Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-04-20

was jS cents
The Fence Question.
The season for repairing fences will soon
he at hand The werk is one Of necessity.
and not one Of very great pleasure to most
farmers. Almost any other work is pre-
ferred. There are thousands Upon thou
sands of rods of old wooden fences to be
mended every spring-a tiresome, and, as
far rs any direct return is concerned. "a
proftless labor. The question of dispens-
ing with fences. except so far as needed by
the individual to keep his own cattle from
trespassing, has been considerably discussed
of late at least on one side, nearly all writ
ers fayoring a change in the customs relat-
ing to fencing. The extracts which follow,
one Of which is from the correspondence of
Maine farmer, and the other from the
Ilusbandman, Elmira New York, show the
general tenor Of much that has been said
ON this subject
Maine, like Vermont, is agriculturaly,
for the most part, grazing and stock rails
ing country, and fence law that would bc
for the other. Yet we are not sure that our
fence law is not well enough as it is If
any change was to be made, perhaps it
would be well to modify the law so that be-
tween adjoining owners the party that has
no use for division fence cannot be com
PEELED to maintain one
The cost Of building and repairing fences
4, FL I-,.st
of Kansas, according to the last census. was
more than siXty-lve million dollars Hon.
y. H. Esleston, chief of the division of
forestry, department of agriculture, SAYS
that if this whole section was under the
operation Of the 'stocb laws"-by which
We suppose he meant a law based upon the
principle that live stock should be fenced in.
not oUt-the saving in timber, time and
money would be immense For example and
comparison of the two methods, saws Mr..
Egleston, take the county of Mecklenburg
in North Carolina. This county has had
the stock law in force for many wears.
The cost of building and repairing fences
there was 4.3 per acre, while the average
cost in the states east of Kansas was 21.3
per acre. The difference would make an
annual saving on the farms of these states
of more than so, OO0, 600, or an average Of
Sl5.j0 to each farm There is no doubt
that such law would greatly diminish the
s,,1t l., ''''' u ,''''l'' ,,'' Vi 'i'e re-
with the average in nearly all the states is
20 ''' '""'i"sINc'
80 iu'H''oi' whether WHAT AIr' EEleS-
TON calls the stock law would prove salts
factory to II majority of farmers.
The farmer from Maine to ,.l,,,, r.r.,
anc,. Inns loo,, ,,.,l. ;,a,. -.
Il:.:... "''' o''''S'''7
""''''''''''O On 'ne fence question: lie says
"If had my way ! wouldn't have a fence
on the farm. There are over "a 600 farm
ers in Maine Their farms have in the ag-
gregate over ~ ,UOO. 600 rods of fence ar
rising l3l 600 miles. This is outside of or
namental fences, and does not include some
1000 miles or more of railroad fencing
There are / 600 rods of HIGHWAY fences
49, 600, 600 rods Of partition fences. and
some 1900 600 rods Of division fences
Estimating the cost of these fences Mt 81
per rod and that would | think. he a fan.
estimate, and the total cost or ranras IN,
Maine is over SAP, 900 900 This is nearly
as much as all the farms and their buildiu,ry
are worth. 1t is more than twice and n
half the value of all our live stock and
nearly as much rs the entire cal,itoI of fine
state invested in manufactures :"
On which the IIusL,pdu,,,. ,,,,,,,,,,. ~.
t.,,,,,
eve have no means Of verifying the sta
tstlcs here presented, but it is fair TO pre-
sumo that they are measurably correct. The
immense saving TO agriculture that would
follow the removal of fences, as suggested
IN the foregoing remarks is surely a matter
worthy OF consideration. \ work of this
kind has been going on for some wears in
small towns and villages where front yard
fences have been discarded, and often the
rear and side fences as we'll In most states
the laws in regard to cattle and other ami
mails found at large, if enforced, are suiii-
Gent to protect unenclosed grounds from
depredatons from this source. If it came
TO he the general practice to trust 10 these
laws entirely and promptly punish viola
tions of them, it would soon be quite un-
necessary to go TO the expense of building
fences around lawns and gardens. The ex-
pense of keeping cattle in bounds, or com
pellng them to be kept there, would be in
significant in comparison with the amount
spent in building fences mainly for the pur-
pose of protection. While it seems idle to
talk Of dispensing with fences altogether, it
appears rs though it would be entirely prac-
tlcable 10 do away with them except for the
purpose of limiting the range of domestic
animals. If the grazing lands. wards and
pens for cows, sheep, etc, were securely
guarded there would seem no longer any
need of division and highway fences, nor
Of partition fences intended merely as such.
The farms in many parts Of the country
are divided up 10 much greater extent
than is necessary in any case la places
where the ground is very stony, about the
only way TO dispose Of the surplus rocks
and cohbles is TO build them up in walls, aud
this may sometimes afford a sufficient ex-
cuse for cutting up farm into a great mum
her OF small enclosures. But where such
reasons are not to he adduced II appears
ike waste OF time and labor to divide up
small farm into three and five ten-acre