The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1877-08-03
For the llIIlCS.
Something About The Fence Law.

stock of oil kinds to be kept up, 80 rs W pro
vent them from invading the premises OF any,
save their owners was des'derdtum earnestly W
he desired, for the following reasons;
First. Such law will do away with the pres,
ent cumbersome, unsightfy. announcement, anu
exceedingly costly system OF fencing out s'oehs
in order to raise crops. The present system VI
plantation fencing IS relic OF oarparisu'' ~ "a
ncoach to civilization, and one OF the gre"tcs
and most unnecessary taxes upon tho country.
How many persons have taken the time OF inc
Mains tn estimate the cost Of pancl OF renee
Something like the following will be an approx
imation to the cost : C, M
Cutting and splitting per hundred. 10
Hauling out, "oo"''''. ~
Putting up, '''''''''' ~
Total, Observation-Disclosures 10
Making Fl cts the cost of an ordinary pahei
of plantation fence. TO begin with. But TINS Is
not ALL Every panel will render Valueless i-o
suuare feet of land, or an acre to every 36' pan
els. This, at ten dollars per acre. will bc about
~ cts, pcr panel, which, added to the foregoing
gives 231 cts per panel. But this gives litt'e
more than half the cost of panel OF renee ior'
saw fifteen wears. The repairing and cleaning
out fence corners will average not less than CEN
| per panel per year, making 81! cts per P'nc'.
| il will he nothing to the point to say that the
| fence need not be repaired and cleaned out every
wear The damage to the crops from the weeds'
briors and bushes in the fence corners, II negec-
| ted. together with the dcprcdations OF breachy
| stock, will amount to that much, or more
| Hence II tax of about 23 cents per panel per
year is about the cost of the ordinary planta!l"n
| fence. And the cost of fencing to an Individual
| or 10 n community will be the same were there
hut one COW i'm each community running at large
II is stated that one shabby scrub COW was for
time the only animal running at large in GER
tain community in York County, yet the keep
| ing up of over n hundred dollars worth OF fen
cling was necessary to protect the crops OF th'
| community against that cow. The freedman wh'
owned her acknowledged that he had lost hfteeI
days, in all, hunting for her, for which he coult
have gotten fifteen dollars at work; while tn
COW never would have brought more than tel
dollars. Here was a shabby COW made to cost
community considerably over hundred dollars
when with n small patch of lucern she nigh
have been kept lat in n stable or small lot al
I summer.
But put the matter upon purly moral basis
what right has A to allow his stock, many o
few to run upon the lands of B. to the dctr
mcnt of the latter? Or, under what moral oil
legation is B to incur any expense to fortif
himself against the incursions OLA stock Non
, whatever, in either case. Hence the presen
system of keeping stock involves stupendou
moral wrong.
But the objection to the new stock law come
l I'D rs follows: "What are tenants who ow
r stock going to do p "What are small farmer
t going to do, who have no lands to spare for pas
turage?
At first sight, to those who have never devote
any thought to the subject, these seem to be fol
midable insurmountable objections But "
a think it can easily be shown that they amour
= to nothing:
, As to the stock owned by tenants. 1t is we
know, that this stock is, upon the whole, quite
small affair." both as to quantity and quality
NJ l,,,, tl,n orni iynlu fn,
sfSu,htHeh ga aoek owned BY enants 81 I. ON on .,
Q that stock on the othcr-an expense many tim,
the amount of the value of all such steck-then rs
Yourself is it right, is it polite, to burden tn
country with such u heavy tax, merely to kec
, in existancc an insignificant amount and qua,
, Of stock, which, Mt best, does even its owner
, but comparatively little good? Is it not time
= take into consideration the necessity of remodel
ling tenant system so expensive to the countr
, in general? The same principle is applicable +,
the small farmers who have not land for past,u
, age. The question s, has a tenant or anybod
clse the moral ri ght to own stock, or any othe
commodity, which he is not able take care q
himself? Or has a tenant or any one else. tb
f moral right to own stock or other commodity, i
the owning of such stock or commodity inyoly
othcr* in inconvenience or expense without re-
muneraton? Moral science would ineyitobl
return the negative TO each of these questions
The present system is therefore unouestionabl,
violation of moral law, and it would be bette
for the country if all pei sons not able to kee;
stock were prohibited from owning it, than tha
the country should be burdencd with the prcs
sent cumbersome, expensive, annoying system o
plantation fencing for no moral law can be vi
olated with impunity, either by individuals O
communities Of individuals
| But do not understand me MS SUGGESTING :,
the remedy for the evils Of the present system
the abolition of the ownership of stock 10 an,
extent whatever. The remedy suggested il IN,
inauguration Of new state of things, which
can much more easily be done than to continu,
the present system, state Of things which would
40 away with the evils and expenses of tn,
present, and enable both landlord and tenant Il
own more and better stock. The remedy is moi
the Keeping up of stock and pasturing them
Few persons have lands adapted to pasture and
fewer still could spare such lands for pastura &C
even where such lands are found The remedy
| Is in soiling Of stock. This is far from being n
| utopian scheme, the merits Of which have vel
to be ascertained. We write from actual. per
sonal observation, to say nothing of information
| concerning the practice as derived from other
sources. IL consists i'll keeping up stock in n
small enclosure convenient TO water, and in fcod-
| ing them upon green food raised for the pur.
pose This may consist of Rye, green Corn,
| Barley, Clover, Nillct, or Luccrn but nj the
head OF the list stands LuccrA. To show what
can be done with Luccrn alone, We refer 10 an ex
pertinent made by by DR.. Glenn near Alston in
Fairfield county. lie has been successfully SOW
ing various grasses, with clover and lucern du-
ring the last two or three years, and he bns he
nm ft,n.