24 The Fence Question in the South. 



COMPARATIVE COST OF FORTY RODS OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF FENCE. 



THREE BOARD. FOUR BOARD. 



1000 feet Pine Fencing, at $15 per M. .$15 00 1350 feet Pine Fencing, at $15 per M. . .$20 25 



80 Posts, at 20 cents each 1600 80 posts at 20 cents each .. 1600 



15 Ibs. Nails, at 4 cents per Ib 60 20 Ibs. Nails, at 4 cents per Ib 80 



Labor 250 Labor 300 



$34 10 $40 05 



Or 85 cents per rod. Or $1.00 per rod. 



THREE GLIDDEN STEEL BARBED WIRE. FOUR GLIDDEN STEEL BARBED WIRE. 



14 1-2 feet to the pound. 



136 Ibs. Japanned or Painted Barb 182 Ibs. Japanned or Painted Steel Barb 



.Fencing, at 10 cents $13 60 Fencing, at 10 cents 18 20 



40 Posts, at 20 cents each 8 00 40 Posts, at 20 cents each 8 00 



2 Ib. Staples (Galvanized), at 10 cents. 20 3 Ibs. Staples, at 10 cents 30 



Labor 50 Labor 75 



$22 30 $27 25 



Or 56 cents per rod. Or 68 cents per rod. 



Galvanized Fencing, 59 cents per rod. Galvanized, 73 cents per rod. 



WEIGHT OF GLIDDEN STEEL BARB FENCING. 14 1-2 feet to the pound. 7 pounds to 100 feet. 

 365 pounds to one mile. 



The following is the cost of various styles of Fence, including posts : 



Narrow Slat Picket Fence $6 00 per rod Glidden Steel Barb Fence, four 



Wide " " " 525 " wires $ .68 per rod. 



Common Stone Wall 2 25 Glidden Steel Barb Fence, three 



" Four Board Fence 100 " wires 56 " 



" Split Rail Fence 75 " Glidden Steel Barb Fence, two 



wires 36 " 



SEVENTH. It is self DEFENSIVE. It borrows from nature's own barrier, the 

 hedge, the principle of the thorn. Cattle let it alone, and easily come to 

 respect fence boundaries. 



ADAPTATION TO THE SOUTH. 



The general facts and principles, both of law and custom, which we have 

 shown to belong to the fence system in the Southern states, derive fresh in- 

 terest and meaning from the changes now making rapid progress in subdivi- 

 sion of lands. The former large ownerships of impoverished and wasting 

 land, are being strikingly replaced by a multitude of small possessions. The 

 effect of this could but be, and has already been proven to be, a stronger riv- 

 alry and a better tillage of these smaller areas. In Mississippi, for instance, 

 there were 42,840 plantations in I860, and the average number of acres in 

 each was 370. There were in 1867 but 412 farms of less than ten acres ; 

 only 2,314 of over ten and less than twenty acres, in 1870 there were 8,981 ; 

 only 16,024 between twenty and one hundred acres, and in 1870, there were 

 8,981 ; only 16,024 between twenty and one hundred acres, and in 1870 there 

 were 38,015. Thus there was in this one state, a gain of nearly forty thous- 

 and small farms of less than one hundred acres in about three years. In 

 1870 there were 68,023 farms the average area of each being 193 acres. In 

 1880 the number of farms was 75,205, averaging 185 acres each, and while 

 the nominal area of cultivated land in Mississippi is less than it was in 1860, 

 the production is twice as great. 



In Georgia the number of farms cut off from the large plantations from 

 1868 to 1873 was 12,824. In Liberty County there were in 1866 only three 

 farms of less than ten acres ; in 1870 there were 616, and 749 farms between 

 ten and twenty acres. In Georgia the small colored farmer owns 680,000 

 acres of land cut up into farms that barely average ten acres each ; and in the 

 Cotton States the same class owns 2,680,800 acres similiarly divided. 



