The union Democrat., 1870-01-22
A rarmcr,s Opinion.

subject Of Fences and Live Stock is being agi-
tated in this county,, and that there are two
Petitions and a Remcnstrance in circulation.
asking the Legislature to settle the question
for us. am not accustomed to writing for
newspapers, but | will try and give you
my ideas on the subject, in as plain and con-
else a manner as possible. will begin by
quoting an old maxim. Anything that is
worth doing, is worth doing WELL" The au-
thor of this maxim must have been farmer
and thinking of the subject of making fences.
There is nothing that know of, that gives
the owner more trouble and annoyance, than
a poor fence There is not a man thct would
think cf planting a vineyard without putting
some Kind of fence around it, and poor fence
is worse than none. You ask man what he
is making his fence for F.? he viii certainly tell
you, TO keep cut the cattle; now if it does!not
keep them uut, his object is not accomplished
There is another maxim among farmers. and
that is-:' Poor fences make breachy cattle. :"
Cattle ere not naturally breachy, but Sy get
ting through, or over poor fences, they soon
learn to do the same TO good ones, l DO not
know of one farmer that keeps cows who does
not turn them OH the Common to get their
living. If it was not for this privilege the
profits Of farming would be considerably less
than they are. BY one of the Petitions, an
outsider might be led to suppose the country
was all fenced; as It speaks of turning stock
on tho high,cays to get their living, whereas,
the highways constitute three-fourths of the
county. don't think there is one fourth of
this county fenced, and what is more, never
will be, it will not pay for fencing; notwith-
standing all this talk about our Foot Hills
The rules that govern the people of Stanislaus
County, do not suit us in the least: theirs is
strictly an Agricultural county. ours is not,
there they cen SOW their thousand acres, here
we can get but few acres together that is fit
TO cultivate, let them have law tha: suits
their interests, and let US have good fence law
that suits ours. There is still another maxim
applicable to this subject Good fences make
good neghbors." Every one knows this to
be true. for full half Of the neighborhood
ouarrels among farmers, are caused by poor
fences. The way some people do is to build
the shadow of fence, then provide them
selves with a couple of fierce dogs and shot
gun, and if their neighbors cattle come in
thevicinity of their ranch, let loose the dogs,
and then the tearing and believing commen-
ces the result is your pet COW, that supplies
your family with milk and butter, comes
home torn and bleeding, and you do not feel in
a very amiabe mood, the next move you post
right off to the rancher, probably he will tell
you he knows nothing of the matter, and ten
to one the meeting will end in quarrel.
have not words to express my detestation of
the man that deliberately shoots an animal
for trespassing on his premises. Others, af-
ter their fence is completed will build Cor
raj, then sit down and wait for their neigh
bors cattle to enter their enclosure (if such it
may be called, then shut them up in the Cor.
raj and not give up the cattle until you pay
the damage done; of course you will not agree
on the amount, he will think it considerable,
you will think differently, law suit will en-
sue, or if not that, then disinterested men will
be employed to appraise the damage. and let
them appraise it at what they will, they will
make enemies of either one party or the 9TH
er, besides, those dsinterested persons must
be paid for their time. Now if all the time
that has been wasted in fixing up the difficult
tv, had been employed in fixing the fence,
good fence would be the result, and trouble
in the future avoided.
Some one tells me there is nothing to pre-
vent my building lawful fence, if choose
and let other people DO as thev choose This
sounds we'll enough. But if build lawful
fence. it prevents my cattle and those of my
neighbors from getting into my field, but it
does net prevent my cattle from getting into
my neighbors field, and SO soon as they are
out of my sight must leave off my work and
run after them. so there is poor encouragement
for one to build {. good fence unless we all do.
cannot with my half dozen head afford to
hire herder, but the man that has two hun.
dred head can, and he does; and drives his
cattle up to our very doors and stands by the
gaps in the fence until every thing is eaten
up. then drives them up to the next ranch and
docs the same thing. so you see the present
law is all in favor of the large cattle owner
The present law was we'll enough when the
country was new, but now that we have had
time to make our fences, we want better
one.
l presume it would not be advisable that
hogs should be allowed to run at large, par
ticularly in villages, for they are notorious
for introducing themselves wherever there is
an opening, without any regard to the fitness
of things. Still | know ofmen who have their
ranches located apart from any other who
make tight fences and let their hogs run Mt
large and make good thing out of it. IfI
one can do this why may not we all do it, for
we know it will not pay to keep hogs up all
summer, and when we want our fall supply
of bacon, we have to call on the hog men
and pay any price they may see fit to ask. |
like the Remonstrance in part, that is, where
it says. any change in the hog law would be
the subject of continued broils, if it only left
out the la,c, and said the hog would be the
subject of continued broils, would go that,
have been present at good many broils be
has been the subject of, they are refresh
ing assure you. | do not like the idea of
parties interested assembling together to de-
tornlue what will suit the wishes of the ma
ioritv, lei each one assemble on his own ranch,
roll up his sleeves and determine to have
good substantial fence, think this will suit
the wishes of the majority better.
Sir: it is useless to talk. people in this
county will keep cattle and hogs, and they
will turn them on the common to get their
living. no matter what the law may be. and
the only way to avoid trouble is for us to have