190 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Apkil 



For the New England Farmer. 

 PAEM FENCES. 



Until the farmers of this country choose to 

 adopt the system that prevailed in the early ages 

 of the Avorid, upon the plains of Judea, "where 

 shepherds watched their tlocks by night," fences 

 will be considered a thing of necessity. Their ex- 

 istence in some form, all over the country, and 

 the legislative enactments of the several States in 

 regard to them, confirm and establish the fact 

 that they are so considered. The safety of our 

 flocks and herds, the protection of our orchards, 

 of our door-yards and fields of waving grain, and 

 of our cemeteries, and in some cases, even our for- 

 ests, cannot be accomplished without them. 



They are not only of absolute necessity, but of 

 almost incalculable cost. A distinguished writer 

 upon national wealth says : "Strange as it may 

 seem, the greatest investment in this country, the 

 most costly production of human industry, are the 

 common fences which enclose and divide the fields. 

 No man dreams that when compared to these un- 

 pretending monuments of human art, our cities 

 and our towns, with all their wealth, are left far 

 behind." A few years since, Mr. Biddle, in an 

 address before an agricultural society, stated that 

 the cost of the fences of Pennsylvania amounted 

 to $100,000,000, and their annual expense, to 

 $10,000,000. During a discussion at the farm- 

 ers' club of the American Institute, a few months 

 since, it was also stated that the fences of New 

 York cost $07,000,000, allowing the farms to be 

 divided into fields of 20 acres each ; a much great- 

 er area than the fields of New England farms con- 

 tain. Add to this their cost in 30 more States, 

 and we shall have an amount almost beyond be- 

 lief. They have not only cost millions upon mil- 

 lions of dollars, but, as a general thing all over 

 the country, they are poor and wretched in the 

 extreme ; literally "a disgrace to civilization and 

 the age." 



Nothing that pertains to the farm has been so 

 much neglected, and in no one thing is there room 

 for so much improvement as in the consti'uction 

 of fences. Broken down stone walls, with scarcely 

 "one stone left upon another," tottering, dilapidat- 

 ed posts and board fences, with tlie posts tipping 

 hither and thither, the sport of winds and unruly 

 cattle, meet the eye almost wherever we go. I 

 am aware that it is an easier matter to write them 

 down than to rigJd them up ; but if anything can 

 be done to call the attention of that large class of 

 intelligent men to the subject who read the Far- 

 mer, much, in the way of improvement, may be 

 expected. Any improvement in this matter would 

 not only be of great individual advantage, but a 

 public and national benefit. Thousands of our 

 young men, sons of farmers, disheartened and dis- 

 couraged by the sight of rickety fences, and the la- 

 bor of perpetual re])airs, are driven from the farms 

 to California, to Pike's Peak, or, ])erhaps, in some 

 cases, worse still for the community, into the pro- 

 fessions. 



It may be said that poor fences not only cause 

 great destruction of property by unruly cattle, but 

 are the cause of more hard feelings between neigh- 

 bors, more trouble, anxiety, curses, imprecations 

 and vexatious lawsuits, than all else connected 

 with tfee farm beside. 



What can add more to the appearance of a beau- 



tiful field waving with rich harvests, than a neat, 

 straight, substantial and durable fence ? Well- 

 ai-ranged and tasteful buildings, with such a fence 

 by the road-side, ornamented with rows of the 

 sugar maple, with the birds of spring singing in 

 their branches, would make many a dweller in 

 the cities sigh for a country home, and many a 

 farmer happier where he is. 



Of the kinds of fences in general use, and con- 

 sidered by farmers the best, are post and rail, or 

 l^ost and board fences, stone wall, the Virginia 

 fence, and hedge, or live fences. These are con- 

 sidered the best, and in the end more economical 

 than those of a more frail and perishable charac- 

 ter. Posts of chestnut or cedar in some soils are 

 found to be durable, but in sandy soils soon de- 

 cay, and on clayey, heavy soils are speedily thrown 

 out of the ground by the action of the frost. In 

 soils of this description they soon manifest an in- 

 clination "to rise in the world," and requke great 

 trouble and expense to keep them down. 



Stone wall fences, from time Immemorial, have 

 been considered the very best, to question which, 

 even now, might subject one to "sharper strikes" 

 and severer criticisms, than have beset our doubt- 

 ing friend, Mr. Pinkham. 



In some situations, and on some soils, when of 

 moderate dimensions, this is vmquestionably a 

 good fence ; but it is often otherwise. All wiH 

 admit that is an expensive one to build. Oclier ol)- 

 jections are, it requires something more than the 

 wall to stop shee]) ; it takes up a great deal of 

 land, and it is the poorest of all fences except 

 stone post fence upon heaving soils. I have seen a 

 wall which cost not less than $1,50 per rod, so 

 thrown out of shape by the frosts of a single win- 

 ter, that some parts of it required to be rebuilt to 

 make it a good fence. Farmers say we build our 

 v\all fences broad and high, to get rid of the stone. 

 But when you divide your cultivated lands into 

 small and inconvenient fields, and inclose them 

 with wide wall fences, are you rid of the rocks 

 any more than you would be were they piled in 

 the centre of those fields? Inclose an acre of 

 ground with a four foot wail, and see how much 

 there is left for the sun to sliine upon. 



Next comes the Virginia fence. Admirers of 

 the "wavy line" for a farm fence, can say in truth 

 that this fence will stand on heaving ground j and 

 I am almost willing to admit that it may be some- 

 times l)ctter to stand very crooked than not to 

 stand at all ! Upon the thousands of acres of very 

 valuable clayey soils, this fence alone, except one 

 not much in use, is found to keep its position, 

 while the frost keeps up a sort of "irrepressible 

 conflict" with other fences which soon ruins them. 

 My objections to this fence are the great amount 

 of material it takes to build it, and the great 

 breadth of land it puts beyond the reach of the 

 plow, the harrow and the mowing machine. It 

 usually takes about double the lumber for a length 

 of it, and one-third more lengths than a straight 

 fence of posts and rails, and upon both sides of it 

 about three-quarters of a rod of land in Avidth, 

 which no farmer can well spare from his cultivat- 

 ed fields. 



Live fences, or hedges, require much care in 

 rearing them, and also take up much land. 



Theae are some of the objections to the fences 

 now in use. The question arises, can we have 

 better ones, and how shall it be done ? Would 



