Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1870-04-23
From the Southern Culllvator 7
FENCES.

is sad proof Of the want Of
that enterprise and intelligence,
should characterize the
people. I will furnish
you with the substance Of an ard-
Gle on this subject, written by my
self and published in the Union.
vile Times last April.
l assume the position that the
present system Of plantation fenc.
ing in the country, is one which
never has, and never will pay ex
penses; that it is awkward, cum.
bersomc and absurd, and that it
can and should be superseded BY
a cheaper and better system. That
the foregoing is true, we think
will appear from the following
reasons:
A piece of land is cleared; but
much OF the timber on it must be
cut a certain length and split into
pieces of convenient size, to be
carried out to the margin of the
field and piled in a zig gag pile
all around the ground, to the
height Of about six feet. To say
the least, such performance is
awkward, clumsy and laboriOus.
But this is not all. That tim.
Der is worth something. The
labor required to prepare the rails,
take them out and put them up
around the field is worth some.
thing. The boarding of hands,
the wear and tear of implements
doing such work are all worth
something. The rails will not be
made and placed around the field,
ready for making the fence for
less than AGENT q piece. The fence
averages eleven rails per panel
which will be II cents per PANEL
for the rails. A cent per PANEL
may be added for making the fence
Hence the fence costs at the out.
set twelve cents per PANEL.
But this is not all. The land
occupied by the fence must also
be taken into consideration. The
fence will occupy q space of land
six feet wide from outside to out
side the ends of the rails. The
"locks' will average twelve feet
apart. Three feet may be added
to the with of the fence for the
turning Of stock in blowing; and
if an inside fence six feet may be
added; three on each side. So
that the land rendered useless BY
every PANEL of inside fence will
average about seventy. two square
feet if an outside fence, sixty
square feet. Hence for every 1875
pannels Of outside fence, one acre
of land is occupied; and one acre
to every 6l2t pannels of inside
fence allowing 70 yards square to
the acre. How many hundreds of
acres even in one county, are rem
dered useless by fences!
Moreover, the corners Of the
fence will grow up in BRAN.
bles and bushes. A cent a pannel
may be added per annum to keep
these down; another cent per pan.
mel for the land. Now admit a
fence to last twelve years. Two
cents per pannel may be added for
repairs during that time; which
makes the total cost of u fence for
twelve years 81 cents per panel,
and the writer thinks this estimate
is to small.
Let the farmer estimate the
number OF pannels of fence on his
farm, and then he can easily est
mate the average cost of his fences
per year. lie will find it to be an
amount in advance of ANYTHING
that he probably has imagined; an
amount; which, it expended in the
purchase of fertilizers, would be
to keep up a cOnsidera.
bic portion of his farm to the
state Of fertility-an
mount sufficient to keep him sup
piled with n full assortment of
agricultural implements, of the
latest and most improved varie-
-leS-an amount sufficient to edu.
cate a small family and furnish a
good library-an amount sufficient
o build and furnish a good house.
or less, according to the
size Of the farm and amount of
encing thereon.
And all this labor and expense
for what Why simply to keep
he few scrubby stock, which the
armer and his neighbors happen
o own, out of his crop. Few
in this country keep as
much stock as he might and
to do, and what they have
5 usually Of an inferior kind.
md yet, what labor and expense
10 they impose upon themselves
o keep such stock out of their
.rops! The very existence of such
system shows a want ofthought,
Enterprise and energy.
In a future article, we propose
o suggest a plan for the entire
.bandoning of the present expen-
i've, cumbersome and absurd sys-
EN-, together with a few of the
dvantages that would result there.
A MICHIGAN woman has recoy-