XXV. THE FENCE-ROW 



"/ wander to the zigzag-cornered fence 

 Where sassafras, intrenched in brambles dense, 

 Contests with stolid vehemence 



The march of culture., setting limb and thorn 

 A s pikes against the army of the corn. ' ' 



— Sidney Lanier (Corn) . 



In any new country, the first sign of civilization is a fence. 

 It signifies control over the animal world. There is some- 

 thing useful shut in, or something harmful shut out. It 

 signifies personal possession of something — an advance 

 beyond the stage when all that nature offers is held in com- 

 mon. It signifies, also, personal insight into the ways of 

 nature and initiative in making better use of her resources. 



Fences were first defenses. They were built by man to 

 shut himself in and to keep enemies out. Then they became 

 stockades made of posts fixed in the ground, and were extended 

 to give shelter to a few domesticated beasts, as well as to man. 

 In pioneer times in America our ancestors were still defending 

 themselves and their possessions behind stockades. Then, 

 with the growth of animal husbandry, they were expanded 

 into stock-pens, whose early function was to keep wild beasts 

 out, but whose function has now become that of keeping tame 

 beasts in. Fences have only one agricultural function — the 

 control of animals. 



The pioneer built fences for his fields of unmanufactured 

 materials — of brush, of stumps, of stones. These he obtained 

 in clearing the ground. The brush fence could be built 

 quickly, but was a most temporary makeshift. Boughs piled 

 with their tops directed outward formed a good barrier 

 against approach from one side. But they covered much 

 ground (a matter of more importance to us than to the 

 pioneer) ; they might be destroyed by fire at any time after 



186 



