6 



BULLETIN 321, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



farming system and have the same fencing needs. This may be 

 explained by the fact that Area No. 1 is an older established com- 

 munity than either Areas 3 or 4. Most of Area No. 1 was well 

 fenced with the different types of wooden fence before the days of 

 wire fencing. Farmers here did not, therefore, use much barbed 

 wire, which was the first to be placed on the market. The farms in 

 Areas No. 2 and No. 3 were not as completely fenced at this time, 

 and considerable barbed wire was used in fencing them (fig. 4). 

 Woven-wire fence was developed later, but was placed on the market 

 while the wooden fences in Area No. 1 were yet in use. On account 

 of the high price of the first woven wire, it was made narrow and of 



Fig. 2. — The distribution of wide woven wire. 



lighter wires to keep down the cost. When the farmers of Area 

 No. 1 began to use much woven wire the processes of manufacture 

 had been so modified that the cost of the wire was much less and the 

 higher fencing was being made. 



WOODEN FENCES. 



Much wooden fence is still in use in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana 

 (fig. 5). These States were originally heavily timbered and when 

 the farms were cleared this timber was used to fence them. The best 

 live, white, and bur oak, chestnut, and walnut was used to make rails, 

 boards, and pickets, and the relatively high percentage of wooden 

 fence still in use is the remnant of fences built by the early settlers. 



