8 
BULLETIN 321^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 
and the cost of keeping them in repair is considerable. They are too 
expensive to be used for field fence. 
HEDGE FENCES. 
Hedge fences are most extensively used in the prairie regions of 
central latitudes, but they are scattered in small amounts over a con- 
siderable territory, as may be seen in figure 6. Practically all farm 
hedges in the North Central States are made from the Osage orange, 
or bois d'arc (wood of the bow). The home of the Osage orange is 
in Oklahoma and northeastern Texas. It is well adapted to con- 
ditions found in eastern Kansas and Nebraska and in southwestern 
Fig. 4. — The distribution of barbed wire. 
Missouri. As previously stated, when hedges were first established 
in the prairie country they were the most economical fence to be had. 
Wire fence was not in use at that time; timber was not available 
except w^hen hauled for long distances, and transportation facilities 
were poor. Conditions have changed since that time, however, and 
the hedge fence is no longer desirable or economical. At best, hedge 
does not make a good fence. If swine are to be fenced, wire must be 
added in order to make it effective. Hedge plants are often killed 
by one cause or another and then there is a gap in the fence to be 
filled if it is to be stock proof. Even if the hedge is kept properly 
trimmed, it makes considerable land unfit for cultivation, and if 
it is not kept trimmed the amount of land it wastes increases in pro- 
