212 



BOABD OF AGRICULTURE. 



barb wire fencing since that time is told in the following 

 emphatic figures : — 



1874, 

 1875, 

 1876, 

 1877, 

 1878, 

 1879, 

 1880, 

 1881, 

 1882, 

 Or a total to the present time of 453,805 miles 



Miles. 



10 



600 



2,840 



12,863 



26,655 



50,337 



80,500 



'120,000 



160,000 



No invention of sterling value stands simple and alone, 

 perfect from the beginning. Nearly two hundred and fifty 

 patents exist pertaining to barb wire and its manufacture. 

 Ingenuity and patience are still at work perfecting the 

 product. I illustrate, in this connection, a few of the most 

 common forms of barb wire brought out previous to 1882. 

 Others have been added since. It is enough here to say 

 of the commodity, that the search is for simplicity, cheap- 

 ness and efi'ectiveness. For the latter the sharply pricking 

 barb must and will be retained ; but it should not be need- 

 lessly barbarous. It is found that the views of farmers and 

 stock-raisers difier, but the tendency is to a short, firm barb, 

 which, however, cannot carry too keen a point. 



It is the essential principle of barb wire to instantly warn 

 the infringing animal. If it does less than this he may find 

 the mildly scratching substitute grateful to his itching skin, 

 and thus assaults may be invited no fence structure can with- 

 stand. The animal must be satisfied with one contact with 

 barb wire, and let it alone thereafter. Nothing less than 

 this will accomplish the purposes barb wire is set to serve. 

 Nor should the barb be a keen hook to tear the skin. That 

 form is best which, standing at right angles to the line wire, 

 does not, in the well-Constructed fence, wound beyond the 

 first prick. All fiirm stock soon learn where the barb 

 fence line is, and the breachy and most venturesome heed 

 it soonest because earliest taught. 



In its construction the fabric should be firmly made, to be 

 durable; and, hap])ily, the modern use of Bessemer steel. 



