The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1888-08-03
Hedges, Fences and Roads.

Puplic attentlon Ior many Iuture years
The following extract from an article
by w. I. Chamberlain, Secretary of the
Board of Agriculture Of Ohio, publish.
ed in the Country Gentleman is most
appropriate reading for our farmers:
Fence posts for wire fences heave and
rot, board and rail fences waste by de-
cay at fearful rate, and buildings moi
protected by paint, or parts subject to
wet, plainly show the gnawing tooth Of
time. The only way to offset this de.
cay is to utilize growth, which seems
even more rapid than decay.
I now wish to speak of utilizing
growth to Offset the decay of fences
and of the general question of the road
side adornment of country highways.
have now just about mile of Usage
orange hedge, along the roadside or at
right angles with the road, and all in
plain sight. Eighty rods Of it is %
years old, 80 rods more about IA years
old, and 160 rods three y,ars old and
just coming to be Of use. The two
Oldest lots. in spite of regular pruning,
grew gradually to be over six feet high
and over six feet wide, and two years
ago were cut back to bare poles or
stakes, about three feet high. They
have pushed cut strong now, and look
much the same as the three.year- old
hedge, and seem to be good for 20 or
30 years more service. Beyond all
question hedges have been the cheap
est and best fences on my farm. A
mile of good board fence would cost
$3.50 here now, and ten per cent is a
low estimate for interest, repairs and
requirements; which would be SIS per
year, or nearly twice the annual cost Of
properly pruning a mile of hedge, pro.
vided it is thoroughly done twice a
year, at the right time, in the right way
and with proper tools. A mile Orwell
built barbed wire fence will cost here
about $225, and ten per cent on that
will properly trim a mile of Usage
orange hedge. But after two years.
residence in Iowa I can hardly speak
with patience of barbed wire fence, es-
pecially for horses next to horses in
another field.
1t seems to me that half the horses
in Iowa have been at some time or 9th.
er injured by barbed wire. Last fall
bought a strong, fine, fast carriage
horse the former owner said he had
all his life (six years. next to barbed
wire. One day I let him out to bite
the rank grass in small field surround.
ed by barbed wire, and with faithful
boy at work near by to keep an eye on
him. One moment he was quietly feed
ing; the next he had his front foot
over the lower strand of wire, saving
on it. He would have bled to death in
half an hour but for the prompt work
of our veterinary assistant in tying the
severed artery. 1t took weeks to heal,
and now would give $50 if he had
never seen and felt the internal barbs
of that wire ribbon saao.
Near my house in Ames, last sum-
mer, for months lay an exceedingly
valuable horse, and finally died of his
wounds caused by barbed wire fence.
On my Hudson farm six-inch board
takes the place of the next to the top
wire. That makes it safe SO far as cat
tie are concerned, but horses seem to
have no sense, not even "horse sense"
about barbed wire. Available colt be.
longing to my foreman lately reared in
play with neighbor's horses that hap
pened to get into an adjacent field, and
struck his front foot over the top wire.
By good luck he escaped with loss of
some blood and a wound that will soon
heal. But he might more likely have
crippled himself for life. When mares
are in heat it is absolutely luinous to
risk them next to wire fence with
horses on the other side.
To return to hedges boards cost too
much, rails are out of the question,
barbed wire is dangerous. Hedges are,