186 [Assembly 



sees fit to adopt it Seventh, from the quantity and cheapness 

 with us, open draining will answer his purpose either in upland, 

 or in case of swamps, morasses, or very low wet ground, the 

 value of ground lost by this is trifling, compared with the ex- 

 pense and hazards of underdraining, the former costing from $5 

 to $8 per acre, and the latter sure to cost, if done well, from ^25 

 to $35 per acre. Besides from the cheapness of land with us the 

 farmer can change with little difficulty, we are not so wedded to 

 localities here as they are in Europe, he can sell out and buy 

 another, and often for less than it would cost him to improve his 

 old one, and possessing equal, and often greater advantages for 

 making money on. 



ON FENCES AND FENCING FARMS. 



BY R. L. PELL. 



Any continuous obstacle interposed for the purpose of sepa- 

 rating one field from another, is called a fence ; and the material 

 with which it is constructed, differs according to the soil, as well 

 as animals that are to be confined, or excluded. Fences are 

 either dead or alive, except when they are compounded. When 

 alive they are planted in hedges, and pruned in the shape of a 

 wall, composed of rows of shrubs planted closely together, such 

 as privet, hawthorn, locust, willow, apple. Dead fences are 

 made of wood, stone, earth, sods ; and compound fences, such as 

 a ditch with a hedge on the side of it, or a bank of earth. I will 

 admit that some fencing on a farm is indispensably necessary, 

 such for instance as an outside fence or enclosures around a gar- 

 den or barn ; but when you come to the interminable cross fences 

 you usually meet with on most farms in America, I consider them 

 a perfect curse and plague, entirely unnecessary, except to restrain 

 cattle and horses within certain bounds, and they should never 

 be permitted to run at large except in the western prairies, with 

 a brand on their backs, to be recognized by their owners. I 

 would even say outside fences should not be tolerated ; we are 

 compelled to make leagues along our public roads, to keep out 



