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THE FARM FENCE. 
Fences Used in Various Parts of the 
Country. 
WHAT MAKES THE BEST FENCE? 
Are Fences Necessary? 
WHAT FENCE LAWS ARE NEEDED? 
Hedges and Hedge Plants. 
FROM A. L. CROSBY. 
I think wo have hero nearly every kind of 
fence that ever was made—worm, wire, 
board, hedge, stone, post-and-rail, political, 
woven wire, stump, picket and various others, 
besides combinations of two or more of the 
above. For all stock, except pigs, I prefer 
the buckthorn wire, of not less than four 
strands. For pigs, especially if liable to be 
moved often, the worm or Virginia rail fence 
answers the purpose best. As a rule, we have 
too many fences and they are too costly; but 
unless soiling is adopted I can’t see how we 
can get along without them. 
A stock law to prevent cattle from running 
on the public roads will not do away with 
outside fences unless soiling is practiced. 
Here we have a good stock law, but it doesn’t 
seem to make the road fences any fewer; they 
are only about 50 per cent, meaner. My own 
choice is to have the farm fenced along the 
roads, as 1 do not like the appearance of a no¬ 
fence farm. The legal fence should be four 
feet high, made of any material strong 
enough to prevent ordinary stock from rub¬ 
bing or pushing it over. Any animal that 
would jump or break such a fence should be 
considered “breachy,” and its owner should 
be held responsible for damages. The stock 
law can be made either to prevent all stock 
from running at large, or to allow stock to 
graze on the roadsides with some one to watch 
them. Our law is of the latter class, and a 
number of those who keep one or two cows 
club together and hire a boy to mind the 
cows during the day and bring them home at 
night. This allows all the roadside crop to be 
used and seems to be pretty satisfactory; it is 
a vast improvement over the free-range 
system. 
One of our farmers’ clubs calculated that 
the members kept up 14 miles of fences to 
pasture three cows and one old mule on the 
public road. That is about how it works. 
Repairing fences is one of those things that is 
generally put off until the stock has broken 
out. The wire fence is the easiest and the 
quickest to repair and also the one to show 
want of repairing the plainest (which is no 
small point), and being the cheapest in first 
cost, it will, I think, be the fence of the 
future. But the costliest and most unnec¬ 
essary of all is the political fence. 
This is of one pattern throughout the 
country, and it has to be repaired or rebuilt 
every year. It is always repaired with sugar 
or taffy and the low grade of sugar used 
destroys the moral health of those employed 
in the work and of a good many of their 
friends also. If political fences could be 
abolished, farmers could well afford to pay 
for all other kinds. And that is the nearest 
I can get to the solution of the fence question. 
Catonsville, Md. 
FROM E. DAVENPORT. 
We have in use in our neighborhood the old 
rail fence, board, and wire both plain and 
barbed, and recently a slat and wire. In the 
latter the slats stand vertical, are about two 
inches wide and there are three to the foot. 
From two to four sets of double wires clasp 
these slats and, being twisted between the 
slats, hold them firmly in place. I think the 
best kind of fence depends largely on the kind 
of stock to be restrained. For cattle I believe 
in the barbed wire, and for anything but 
horses I believe it the most desirable fence we 
have. The slat fence comes next to it, and 
may be found better in the end. But for 
everything but line fences I believe some sort 
of portable fence to be the desideratum. 
I do not believe in the “legal fence.” It is 
a term descended from the time when A. B. 
C. and all the rest of the alphabet had to 
fence out Mr. Z’s cow, who was a free common¬ 
er. The time is coming when Z. only will 
be obliged to restrain this cow, and A. B. C. 
and the rest will not build fences unless they 
keep stock. 
The number of fences can lie greatly re¬ 
duced. I think the stock law should be built 
upon the principle that every man should be 
fully responsible for the depredations of his 
own stock. Then let him restrain them as he 
pleases. Each man should provide restraint 
for his own stock and for those of nobody 
else. I would make this condition absolute^ 
If the owner cannot or will not pay for dam. 
age done by his stock, let the stock itself be 
forfeited. It seems a hard principle, but in 
practice it will not be found so. If your horse 
runs away and does damage you must pay for 
it. If your hired man allows your cattle to 
do damage on the road, you are responsible. 
What I suggest is but an extension of the 
same principle. We would all be surprised to 
see how fences would vanish under such a 
law. There would be neither road nor line 
fences—only the present pasture would be in¬ 
closed, and the owner himself should be per¬ 
mitted to judge what is a “sufficient barrier ” 
for his own stock, or pay the damages. 
Barry Co., Mich. 
FROM JOSIAH RUSSELL. 
- Fences with us are universally of wire and 
posts. I prefer posts and board fences as less 
objectionable to the hired man and more safe 
for horses, but for the item of expense. The 
wire fence, excepting about buildings, 
answers well as to appearance, and as to 
strength cannot be excelled by anything we 
know of, as it offers little obstruction to snow 
and wind. 
Crawford and Shelby counties have laws 
restraining stock from running at largo, and 
fencing fields is not necessary as against the 
cattle of others, which must be inclosed in 
pasture or held in herds. On the other hand, 
Harrison and Monona counties continue to 
allow stock free range of the counties, and 
fields must be fenced in for protection against 
roving animals. But opinions are divided 
on this fence question according to the cir¬ 
cumstances of the various farmers. The first 
settlor prefers to join with his neighbor and 
herd the cattle, leaving the fields open; but 
as he becomes able to do so, he fences his 
fields in order to hold the stock while brows¬ 
ing the corn-stalks after the corn is gathered, 
and by this time he is willing that all should 
fence their fields, and not be held liable for 
loose animals, and after the country is well 
settled the moderately well-to-do farmers 
may be found holding this view. But the 
large, successful farmer, he who has been 
adding farm to farm, does not, as a rule, 
want fences at all. He herds his cattle in 
droves of 300 to a herder, winter and sum¬ 
mer, and saves immense expense. 
Harrison, Co., Iowa. 
FROM CHAS. A. GREEN. 
We have every kind of fence, and yet no 
kind that pleases us. No fence pleases us bet¬ 
ter than the best. I would prefer a barbed 
wire fence with a rail at the top. The fence 
on which there is the most money wasted, and 
on which farmers are most set and deluded is 
the stone wall. It is an expensive abomina¬ 
tion. 
The legal fence should be of wire with a rail 
at the top so as not to obstruct snow, or to be 
affected by winds. This neighborhood could 
get along without any fences if suitable laws 
were passed. The coming age will know no 
farm fences. If farmers could lay by all they 
spend on fences they would get rich. Farm 
fences and common pastures will both die a 
natural death soon. Both belong to a pioneer 
period which we have out-grown. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. 
FROM FRED GRUNDY. 
Farms in this part of the country are fenced 
with Osage Orange hedges almost exclusive¬ 
ly. Many of them are also divided into 20 or 
40-acre fields with cross hedges. A very few 
are divided with barbed wire fences. Some 
farmers not only have their farms fenced with 
Osage hedges, but also their pastures, orch¬ 
ards, cattle lots and pig pens. They claim 
that it is the cheapest fence they can employ. 
These hedges are trimmed twice a year, and 
the trimmings are used for stuffing up the 
holes and gaps the hogs make through them. 
Some farmers are using a combination of 
hedge and barbed wire. The hedge is allowed 
to grow three years after being set out, then 
it is cut off a foot above the ground and three 
wires are strung above it and securely fas¬ 
tened to stakes. The first wire rests on the 
stubs, the second 10 inches above it, and the 
third 12 to 14 inches above the second. The 
stubs send up a thicket of stout, thorny shoots 
which, the first year, are cut off just above 
the top wire. After that the hedge is kept at 
a hight of about five feet. It makes a horri¬ 
ble and almost impregnable barrier, and if 
well cared for will last for many years. 
There are some hedge fences in this section 25 
to 35 years old, that are as good to-day as they 
were when six years old. They have been 
well cared for and properly trimmed, and 
they are proof against any ordinary stock, 
and will remain so for an indefinite period. 
Osage makes an excellent boundary fence; 
but it can hardly be considered an economical 
material for cross, or division fences, because 
it requires a strip of land a full rod in width 
for its own use. If it is allowed to grow over 
five feet high it will suck the fertility out of a 
strip two rods or more in width. 
Many farmers trim their hedges twice a 
year—once near the first of July and again in 
the fall, just before the wood hardens. 
Others trim but once, generally early in the 
spring. There are hedge-trimming machines 
in use and they do good and rapid work on 
green hedges when the ground on either side is 
level; but by far the greater portion of the 
trimming is done by hand. Cutting a year’s 
growth off the top of a hedge is an ugly and 
dangerous job. I know several men who 
have lost an eye, and others who have been 
laid up for months through being badly 
wounded by the long, sharp spines the plant 
is armed with, and which to some people are 
as poisonous almost as the fangs of a rattle¬ 
snake. Professional trimmers wear thick 
leather gloves, and a mask over the face simi¬ 
lar to that worn by base-ball catchers. 
Some farmers are putting in cross fences of 
slats 4% to five feet long woven together with 
eight strands of galvanized wire. They make 
good, strong fences if the posts are placed not 
more than 10 feet apart. For fencing stock- 
yards and around orchards I prefer this kind 
to any other. It costs 75 to 80 cts. per rod 
exclusive of the posts. 
I am well satisfied that this section would 
be vastly better off if there were not a single 
boundary or division fence in it. We have a 
stock law prohibiting stock from running at 
large and it is generally fairly enforced. 
One of the greatest evils we have to contend 
with is the “poor man’s cow.” After a fierce 
conflict of several years’ duration the “poor 
man” was prohibited from pasturing his 
cow on the “rich man,” but she frequently 
“breaks out,” “gets loose,” “escapes,” etc., 
and banquets sumptuously at large, and de¬ 
stroys ten times more than she eats. The 
aggrieved party lias a remedy—he can hold 
the cow and compel the owner to pay damages; 
but he hates to do it from fear of being re¬ 
garded as an “oppressor of the poor,” so he 
endeavors to protect his substance with an 
expensive fence. A good stock law should 
compel every stock owner to so control his 
animals that they shall not trespass upon his 
neighbor. It should prohibit all stock from 
running at large or pasturing on the high 
ways. And it should also prohibit all persons 
from driving stock along the highways with¬ 
out a sufficient force to thoroughly control 
them and prevent them from injuring proper¬ 
ty along the road-side. To many men this 
would seem to be inexpedient, but I have seen 
hundreds of cattle,sheep and hogs driven along 
a road between two fields of grain where thf're 
was not a strip of fence for miles, and it was 
done without any difficulty whatever. It 
seems the hight of absurdity that farmers 
should be compelled to maintain costly fences 
along highways simply to save a few dimes to 
men who wish to drive stock along them. A 
stock law should impose a specific fine for each 
violation of its provisions, and also render the 
stock owner liable for all damages done by his 
animals, together with costs of prosecution, 
Those farmers who really aim to control their 
stock would hail such a law with delight, 
while those who fatten their animals at the 
expense of their neighbors would bitterly op¬ 
pose it. 
Christian Co. Ills. 
FROM W. L. DEVEREAUX. 
Most of the fences in this vicinity are made 
of rails split from black and white ash. Some 
hickory, white-wood, oak and basswood rails 
are nearly all decayed. A great many of all 
the rail zigzag fences have fallen down and 
are crumbling away, over-grown shamefully 
on some farms with vines and bushes. Scarce¬ 
ly any ash rail timber remains, and very few 
fences are now put up new of freshly cut 
rails or poles. Some farmers are economizing 
rails by building straight fences of posts and 
rails. 
Barbed wire is used for new fences more 
than anything else; yet so many horses and 
young stock have been injured by it that 
there is a constant inquiry for something 
safer at the same moderate cost. Hedges are 
found on one farm in ten, and substantial 
stone walls are not much more common, 
Board fences exist on every alternate farm; 
but very few farms in this vicinity have this 
kind in use for as much as a quarter of their 
fences. 
A new kind of fence is being manufactured 
and put up on numerous farms in the last 
three years. It is a combination wire and 
slat fence. The upright pickets, four feet 
high, are woven in a better manner than the 
kind similarly made some 20 years ago. 
There are five double strands, each strand or 
cable made of two galvanized wires twisted 
several times between each picket, inclosing 
it tightly. The pickets are previously soaked 
in a tank of red mineral paint, and the whole 
fence is made very rapidly by a special auto¬ 
matic machine. The fencing is sold at 50 cents 
per rod. Small machines are owned and used 
by farmers. If posts are set too far apart, in 
case of this fencing, it is apt to sag, and this ig 
corrected by a ^-shaped brace wire. I have 
also contrived to use this fencing with a bottom 
board, with a slat set on the upper edge of the 
board. The slats being only three feet long and 
costing 40 cents per rod, make the fence just 
as cheap as the whole-length slat, or as the 
common board fence of four boards. If posts 
are set eight feet apart as with board fences, 
this arrangement is stronger and much better 
than a board fence. It can be made very 
substantial with posts 12 feet, or even 16 feqt 
apart, in which case the 16-foot board is 
stayed in the middle by an upright board or 
stake-post 18 inches or longer, so projecting 
above the upper edge of the board as to hold in 
place the bottom of the slat fence. Putting 
one stay-board or stake on each side is the 
proper way. This is my ideal farm fence, 
especially as it combines the necessities of a 
legal line fence, being safe against injury to 
stock, making a complete barrier alike against 
lambs, pigs and small stock as well as horses 
and cows and animals with jumping habits. 
It is 4)4 feet high and the slats are less than 
three inches apart. It is very durable, stout, 
and ornamental. Posts add very much to the 
cost of a fence and their distance apart makes 
important differences in that respect. 
Now a barbed wire fence can be, and is 
made about here for 15 cents per rod for ma¬ 
terial. The posts are cast-off railroad ties at 
$2.50 per 100, one tie making two posts, which 
are set one rod apart, to which are attached 
three strands of barbed wire. This is not a 
perfect fence, yet it answers admirably for 
cattle and horses, especially after they have 
comprehended the barbarity of a row of 
barl s. This, I think, all will admit is a fence 
which it is at least allowable to enumerate 
with farm fences; but a single barbed wire 
strung to stakes any way but taut is not a 
fence, though it might be denominated a farm 
stock trap. Five wires are the least number 
that can be used for a complete fence, and 
then some of the barbs bear wool, for sheep 
will reach under, and if the wire does not go 
down far enough they will also creep beneath. 
Ten wires do not reach the cost of a board 
fence. Four or five wires with boards at the 
top and bottom and posts eight or ten feet 
apart make a strong and safe fence. 
In the whole farming territory of Wayne 
Co., farmers can get along without highway 
fences. This fact is demonstrated by the 
absence of some of the fences at the side of 
roads along every other farm; but this is only 
a temporary arrangement and in a year or so a 
new fence is put up because the owner wants 
to pasture the adjoining lot, perhaps for only 
one season and even less. A long circle of 
rotation of crops brings in an opportunity to 
pasture for short periods and for one season 
every third or fourth year. Farmers having 
flocks, let them run for a time on oat and 
barley stubble to pick up the scattered grains 
and heads. Herds are also turned in. Each 
farmer takes especial care of his own stock, 
and it is a rule that lino fences are kept up in 
good shape. Stock seldom gets loose and 
rarely runs in the highway. Soiling is not 
often followed, except on small farms given 
to growing small fruits. Orchards are very 
commonly pastured part of the year. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. 
FROM H. T. FRENCH. 
We have many kinds of fences in this 
neighborhood. The old rail fence must give 
place to some other kind which does not re¬ 
quire so much timber. Some farmers are 
having their old rail fences built over into a 
patent fence called “Russell’s Champion 
Straight-Rail Fence.” I have not seen enough 
of this fence to pass any opinion upon it; but 
many good farmers are trying it, and they 
are quite well satisfied with it. It costs about 
15 cts. per rod .to construct it, without con¬ 
sidering the cost of the rails. 1 he woven 
slat and wire fence is being introduced about 
Lansing to a considerable extent. This fence 
