4 BULLETIN" 321, XJ. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



to include reports which were incomplete, and many such were dis- 

 carded. It is believed a sufficient number of reports were secured 

 from all parts of the area studied to furnish data which would be 

 representative of the entire area. 



LOCAL REQUIREMENTS AND ADAPTATION. 



There are four main types of fence in use in this country — wire, 

 wooden, hedge, and stone — but there are almost numberless modifica- 

 tions of these types. Present-day conditions, with high-priced land, 

 scarcity of timber, and the consequent high cost of materials for 

 wooden fences, as well as the higher wages paid to farm labor, have 

 made it impracticable in most localities for the farmer to construct 

 any but wire fence. Any data or discussion in this manuscript in 

 regard to the construction of the most economical kinds of fence will 

 therefore refer to the use of different types of wire fencing. 



Wooden, stone, and hedge fences, at the time they were built, were 

 well suited to the conditions, and in most instances they were the 

 logical fences to construct. For example, the New England farmer 

 cleared most of his land in 6 or 10 acre lots. He could burn the 

 wood and get it out of the way, but the easiest way to remove stones 

 which would interfere with the cultivation of the fields was to pile 

 them up in walls around the fields. This served the double purpose 

 of removing the stone from the land and making a fence. The set- 

 tlers of Ohio and Indiana had different conditions to meet. They 

 also had to remove the timber from their lands, but they did not have 

 to contend with stone to any appreciable extent ; so instead of burn- 

 ing all the timber they split some of it up into rails and constructed 

 their fences of them. The farmers who settled in the prairie regions 

 of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and other Western States had 

 neither timber nor stone to remove from their farms or to use in the 

 construction of fences. Wire fences at that time were unknown ; they 

 naturally planted hedges, which answered both as a fence and as 

 a windbreak. 



Stone walls have in many instances become racked, and are hence 

 no longer serviceable. Material for reconstructing rail fences is usu- 

 ally lacking. Hedgerows make very poor fence; they are also ex- 

 pensive. All of these types occupy excessive ground space, form 

 breeding places for weeds and insects, and require much labor to 

 keep them in order. For these reasons the above-mentioned types of 

 fence are gradually disappearing. There are still many stone, 

 wooden, and hedge fences in use, but as fast as they become un- 

 serviceable they are being removed and replaced with wire. (Plate I.) 



