The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1874-04-09
The Waste of Fences.

IL rs n InlllJ "lbIilil IN ~ W
fact to state that the absolute cost of
fences in the United States is equal to
the value of all the live stock kept upon
tho farms. Bat, unfortunately, this
last sum does not include the annual
loss arising from the waste OF land con
sequent upon our costly system OF fenc-
ing, which, including the damage done
TO crops by the encouragement OF weeds
and their encroachment upon our fields,
will, doubtless, reach every year to
fully six per cent. upon the cost OF the
fences, and thus will represent a capital
sum equal to that cost. Then the value
of the fences, upon the whole, and Their
annual cost, may be estimated at equl-
valent to double the value OF all our
live stock. The commissioner OF the
agricultural department, in his last
monthly report, estimates the cost OF
fencing n farm Of 100 acres in Pennsyl'
vania, with chestnut posts and rails, at
81, Go. G2, n sum actually far in excess
Of the average value of the stock kept
upon farms in that state. We, there
fore, claim for our own estimate a very
close approximation to the actual facts.
When we come TO realize that this
r~uinous expense is in large part unne-
ccssary that it is, in fact, maintained
in defiance Of common sense and better
knowledge, and that it's abolition in a
great part is entirely and easily practi-
cable, il becomes matter for astonlBh'
mGnt that such n costly system should
be continued. No wonder that farming
doce not pay, What business can be
made to pay when the principles OF
economy arc 80 dofiod?
In our article last week we spoke of
this wa TO AZ being one of the first that
should be remedied under a system OF
improved farming. We wish to point
out how this has been done, is now
done, and may be done. There are two
ways in which this wastcful system may
be either totally or partially abolished.
One is by following the soiling system
Of feeding and combining the stock alto,
gethcr to yards, thus entirely doing
away with the need for inside fences,
and the other by fencing off a field
which is used for pasture, and removing
all other inside fences. AZ the outset
we are met with the objection that soil
inp stock requires SO much labor that it
is not possible for the poorer farmers to
follow that plan. But We have passed
through extensive districts in France
and Germany, where the farmers are
much poorer than any here, and cult
yatG only small farms, or rather patches
seldom equal 10 twenty acres each, aud,
crriopaIy enough, they agree that they
cin not afford to do anything else with
Jhcir stock but shut them up, and grow,
cut, and carry feed TO them, to be CON
aumcd in the stable or the yard, In
their case it is "thcir poverty and not
their will consents" and they adopt the
system because they cannot afford any
other. For many miles through the
richest and most closely populated coun-
try in That part of Europe, the bounda-
rics between the farms are low, narrow
banks, mere burrows covered with grass
or clover, and no other fence is visible,
not even upon the roads. And yet the
choicest dairy products are there made
N abundance. At the ramG time it is
he boast of the farmers who cultivate
with most success and profit the high
rented farms IN Great Britain that their
land all lies Within Il ring fence with
nothing TO Ob8tfuct it's cultivation. 1t
may, therefore, be taken ns dcmOuStra-
ted that 80 far from it being impossible
Tor the poor inrmcr to keep his stock
upon what il known as the sOilinE sys,
tenn, it may be accepted ns n good rca.
son for his poverty that he keeps his
stock in any other way. 1t must be nm
lcrstOod TINT we refer to those cases in
winch the farming il mixed, and where
land ~ scarce and high, and not to those
in which sheep farming is carried on, or
where the dairy il n special pursuit, and
pasturing altogether followed, nor whcr,
land il SO low III price that II small croI
upon II large area il for the present
more desirable than II largo crop upon
II small area.
Wherever it is desired to farm with
the greatest economy we would recon-
mend that all interior fences should be
removed, u simple wagon-roud or path
being maintained between them, and
sown to clover and grass, which is
moved NJ any other crop and as far as
possible that II portion of the farm most
conveniently situated for tho purpose
should be appropriated to u succession
Of crops, which should be devoted to
the maintenance of the stock in sheds
and yards. The good results of this
system have been found to be: First
nm actual saving of time and labor
in growing the feed and feeding ii :;
second, II better yield Of milk from COWS
and OF beef or pork from feeding stock,
and better health III all the animals
subjected to it thirA, n great gain
in the quantity and tho quality of the
manure saved fourth, IL greatly in.
cronsod product from the same area Of
ground ; and lastly, but not least, n far
grcn cr differentiation of all the business
of the iurm to mothOdical and COnse-
qucntly easy and profitable manage
mcnt. When we assure our readers
that our own experience has resulted in
the plentiful feeding of one COW upon
the product Of ono acre for the whole
year, aud that Others who have fed tn, in
stock upon this system havo done ever
better than that, 1t is to be hoped that
some cntcrprising farmers at leHst, who
are looking to the most profitable man.
nEemout Of their farms, will, as soon as
may be, inmuguratc this system, and
give an example of its benefits to their
nciGhhors and in SO doing help to
show that tho present great waste of
fences need exist no longer.
Dat Hay.
One Of our farming friends, who re
sides near Philadelphia, and has Il large