The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1849-12-22
- From the Prairie Farmer.
Wire Fence.


Aeen,s ofJu,y TO the pub'i i1,psl, me 70
eosnnuri.l.e what lnow f;he w.re ;'ace. To
personal vanity, perhaps. you mas arsT.3ae WIN;
] am abou. 10 mention Of my own e1rlr e5'r'' n
behalf Of an improvement which lhave no t'mci
viii soon b,a.knovleigci Of vast inportansa 70
our prairie stale.
FIVE wears ago saw in n Sso.eh paper ~ az
eouu. Of fence beyinoiny 10 be uset IA Sco.iaat.
made OF wire, with timber uf hon pos,s halw,
ing that there Was 10 deficiency there CT esA'''id
hedges, o. Q! labor 70 raise them, iuiReia;eiy
arrived at the very natural confusion tAai ;ht
grand lesderatun was arrived q. Tor b!ins,ia, 'lf
OCEAN pzairies into cultivation, rs eh'apt7 ~
the mos. ssnyuine could desire, AMI ;btti Il the
beautiful and cheap hedges of Sco:iand were to
be Superseded bT vine, We ought not, e. the want
Of little information. be allowed to s'lmo.e
e,oslv through tie same experience to the ss'ac
conclusion, hn ut once ADOPT what their expert
eace (moSe conclusive "a labor u cheaper there
than here,) had proved to be the least expensive,
ar,d most advantageous. Having been th"M'ei
in various yforts made II your rescn. and eslH~!-
ally denied space for communicating nay though
in newspaper, to which applied got olshcar-
tened, and made no attempt at giving the In
provcmea: any further publicity than could oy
constantly conv ersing On the subject. which G!d
IN the course Of extensive travelling between SIC
amore anl Chicago and Morgan county. tax
ell to all Of all classes, snd OF every csli6er Of m
tellect and capital Piled the farmer. plie5
the hardware merchant; but travelling IN patched
up Kentacky Jeans, found thst whn; was true
IN Sololnon's day, was sill true in or boas;el
10Th ceuturv-the poor mans wisdom Is despi'
sed AMI his wo.ds are not heard" Some decided,
with much gravity, that when they should see
others succeeding with it they would Try il, dc,
At last, two years after, friend of mine in this
region, with evident satisfaction told me that my
much dcrded plan was beginning to be used near
Ottawa | afterwards heard Of its beng used IN
ether places where had been, and Of its being re-
commended in your periodical b. some, and op.
posed BY others Finally, in some numbers oi
your paper discovered that war was wagng De-
tween the advocates Of hedges and those Of wire
fences From glance at M article signed ser
manicgs" inferred that the wire experiments
were made in rather a bungling manner; and
that indeed, as | had long guessed, the thing
was progressing with that slow, languld, trnld
hes.;ancy which little information from Scotland
would at once have dissipatad, by showing that
the wire fence vas not to be treated ga thing Of
doubtful theory, but as an established fact IN the
silence AMI practice Of agriculture. had, about
that time, written to Scotland and obtained from
u kind friend, Distinct information on the subject,
which have hitherto DELAYED communicating,
fer certain reasons; but noticing that hundreds Of
worthy men are purchasing hedge plants, who,
iEtbey had distinct information, would purchase
wire and make or increase their farms by sin.
gle years operation feel as if would be guilty
oftreason TO the public good, were to delay in
formation on the subject, To proceed, therefore;
Fret it has been used in Scotnndfor several years
All in one extensive district, Strathcam, mention.
Oh b. my correspondent, and | suppose in many
others, i. has entirely superseded the verdant
hawthorn which has long beautifed the landscape,
and warmed the poets imagination. This settles
the queston---and YOU cannot too much insist on
IT.. If wire has superseded hedges in Scotland,
where they can be raised and trimmed more
ohoaply than here it Is oct Of date to commence
hedges in Illinois only to cut them down and dis,
place them by wire
made the specific nquirey-was the wire US.
ed to save land which is more valuable there than
here, or to save expen.e The answer decidedly
was, to save expense, as well as TO 10 in a DAY
what would oiherwies, by hedging be the opera.
ton Of years Do we need to say another word
upon the subject Is not the matter settled beyond
controversy These are the important points.
The other particulars are scarcely worth mention
ing, IA common sense would suggest them. The
questions are Has the experiment been eXten'
sively made Is 1t no longer matter Of expert
rnent but Of fact Has it superseded hedges in a
country where labor IA cheaper than here These
questions being answered, tn, matter is settle5
beyond dispute