218 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Ma, 



the soil for the distance of a rod will be fertilized, of subdividing lands in New England was at pre- 

 by the nutritive substances which are blown from sent very much determined by accident, which 

 the centre of the lot. In large lots this proportion should not be the case. He conceived the design 



would be smaller. 



Mr. French, of Braintree, said he considered 

 the sul ject one of much importance. lie agreed 

 with the chairman in a measure. On land where 

 there are a great many boulders which cannot be 

 disposed of in any other way, it is good policy per- 

 haps to work them into fencing. But if land is 

 free for the plow, and intended for cultivation, he 

 much preferred to see it all in one lot, with a sin- 

 gle exterior fence, and the buildings as nearly in 

 the centre of the farm as possible. By this meth- 

 od the operation of plowing is made much more 

 convenient— there is more room to turn round ; 

 but this is on the supposition that cattle are not 

 to be turned in to get the "after feed." In build- 

 ing stone wall, if in a pasture, it might be well to 

 use the old foundations, but if on arable land, not 

 on a boundary line, he would dig a new trench and 

 remove such of the old stones as are used into that. 

 By his method the old trench is left for a drain, 

 which is quite useful, as gravelly, stony land is 

 usually very moist — and the bushes and briars 

 which always cluster around a fence can be extir- 

 pated. The work, too, can be prosecuted more 

 rapidly. He was disposed to favor stone fences 

 because they are durable, and easily kept in re- 

 pair. 



In setting post fences he urged strongly the ben- 

 efits of charring the butt-ends of the posts before 

 setting them. He had on his place a post fence 

 which had been standing for 18 years, the posts 

 having been charred. Last year, he had to re-set 

 some of them on account of their being thrown 

 over by the frost, and found them perfectly sound 

 Charring is a great preservative against decay 

 Posts should be set 4^ or 5 feet into the ground 

 For something more permanent, he thought wire 

 fence Avould be very cheap, and might be made 

 very strong. He would suggest to farmers, 

 whether, on gravelly soil, it would not be the 

 cheapest that could be put up. 



In regard to hedges, Mr. French said that in 

 France and England they were fast losing favor, 

 and were being removed, as it is found that they 

 impoverish the soil, drawing a great deal of fer- 

 tilizing matter from it through their roots. If a 

 person desires a screen around his buildings, there 

 is nothing better of this sort than buck-thorn or 

 arbor vitaj — but neither can be said to be safe 

 against cattle, though they maybe combined with 

 a wire fence and rendered safe. Mr. French 

 thought farmers might add a great deal to the 

 beauty of their farms, without extra expense, by 

 a little care in setting their fences with regularity 

 and a regard to the rules of taste. 



Mr. Proctor, of Danvers, said that the matter 



offences to be the enclosure of feeding land, and 

 the protection of cultivated land from cattle. If a 

 farmer has no feeding land, fences will be an in- 

 cumbrance in the farming operations, as plowing, 

 for instance. He also considered it a great advan- 

 tage to have the buildings in the centre of a farm, 

 without regard to highways, because it saves time 

 in teaming manure, going to the various parts of 

 the farm, &c. Mr. Proctor thought a great deal 

 of money was lost on stone fences, although he 

 was aware of their great popularity. They may 

 be of some service in retaining the manures on 

 land, and fruit trees perhaps do better alongside 

 of them ; but numerous fences are so inconven- 

 ient in doing farm work, there are so many bars 

 to take down and put up, &c., that he believed the 

 disadvantages offset those benefits, and it was bet- 

 ter to have a farm all in one lot. 



Mr. proctor took occasion to dissent from the 

 extravagant views (as ,he deemed them) which 

 have been advanced at these meetings in regard 

 to the value of guano as a manure. He was not 

 satisfied as to its efficacy in all cases. He knew 

 of an instance where, in a dry season, it proved a 

 failure in producing a corn crop, while ordinary 

 manure was completely successful. It may do 

 well at the South, as has been related, but it doea 

 not follow that it will do well here. He was in- 

 clined to call \t fancy farming. 



Prof. Nash, of Amherst College, was of the 

 opinion" that if lands were stony it would be well 

 to cut them up into small lots ; but on lands easi- 

 ly cultivated and level, the policy of the farmer 

 should be to have as few fences as possible. They 

 should be strong, and able to resist the attempts 

 of cattle. Numerous fences are expensive, and 

 farmers cannot support them. In fencing, refer- 

 ence should be had to duration and expense, along 

 with the beautiful. It can, perhaps, as easily be 

 made handsomely, as awkwardly, — we should en- 

 deavor to combine the beautiful with the useful. 



Mr. Smith, of Hadley, said that in his part of 

 the State (the Connecticut valley) the lands were 

 scarcely subdivided at all, even among different 

 owners, owing to their being held in small lots, 

 and the high cost of fencing materials ; they can- 

 not afford to fence their lands, and a great part of 

 them are held in common. This is on intervale 

 lands. He considered division fences inconven- 

 ient, besides lessening the amount of productive 

 land. Cannot get a crop within a rod of the fence. 

 Pasture lands alone are considered necessary to 

 be enclosed by the farmei*s in his vicinity. 



Mr. Flint, Secretary of the Board of Agricul- 

 ture, considered the question one of mere econo- 

 my, but what was best, he was not prepared to 

 say. He had seen a good deal of wire fencing, 



