Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1877-07-05
FENCE Or NO FENCE.


md ssturn out' the remainder of our farms,
or fcnce up the pasture and leave the Quilt
vated portions unprotected by any kind of
fence save the law of the land, arc questions
that have now and thon agitatcd tho minds
of the people of every one of the States of
this Union. Firm adhcrents can be found
to both sides of the question. We confess
to never having become clearly settled in
our opinion upon this subject.
When wo SEQ our noble forests fcllcd
annually by tic thousands Of acres to pro-
cure fresh land to cultivate; aftcr wo have,
by most slovenly system. CALLED and i'm
poverished as many more fertile acres; when
we know that fur more economy could be
practiced upon the farm by avoiding the
necessity of having SO many thousands of
rails maulcd every winter; when wo know
that almost every farmhouse burns as much
wood in each fro place as ought to supply
dwelling and kitchen and wash house.
during the cold season. when We know that
strip Of laud ten feet wido running around
every side Of tho field, and this frequently
the best land in the field, is lost to cultiva-
tion because of the fence; when we show
that every negro in the South will havo a
COW, and never thinks he is a freeman until
ho can tic his own cows horns to her fore
foot TO keep her from jumping the fence
that he won't fix up; when wo think of the
thousands of dollars that are lost to tho
intrinsic wealth of tho country by the
mauling aud hauling and building aud ro-
pairing that is necessary to keep up the
fcnoos around our farms; when wo think of
the provocations to say hard words when fox
hunters, tramps, jumping cattle or other
nuisanoos make gaps in our fences, aud
oannct be punished for it; when we think
how easy it would DO to mako fat cow out
of poor one, q proGtat..s~ COW out of an
expensive ono, If tho owner was simply
:, compelled to keepit up, take care of it,
feed IT, troat it as tho returns would provo
it should be treated; whoa wo thiuk it is
tho crops that brings in the money and on.
riches the county, and not tho forests or past
hre lands, and are therefore tho more worthy
oflswful protection on that account; whom wo
think how much better ono good COW is than
a herd of poor ones; when we think how easy it
is to herd cattle and sheep and oven hogs to.
gether, 80 that they will need but the care Of q
single person few hours each day TO prevent
their strolling out Of sight; when We think
what plcosureit It is what real luxury to sit
and watch improved herds pasturing and
grazing over luxurient meadows and folds;
'wo say, when we think of all these things,
'wo can but wonder legislation has not long
since required our farmers to set about
improving their stock by abolishing the
existing fenoe law and allowing our broad
acrcs to be cultivated without tho miles and
miles of hidcous worm fences everywhere
secn.
But then, when we have looked at tho
other side of this question, and thought
how ignorant most of our people are, even
of the old established law on this subject,
and how sparsely settled our country is, and
how much easier 1t Is to enclose cultivated
field than it would be to enclose all the re-
mainder of the majority of Southern farms,
and how every farmer would think he was
bound to fenco in all tho balance of his
lands if he wore permitted to throw out his
fields, and what small proportion of the
laboripg GLASSES throughout the South are
landowners (oven though every one that can
own cow and that GLASS are oppressed to
stock law, because they think that all tho
anonclosed pasture lands are, by natural
right, as froe to their COWS as to tho owner
of the pasture, and OF what minor impor--
tance to our farmers the care of stock is
when compared 10 the infatuation that thoy
have for the "cotton patoh," and what won.
derfal social and industrial revolution it
would make to establish stock law and
abolish fences, we have halted between two
opinions. Much Uah be said On both sides
OF this question, aud moro On the other,
look at it as you will. .,lc
az Absence Of fencea is al Stidenee Of pro-
gressivo farming. When we go Into a city,
town or village, (and there are some OF
these last in the United Stated where the
roses grow, as 10 werp, Ho1t DOORS" and
the vegetable gardops. are rot enclosed, We