The union Democrat., 1870-03-12
Farther Reply 20 ..Farm~r'. Opdnien.s

EDITOR UNION DEMucsAr As nv fermer
article in your paper seems not to have been
sufficiently comprehensive, and ss Farmer
has rather ingeniously misintsrpreted mf
views on the subject, must cgain ob,ruie,
and request you to give this place in your
columns. The amount of fenced land in the
county will not gainsay, not that the ques-
ton is not, shall cattle be allowed to run at
large? they arc. have been. and will remain
at large. hu: mnss disagree with him when
be says the question is ''shah We fence one
tenth or nine-tentas" in order to protect cur
vineyards and crops from destruction The
qustioa with is, "shail We Be compelled to
build lawful fences" or in other words, ''shall
not the owners of stock, lawyers. farmers
or mechanics, denominats them what you
choose. be compelled to prevent their cattle
from trespassing." When | used the word
restrain in my former article | left broad
margin, intending the mode of restraining
should be optional with the owners. It mat
ters not what kind of cattle is intended to be
what sort of fence it shall be. But we are
Of the opinion it is the breachy ones as they
are generally the leaders to break the fences,
whilo the rest Of the band soon learn to be as
bad as the leader. Cattle are continually
migrating TO and from the mountains in
search Of pasturage, and leave scarcely any
feed ON the highways or commons adjacent
to our towns and ranches, which make cat
lie doubly troublesome. We will agree there
is more than enough for all, were the cattle
belonging to the county equally distributed
where the feed may be found, but such is
not the case, they are left to plumber or
starve. We think the difference between a
man entering your enclosure and carrying
off your grain or hay for his cattle, or wilful
ly allowing his cattle to break in and do it.
is simply the profits derived from allowing
the cattle to perform the labor themselves.
Notwith standing the facility with which
sleeves can be rolled up and fences built, l
know of none who have their ranches enclos-
ed with strictly lawful fence; Model
Ranches included, and even upon them the
cabbage patch is sometimes totally destroyed.
A volume could be written upon the subject
and some would not be convinced of the in
Justice of the fence law bearing so heavily
upon the cultivator, especially when men
will take stand setting all at defiance who
are of different opinion. AS | am only mo-
nopolizing your columns on sufferance, here
after will write no moro on the subject.
There are others better able to WELD the pen
in defence Of the peoples rights, and may
wish to do SO. The imaginary cuts &C., that
Farmer speaks of were but parties on our
part, and without commenting on any mans
features I will say, had the Gentleman with
the projecting eyebrows read "Farmers opa-
ion," no would have found the stakes we'll
pointed on that side Of the fence. Shooting
cattle l deprecate but there are extreme cases
when forbearanc ceases to be virtue, did
space permit could relate one.
Although it is not expected that people
should go to France or New England to know
their wants, it does not necessarily follow we
should disdain to initiate them OF avail oar
selves Of the benefit Of their experience. There
is a portion of the extract from the "Call'
could be very we'll applied to California
that upon the owners of stock rests the re-
sponeibility of taking care of them. But
what has the antiquated vagaries of Defoe
or the ircongruities of Hawthorne to do
with the fence question? The COW jumping
over the moon, white blackbirds &c., may be
very entertaining stories but they are mere
sophistries calculated to mislead and distract;
as the substitution of the cart for the
plowbeam when it was broken, is not so
absurd as the reader might at first suppose.
Had the man John possessed half the inven-
tive genius of the Farmers wife, gangplows
might have been in use sooner than they
were; and as we have no proof that the man
who introduced them did not act upon her
suggestion, in using wheels in connection
Herewith, we claim for the lady in question
the credit of the invention. So much for the
ladies.
AS am no aspiraut for public honors I
have not endeavored to ascertain which is
the popular side of the fence question, nei-
ther have endeavored to awaken the tender
chords of the hearts of the dear people. But
can assure the poor man that am no stran-
ger to adversely, | am with him, even to the
bitter end. have no objection to his stock
running at large, only do not allow him to
injure his neighbor. Alas for the poor man
with his hogs, must he be driven beyond the
pale Of civilization, or into the tules ? We say
no, we would rather California enterprise
would colonize some of the Asiatics instead,
for the hogs have as good right to the COM
mons as other stock, only keep them out OF
mischief, we opine their owners money is as
good, and is rs eagerly sought after as anoth-
ers, but as we have now the promise OF talent
being unearthed we shall retire from TIE field
with our sincere thanks to you Mr.. Editor,
for fayors extended, and should we succeed