The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1873-01-16
For the Andgrsom MtelHgencer.
The Fence Law.
HOW IT wILL, AFFECT THE INTERESTS OF AG'
RICULTURE. AND THE RAISING OF STOCK.

RICULTURE. AND THE RAISING OF STOCK.
Mr.. EDITOR The bill now pending in the
Legislature of this State, which proposes to
fence in the stock and turn out the crops, is
entitled to the serious consideration of our
whole population. I avow myself Jealous
advocate of the measure, and will now proceed,
by your permission, to offer my reasons for the
faith that is in me. 1t is true that few small
voices have been heard in advocacy of the pol
icy for years past, without producing sensible
impression on the public mind. But times
have changed; the scarcity of timber, the
ruinous cost of fencing, and the unwillingness
of our principal laborers to perform that SER
vice, make the adoption of this policy matter
Of absolute necessity.
Several articles on this subject have recently
appeared in the LntelEgencer, which have
read with interest and instruction, and cor
daily endorse the sentiments therein contained.
I will not reproduce them here, but simply ask
leave to invite public attention to two impor-
tant and highly compensating advantages that
must result from the measure, that have not
yet seen alluded to. The first is the remarka-
Bile facility with which our old fields and waste
lands may be brought again into cultivation,
and the ample means secured to us by the new
arrangement for their speedy improvement.
These waste lands, to the disgrace of our ag-
riculture and the eimpoverishment Of our people,
constitute from one-half to two-thrds of almost
every estate in the cotton regions Of the South.
They were once the pride and boast of the
pioneer settlers. They were first cleared and
cultivated, because they were the richest, level
est, and clearest of rocks. In the course of
time they became exhausted. Other fields were
then cleared and destroyed in like manner,
without rest or the addition of manure-with-
out the adoption Of any plan to perpetuate the
productive powers of the land. And it is this
suicidal policy that has caused our country to
present the appalling spectacle Of impoverish-
ment and ruin.
This large and most valuable portion of our
estates, on which our children and childrens
children have to rely for the means of subsis-
tence, are totally valueless in their present con-
dition for agricultural purposes. But this is
not all nor the worst of it. The. scarcity of
simber makes it impossible to inclose or culti-
vate them. Nor can they improve as long as
ahings remain as they are. Fields that have
been turned out from twenty to fifty years,
when brought again into cultivation, are found
20 have improved but little. The reason is OBJ
Tious. They have been all the time worlds
pasture ground--exposed to the heavy tread of
all the stock of the surrounding country, and
10 closely grazed that scarcely vestige of veg
etable matter has been left as food for the soil.
lnclose the stock, and how changed would be
7he aspect of the whole country in single
year. Our road sides and old fields would be
iensely covered with weeds, grass, japan clover,
etc. The frost and freezing of winter would
loosen the soil, and make it light and friable,
and greatly increase its capacity for the produc'
tion of vegetable matter for its fertilization.
If these are logical conclusions, and can't
nee how they are to be refuted, the farmer, as
aoon as this great measure has been adopted,
has only to remove the scattering shrubbery
from his best old fields, introduce the turning
plow, incorporate the spontaneous productions
of the soil for one or two years, at the end OF
which time these fields, now valueless, would
be the richest portion Of his estate. By perse-
vering in this policy, and deepening the soil by
uubsoil blowing, our sage fields would speedily
disappear, and splendid crops of small grain,
oats, rye, and finally wheat and barley, would
flourish instead of sage and pine thckets. Such
{. vast increase of land suddenly brought into
cultivation would enable farmers to adopt a
scientific rotation of crops, without which there
can be no progressive improvement.
Can any, one doubt the correctness of these
conclusions9 1t surely cannot be necessary to
use arguments to prove that turning weeds and
vegetable matter into the soil improves and
fsrtilizes it. 1t is natures plan; it is the
chief source of reliance even in the most fertile
regions of the earth. For this purpose green
crops are grown at heavy costs, and given to
the land for its Improvement A crop Of the
Tcu ClONcI ID UCllCfCu w uOUOlC GhV ouSSVCuthS
wheat crop, and is about as favorable to any
tillage crop that may follow the wheat crop.
But am slow to believe that a single crop of
clover would be- more compensating when
turned into the land than two crops Of weeds
end grass. But in this country, under the plan
now proposed, we will have an inexhaustable
supply of rich vegetable matter, with which to
feed the soil, of spontaneous growth, that will
cost us nothing, not even fence.
In the face of so many advantages, it would
seem to be unnecessary to institute. inquiry as
to whether any class of our citizens would be
Injured by the new policy. 1t has been assert
ed that the poor, who own no land, would have
to sell their cattle or pay heavily for the right
to Craze their stock in their employers enclo-
s,1res. This difficulty can be easily obviated.