14 
BULLETIX 321^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 
roads along the farm boundaries will influence the amount of fence 
needed. Other things being equal, farms having the most frontage 
on public highways will require the most fence. The number and 
location of the roads surroimding a farm do much to determine the 
layout of the farm and consequently the amount of internal fence 
required. It is the common custom to place the farmstead adjacent 
to the main or most traveled highway. The field arrangement de- 
pends on whether this main road rims along the long 
side or along the short side of the farm. Many 
times the farm is cut into two or more separate 
divisions by roads, but it is more common for it to 
be in one division. This is especially true of small 
farms. For purposes 
60 
/60 rdi. 
Fig. 
of illustration figure 
8 shows the field ar- 
rangement of two 80- 
acre farms. Each 
farm has the same 
number and the same 
size of fields, yet B 
requires 120 rods more fence than A. In B the highway runs along 
the side of the farm, while in A it runs along the end. 
The number and cost of farm gates is another item of considerable 
importance. 
Table 3. — NumbeT: of gates used on farms of varying sizes in Indiana, Michigan, 
Wisconsin, and Illinois. 
Acreage grouping. 
Average 
acreage. 
100 and imder 
101 to 140 
141 to 180 
181 to 240 
241 to 320 
321 to 400 
401 to 600 
601 to 1,000... 
1.001 to 1,500.. 
1,501 and over 
78.5 
124.1 
166.0 
212. 
286. 
360. 
479. 
740. 
,151. 
,047. 
Total . . . 
Number 
of farms 
reporting. 
502 
367 
512 
457 
276 
137 
138 
50 
12 
13 
Number of gates. 
Per farm. Per acre, 
2,464 
12.7 
14.3 
16.6 
19.2 
21.6 
29.2 
32.6 
52.9 
40.9 
0. 126 
.102 
.086 
.078 
.067 
.06 
.061 
.044 
.046 
.02 
Rods of 
fencing 
per gate. 
Average 
of all.. 
61.5 
64.6 
67.6 
69.3 
71.7 
75.1 
73.0 
110.3 
83.8 
119.1 
ri.2 
The larger farms not only require less fence to the acre but they 
also require fewer gates for a given amount of fence. There is an 
average of 1 gate to every 61.5 rods of fence on the smallest farms, 
as compared with 119.1 on the largest and 71.2 on all farms. The 
average value of gates is $3.27 each. This makes an average cost 
of 0.045 cent per rod of fence for gates. The gates used on farms 
