8 BULLETIN 321, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



and the cost of keeping them in repair is considerable. They are too 

 expensive to be used for field fence. 



HEDGE FENCES. 



Hedge fences are most extensively used in the prairie regions of 

 central latitudes, but they are scattered in small amounts over a con- 

 siderable territory, as may be seen in figure 6. Practically all farm 

 hedges in the North Central States are made from the Osage orange, 

 or bois d'arc (wood of the bow). The home of the Osage orange is 

 in Oklahoma and northeastern Texas. It is well adapted to con- 

 ditions found in eastern Kansas and Nebraska and in southwestern 



Fig. 4. — The distribution of barbed wire. 



Missouri. As previously stated, when hedges were first established 

 in the prairie country they were the mcst economical fence to be had. 

 Wire fence was not in use at that time; timber was not available 

 except when hauled for long distances, and transportation facilities 

 were poor. Conditions have changed since that time, however, and 

 the hedge fence is no longer desirable or economical. At best, hedge 

 does not make a good fence. If swine are to be fenced, wire must be 

 added in order to make it effective. Hedge plants are often killed 

 by one cause or another and then there is a gap in the fence to be 

 filled if it is to be stock proof. Even if the hedge is kept properly 

 trimmed, it makes considerable land unfit for cultivation, and if 

 it is not kept trimmed the amount of land it wastes increases in pro^ 



