COST aF FE]!TCING IN NORTH CENTRAL STATES. 5 
DISTRIBUTION OF THE VARIOUS TYPES OF FENCE. 
The percentage of the different kinds of fence used in the area 
studied is, shown in Table 1. 
Table 1. — Percentage of different types of fence used in the various localities 
studied. 
Area. 
Wide 
woven 
wire. 
Narrow 
woven 
wire 
with 
barbed 
wires. 
Barbed 
and 
smooth 
wire. 
Hedge. 
Types of 
wooden 
fencing. 
Stone 
fence. 
Western Dakota, Nebraska, 
Kansas, and 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
Percent. 
Percent. 
northern Mirmesota 
5.5 
10.2 
84.0 
0.03 
0.3 
0.0 
Eastern Dakota, Nebraska, 
Kansas, and 
8.8 
20.0 
63.0 
6.4 
,6 
,6 
Iowa 
8.0 
45.5 
43.5 
2.1 
.9 
,0 
13.8 
49.4 
27.2 
5.6 
3,8 
.04 
Wisconsin 
13.5 
33.4 
49.8 
.04 
2.3 
.8 
Illinois 
11.4 
41.7 
29.0 
12.4 
5.5 
.0 
Michigan 
55.9 
11.8 
11.9 
.6 
19.7 
,0 
Indiana 
53.3 
18.0 
12.9 
1.6 
14.1 
.05 
Ohio 
59.8 
3.8 
7.0 
1.2 
27.9 
.05 
WIRE FENCES. 
From Table 1 it may be observed that the greater part of the 
fencing now in use is constructed of some form of wire. In the 
western portion of the area studied 84 per cent of the fencing used 
is made from barbed and smooth wire and 15.7 per cent from the 
different types of woven wire. In Ohio the opposite is the case, as 
shown by the fact that only 7 per cent of the farm fences is made 
from barbed and smooth wire, while 63.6 per cent is constructed from 
woven wire. It will be noticed that from these two extremes there 
is a gradual gradation, the amount of woven wire increasing from 
west to east and the amount of barbed wire decreasing. In this study 
the woven wire used on farms has been divided into two general 
classes. Narrow woven wire does not exceed 42 inches in height, 
with which two or more barbed wires are used to make the fence the 
desired height. A woven- wire fence over 42 inches high, and which 
may or may not be supplemented by the use of barbed wire, has been 
classed as high woven wire. Table 1 shows that the use of the high 
and the low types is confined to a marked degree to certain well-defined 
areas. In Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana the greater part of the 
woven- wire fence used is "wide" (fig. 2), while in the remainder 
of the area studied most of the woven- wire fence in use is " narrow " 
(fig. 3). The distribution of barbed and woven wire fencing in the 
various areas may be explained in part by the requirements of the 
different kinds of farming followed in the areas. 
It is not so easy to account for the use of high woven wire in one 
area and of low woven wire in another when both follow a very similar 
