of bein 

 wasted, as they are by roaming over fields 

 If they are occasionally put out in fields 

 they are tethered, or watched by boys c 

 dogs, so as not to intrude on their neigh 

 hours. Why cannot we adopt the sam 

 system 1 The difficulty seems to be the roa 

 cattle. Everywhere else people go on th 



