XXV. THE FENCE-ROW 
“T wander to the zigzag-cornered fence 
Where sassafras, intrenched in brambles dense, 
Contests with stolid vehemence 
The march of culture, setting limb and thorn 
As 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 fixedin 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 
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