12 
BULLETIN 321^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 
are devoted to permanent pasture. The stock kept are mostly cattle, 
and they are kept on pasture much of the year. Barbed-wire fences 
sufficient to turn cattle can be much more cheaply constructed than 
woven-wire fences, and under the conditions prevailing here are 
nearly as satisfactory. Even if a few steers are lost as a result of 
wire cuts, their loss would go but a short way toward balancing the 
higher cost of building and maintaining woven-wire fences. 
Table 2. — Nuinber of rods of fence per acre on farms of different sizes in the 
various areas studied. 
Area No. 1. 
Acreage 
grouping. 
Area No. 2. 
Area No. 3. 
Area No. 4. 
Average. 
1 
" of fari 
)rting. 
o 
C3 
o 
to 
«a 
Aven 
3 
!5 
100 and 
under .. 
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 
77.0 
123.2 
160.2 
208.1 
280.3 
356.8 
490.5 
757.0 
1,170.6 
2,414.2 
79.3 
123.8 
161.1 
214.8 
289.7 
366.7 
480.3 
734.6 
1,210.8 
2,101.6 
2.1 
79.3 51 7.5 
126. 1 67; 6. 2 
163.3 346 6.0 
220. i: 
301.2 
370. 5 
498.8 
743.1 
1,247.4 
2,617.8 
269: 5.3 
309, 4.8 
167i 4. 7 
22i: 4.2 
170, 3.9 
42 3.5 
28 2.5 
160. 
221. 
315. 
376. 
499. 
765. 
2,420.6 
77. 8 848 
123. 7 627 
161.4 1,153 
214. 6; 
296.4 
366. 9l 
493.8 
752.3 
1,209.6 
2,451.1 
883 
801 
402 
512! 
403 
112 
RELATION OF SIZE OF FARM AND TYPE OF FARMING TO RODS OF 
FENCE PER ACRE. 
From an examination of Table 2 it will be seen that the amount of 
fence used per acre is considerably less in Area Xo. 4 than in the other 
areas. This is due to the fact that much less stock is carried in pro- 
portion to the size of the farms by the farms in Area Xo. 4. There 
are many purely grain farms in this area which carry no stock other 
than the necessary number of horses to do the farm work. Some of 
these farms have a pasture fenced for their horses, and the remainder 
of the farm is left unf enced. 
Table 2 also shows that as the size of the farm increases the number 
of rods of fence per acre decreases. The smaller fence requirement 
of the large farm is due first to the fact that less fence per acre is 
required to inclose a large field than a small one; a square 10-acre 
field requires 16 rods of fence per acre, while a square field of only 1 
acre requires approximately 50 rods; secondly, the crop rotation 
practiced on the small farm is usually similar to that of the large 
farm and requires as many fields, therefore proportionately much 
more division fence than is required by the large farm. 
