Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1874-02-20
Gte farm.
Farm Fences.

important considerations demanding
the attention of the farmers; and it is
wonderful that they should so long
submit to the want of proper legisla-
ton in their. respective States, which
would relieve them from this expen-
sive and unnecessary burden.
An impression, almost as old as our
country itself, seems to exist that pub
lie roads are public property, and that
grass which grows upon them is the
common property fall the inhabitants,
upon which their cattle may be turn
ed to pasture. This is a great mistake,
and one which requires immediate cor
rection, if for no other reason than that
1t is very expensive one to farmers
Public roads are, to be sure, public
property, but only for special purpo-
ses. While the public have the right
to pass and repass over them, they have
no other right than this, which the
law gives them, and no more substan-
tial claim to pasture their cattle upon
the road than upon the other side of
the fence, in their neighbours field
The law allows the public to use the
land occupied by the road to travel O.
yer, and whenever they cease, either by
operation of law or otherwise, to use
it for that purpose, it again becomes
the property Of the owner of the farm
through which it passes. His is the
fee-simple right. 1t is very unjust
that either he who owns no land, or,
owning it, prefers to use that of his
neighbors, should be INDUCED in so
manifest a wrong. 1t is the duty of
the Legislatures of all the thickly set
tied States to protect the agricultural
interests of the country, providing that
cattle shall not run at large, but that
every man shall be compelled to take
care Of and feed his own stock. instead
of turning it loose upon the highway
to depredate upon the possessions of
his neighbor.
Money expended in fencing against
these depredations of strange cattle is
sometimes disbursed so gradually that
the farmer does not actually realize
how great is the loss.
In the thickly-settlsd States, where
the farms are divided into ten or fifteen
acre fields, the cost of fencing is enor-
nous. Here there is used either wire,
board, or post-and-rail fences, and their
cost varies in different situations in
proportion to the cost Of materials, and
these differ in quality. | have made
an estimate of the cost of fencing in
the interior farming districts of Penn
sylvania with the purpose of showing
the comparative cost of different kinds
and qualities of fence, as well as to
point out how enormous the cost is of
making and keeping up either kind;
and the calculation is equally applica-
BILE to most of the settled States of the
Union. And it may be remarked, too,
that this expense is annually increas-
ing with the cost and scarcity of ma
terial.
The estimate is made of the cost of
eighty rods of fence, which, of course,
will be modified and altered by the cir
cumstances which surround each par
ticular locality.
Eighty rods, locust posts and chest
nut rails, viz: 1872 posts, mortised, at
70 cents, $92.4O; 655 chestnut rails,
pointed, at II cents, $72.O5; setting
1872 panels, at Is cents, $3.50; haul
ing and distributing materials, 81
Total, $l8S.25.
A like fence made with oak or chest
nut posts would cost $59.4O less, the
difference being in the expense of the
post.
Board fence, the two lower boards
being six inches wide and the three
upper ones five inches wide, and fiat
on top four inches, each post stripped
four inches wide, viz: 100 locust posts,
at2O cents, 1872; 1888 feet inch boards,
at $22, $S2, IL; setting so panels, at 10
cents, Sl2; nails, 81; hauling and dis
tributing, 81. Total, $112.34.
Eighty rods of wire fence, the wire
being No. galvanized, 16.5 feet to the
pound, viz 2 large braced locust posts,
at$2; 70 locust posts, at 20 cents, Sl5.-
60; 100 strips, feet long, 1x3 inches,
So; 400 pounds galvanized wire, at 10
cents, $40; 400 wire staples, at cents,
S.; setting posts and putting up wire,
So; hauling and distributing, 81. To-
tai, $3.50.
The two strips of pine in each panel
serve the purposes of stiffening the
fence, preventing the cattle from run
ming against it, and, if notched at the
corners, will keep the strands Of wire
in their places.
The farmer who cultivates one hun
dred acres of land must have at least one
thousand rods of fence, according to
the present system. This fencing, if
of locust posts and chestnut rails,
would cost $2,353 II; Of oak or chest
nut posts, 81, 610.62 ;oflocust posts and
boards, 81, 676.50; of galvanized iron,
1870.
If the annual interests Of these sums
be. computed and the estimation be
made that the average durability OF
the fence will not exceed sixteen years,
it will be found that the heaviest tax
paid by the farmer is that OF making
and keeping up fences.
While fences may not be entirely
dispensed with, it will be found that
the character and great cost OF the
same is occasioned by the necessity to1
protection against trespassers. Anoth-
err suggestion may be made that farm