32 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 WIRE FENCES. 



Mil. Editor : Making and keeping fences in repair 

 \inder the most favorable circumstances, furnishes a 

 sad item in the expenses of the farm, and this espe- 

 cially in regions where stones are scarce, and timber is 

 every year becoming scarce, and the demands for it 

 for other purposes arc increasing in rapid extent. 

 Indeed, the real and threatened scarcity of fencing 

 materials has already caused many to inquire, " How 

 are the next generation to protect their fields, and 

 secure their crops from the depredations of domestic 

 animals ? " 



We rejoice that a remedy is likely to appear in the 

 introduction of wire for a fencing material, if it 

 answers the purposes anticipated by many a cool- 

 headed, sound-minded man. Its introduction will 

 become very general, not only where other materials 

 are scarce or not to be obtained at all, but where 

 they are abundant, from the fact that it will not only 

 be cheaper in the outset, but " in the long run," than 

 any other fence that can be invented. Let is count 

 the cost and see. 



T. C. Peters, Esq., in an article in the 'January 

 number of the American Agriculturist, makes an 

 estimate of the cost of this kind of fence by enumer- 

 ating items, such as cost of wire, posts, labor, &c., at 

 twenty-two cents per rod. We think this estimate too 

 low for the country at large ; and allowing it to be 

 thirty-seven and a half cents per rod, we conceive 

 that in a majority, if not in all cases, the balance of 

 credit must be decidedly in its favor. What other 

 fence can be made so cheap ? Surely not a wall, for 

 a half wall usually costs fifty cents a rod ; and then 

 it must be raised by poles to give it sufficient height, 

 which may safely be concluded to raise the expense, 

 at a probable average cost of such poles, including 

 transportation, to seventy-five cents per rod. If a 

 wall of sufficient height to keep cattle, &c., in their 

 enclosures, is built, no one will suppose the cost to be 

 less than a dollar per rod. Then such walls must 

 have sufficient width, varying from two to three, and 

 perhaps four feet, at the bottom, to give them 

 solidity. By dividing even a small farm into 

 necessary fields, with these walls, an acre of land is 

 soon entirely occupied, and twice as much injured by 

 the dark shadows they cast over it. 



We dismiss the wall, and look at the rail fence. If a 

 ■worm or zigzag fence, it will require one hundred rails 

 for ten rods, or ten rails for one rod. The price of 

 these rails will vary, of course, according as timber is 

 plenty or otherwise. In New England, where we 

 are consuming the productions of the forest so fast, 

 and the demands for building timber and fuel are 

 increasing so rapidly, five dollars per hundred for 

 rails, delivered, we should think a low average. 

 Here, then, for the ten rails to lay a rod of fence, you 

 pay fifty cents. Then you have the cost of labor to 

 get and lay the foundation, and lay up the rails, the 

 cost of which will, of course, be in proportion to the 

 price of labor in diff'erent localities. Then such 

 fences are liable to be blown down by high winds, 

 breakage of rails, &c., w'hich will cause them to afllict 

 the farmer with additional expenses from year to year. 

 These also occupy, to the exclusion of the plough, a 

 strip of land from four to five feet. 



In some sections we have seen post and rail fences, 

 the only plea for the economy of which must be, we 

 are sure, that they occupy less land ; for the expense 

 of cutting, mortising and setting posts must fully 

 equal the cost of the additional number of rails for a 

 worm fence. 



Eut to return to the wire fence. If it will answer 

 the purpose of protection, — and we see no reason to 

 the contrary, — it must be, in our mind, surely entitled 

 to precedence, even at the same cost of other fences ; 



for, in the first place, it will occupy but little space, 

 and will injure no land by shading it. Secondly, 

 when once thoroughly built, its durability must 

 be as great, if not greater, than other fences, 

 excepting heavy Avails. Thu'dly, its appearance on 

 the farm must be very neat and tasteful, which will 

 render it desirable, particularly for street fences, (if 

 we must yield to those who disregard the law, and 

 let their animals run at large at our expense,) and 

 around buildings. 



How many days is the farmer taxed in various, if 

 not nearly all parts of New England, every winter, 

 in breaking paths through ponderous snow drifts, to 

 open the necessary thoroughfares of business ! And 

 how often is the traveller, bewildered by intricate 

 mazes, crossing fields, and turning thi'ough barn- 

 yards, delayed in his progress, and vexed in his soul, 

 to avoid unsightly drifts ! In nearly every instance 

 these mountain masses of driven snow are indebted 

 for their lodgment to the protecting fences on either 

 side, which shield it from the rough blasts of the 

 northern tempest. AVire fences, if wire Avill an- 

 swer for fences, wiU remedy this evil at once and 

 forever. So open that they will furnish no impedi- 

 ment to roaming winds, they will permit free and 

 unincumbered passage onward, and instead of per- 

 mitting these grievous annoyances to accumulate, 

 they will scatter them in their furious gambols. 

 What a comfort to man and his beasts would then be 

 realized ! The most appalling horrors of " a New 

 England winter" annihilated, and an amount of 

 vexatiou%s and unproductive labor saved which would 

 be gladdening to all Avho have realized its per- 

 plexity. 



Yours truly, 



WILLIAM BACON. 



Elmwood, Jan. 1849. 



For the Neio England Farmer. 

 TRANSPLANTING TREES. 



Mr. Editor : As the season is approaching when 

 the transplanting of trees will again commence, I 

 propose, as briefly as the nature of the subject will 

 admit, to state my own experience as to the best 

 method of accomplishing this object in New Eng- 

 land. 



And first, as to the season of transplanting. I am 

 well satisfied that, for deciduous trees of all kinds, 

 the spring months are most favorable ; and the sooner 

 this can be done after the frost is out of the ground 

 the better. My plan is to have the holes prepared 

 in the autumn, when it is practicable, because the 

 action of the frost and the snow and rain tend to loosen 

 the earth beyond the hole upon all sides, and thus 

 give the new fibres from the roots a better chance 

 for penetrating the earth. Another advantage is 

 that, by digging the holes in the fall, the decay of 

 weeds, leaves, and other vegetable matter that collects 

 in them, forms the best nutriment for the roots. 



Evergreen trees may be planted a little later than 

 deciduous trees ; but I cannot recommend a later 

 period than the 20th of May, and they will be sure 

 to do well if jilanted at any time for a month 

 previous. 



We have all been cautioned against deep planting 

 sufficiently to prevent the practice being very com- 

 mon ; nevertheless we are apt to commit a very great 

 error, causing a similar result, by loosening the earth 

 too deejjly. We propose now to speak of the man- 

 ner of preparing the ground for the reception of the 

 tree, by which this error will appear manifest. 



In digging the holes, reference, of course, must be 

 had to the size of the tree to be planted. The holes 

 should be at least a foot wider in circumference than 

 the roots, but no deeper than is sufficient to sink 



