320 AMERICAN CATTLE. 



cattle are soiled or pastured. It is now the most onerous tax 

 upon agriculture. Let us suppose the dairyman keeping fifty 

 cows, and that 150 acres are devoted to pasture. Suppose this 

 to be divided into six lots, of 25 acres, each 50 by 80 rods, and 

 that it all lies in a body 160 by 150 rods. This would make the 

 fencing more than ordinarily economical, and he would have 

 1,090 rods of fence. Suppose it to cost $1 per rod,* and that 

 it will last twenty years. This will make the first outlay $1,090. 

 The interest of which is, $76.30. The average expense for the 

 whole period, of keeping it in repairs, cannot be less than five 

 per cent., or $54.50 per year, and add to this the loss of capital 

 yearly, $54.50, and you have tbe whole annual expense, $185.30, 

 for fencing a pasture adequate to keep fifty cows. Now, this is 

 more than enough to pay for the labor of soiling the same ani- 

 mals, as one good man, with the proper conveniences, can cut 

 for and feed fifty cows. Soiling renders fences useless, except 

 to enclose a yard for the animals to exercise in. In fact, it 

 would cost less to employ a herdsman, constantly, with the cattle. 

 Besides, the fences are always in the way, and are infested with 

 foul weeds and bushes, which, by neglect, get distributed over the 

 farm. Every farmer will find it a great convenience to be able 

 to plow without the obstruction of fences, to drive into and from 

 his fields without letting down and putting up bars, or open 

 gates, to run his mower and reaper without leaving the corners 

 of the fences to be cut by hand. 



"Another item of economy not to be overlooked in dispensing 

 with fences, is, the saving of one-half rod of ground where the 

 fence stands. This would amount to about three and one-half 

 acres, covered by the 1,090 rods of fence. And this land, when 

 in good condition, would soil seven cows through the grazing 

 season. Thus it appears, by an examination of the facts, that 



* Mr. Stewart, living in a region where wood and lumber are clieap, estimates the 

 average expense too low. The expenses of good farm fences cannot be less than 

 $1.60 to $3 per rod, afcording to locality, and the materials of which they are made, 

 at the chc.ipest.— L. F. A. 



