Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1871-03-17
The Pence Question.
1rOm the Iowa Homestead.

tfom the Iowa Homestead.
A writer in the Illinois Agricul
tural Report for 1864 says, the fen
ces of the United States have cost
more than the houses, cities inclu.
ded, more than the ships and YES.
sells of every description which sail
the ocean, lakes and rivers-more
than all our factories, of all kinds,
with their machincry-more than
any one class of property, aside from
real estate, except it may be the
railroads Of our country. This may
seem like an exaggerated statement,
but little estimate will show that
1t is not so extrayagant as would at
FIRST appear.
The first cost of the fences of New
York State was between one hun
dred and one hundred and fifty mill
Ions Of dollars. Robinson gives it
as $l44,ooO,ooo. Assuming this to
be approximately correct, and esti-
mating the cost of the fences of 9th
er States on the same basis, we have,
as the total first expense of all the
fences in the country, the vast sum
of one thousand two hundred and
ninety-six millions of dollars.
This requires to be renewed once
in ten years, giving 1929, 100000 as
tx. It, to which should be
added half as much more for repairs,
making the annual national expense
no less than Sl94, 100000, saying
nothing of interest on this invest
ment, which would make S2l4,44O,-
600 year, sum really below the
actual figures, yet so large as to be
quite beyond comprehension. Mich
oias Biddle estimated the fence tax
Of Pennsylvania to be ten millions q
year. Gen. J. I. Worthington, of
Ohio, says that there are s,0O0,-
600 acres of land in that State, en-
closed with 5000 miles of fence, at
prime cost of SIG, 200, 900, and at
yearly expense for repairs, of ST.
100000. Ii roadside and boundary
fences were dispensed with, half
this enormous cost would be saved.
The cost is now $3.50 on every acre
of improved land in the United
States-the ''fence tax" being twice
or thrice as great as all the local
and State taxes combined.
Why cannot large portion of
this tremendous cost be saved for
profitable investment? Every dol
lar spent in fences is so much as ut
terly lost and wasted as if thrown
into the sea. They are dead CAPT
tai, and are constant drain upon
their owners. Mr.. Greeley says,
1--WE poison our land with fences;
they are a shelter for weeds, as well
as vast and useless expense" The
indirect waste which they infict is
almost as great as their first cost.
A worm fence occupies five acres
for every 100 enclosed, thus impos-
ing a five per cent. tax on the mar
ket value of the sofia tax which
would be intolerably oppressive if
it went to the payment Of the ma
tional debt instead Of the growth of
weeds.
Shall we fence our own stock in.
or keep those Of other people out?
There is no doubt that our people
now spend four times as much in
trying to do the latter, and failing,
as would be required to do the for
mer successfully. Our present sys-
tenn of farming, which requires uni
versal fencing, is the worst blunder
which this practical people ever
made. Original in many things,
here they are following lavishly,
generation after generation, the hab-
it brought here by the early Eng
lish colonists, following it, ruinous
as it is, because it is the ''good old
way" like that Of the farmer going
to mill with his bag thrown across
his horse, the grain in one end and
a stone to balance it in the other.
Europe has learned a more sensible
methed. There are more than ten
times as many fences in Illinois as
in all Germany, and Duchess coun-
ty, New York, has more than all
France. In all Central Europe far
mers hold all their land in common,
with only narrow paths between.
The continental no-tence system
is surely the best, and even station
airy England is slowly adopting it.
This country must follow, for it is
utterly impossible much longer to
continue this ruinouS course. Econ
omy, taste, common sense, fair play
and good tillage all require its aban-
donment The time is already at
hand, in the older States, when the
absence Of farm fences is certain
sign of civilization, christianity and
progressive culture.
Their immense cost-the incon-
venience of having them always in
the way of thorough farming and of
easy ingress and egress to the prem
Uses; the impossible snow drifts they
accumulate-the nursery they make
for weeds and briers; the protection
and shelter they give to the worst
insects and animal pests Of the farm,
and their unsightly appearance as
the receptacle for rubbish, say moth
ing Of the countless acres rendered
worse than useless by their exis-
tcnce, are unanswerable arguments
for doing away with all fences not
absolutely indispensable for purpo-
SEES OF pasturage.'
did not study out word Of tie
last subject, but all-of Your readers
know it contains my sentiments ex-
actly. 1t is 50 much better done
too, than anything could say, that
it will be an excellent thing to quit
with. OLD SETTLER.
Hemlock Wood Proof Against Rats.
a correspondent of the Philadel-
Dhia Me,iicnL anH .SurGiruI RrD07f-