UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 321 
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 
Contribution from the Office of Farm Management 
W. J. Spillman, Chief 
Washington, D. C. 
January 12, 1916 
COST OF FENCING FARMS IN THE NORTH 
CENTRAL STATES. 
By H. N. Humphrey, Scientific Assistant, 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Areas covered and farming types 3 
Method of investigation 3 
Local requirements and adaptation 4 
Distribution of the various types of fence 5 
Factors influencing fence requirements 10 
Relation of size and type of farm to fence per 
acre 12 
Page, 
Distribution of fence on the farm 15 
Cost of fence maintenance 17 
Life of and test for wire fencing 18 
Posts: Life, cost, preservation, and materials. 21 
Construction of wire fences 26 
Cost of maintenance of farm fences 30 
Summary 31 
The question of fencing was not considered a problem by the 
pioneer farmer. Timber was abundant and cheap, as was also the 
necessary labor required to work it up in the form of fences. Land 
was relatively plentiful and cheap, and it did not matter so much if 
rail fences and hedgerows did occupy considerable of it. Since 
pioneer days, however, farming conditions haA^e undergone a radical 
change. At the same time the mode of fencing farms has undergone 
an evolution, this evolution at all times keeping pace with the chang- 
ing farming conditions and adapting itself to them as best it could. 
Thus has come the transition from early agricultural conditions, 
with its cheap land, plentiful timber supply, and rail fences, to the 
farming of the present day, with high land values and a scarce and 
ever-decreasing supply of timber. The present-day farmer does not 
have at his disposal an almost unlimited supply of high-grade timber 
and labor with which to build fences, and he must incur a big outlay 
of money in securing the necessary materials and labor. To him the 
matter of fencing his farm suitably and economically has become a 
problem. 
The enormous proportions which the farm-fence problem has as- 
sumed to the farmers of the United States can best be shown by the 
Note. — This bulletin will be of interest to farmers and students of agricultural condjr. 
tions in the North Central States. 
8958° — Bull. 321—16 1 
