The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-04-26
SUBSCRIPTION: $500 Per Year.
KEEPING UP FENCES.
some Hints ON How 60 Curtau u Stead
Growing Farm Expense

REEFGfNG aO~ E6NCESs
s0me Hints on How 60 Curtai1 a Steadily
Growing Farm Expense
An item of great expense to every
farmer is that involved in the building
and maintaining of fences Formerly,
when timber was plenty. and fence
building was merely a matter of labor,
the expense Of keeping up long strings
Of useless fence was not considered,
for while the average farmer is eco
nomical in the expenditure of money,
he knows and thinks little of the econ
omy of labor. Now, however, the time
has come when fences cost money as
we'll as work Material is scarce and
valuable, and every year it becomes
more SO. 1t is time for US to begin tO
consider the cost OF fences, and adopt
some means to curtail it.
In the first place, l would suggest
that to begin the reduction of this item
of expense it would be well to curtail
the amount of fencing every farmer
keeps up. No doubt every man thinks
he has only such fences as are abso-
lutely necessary to the successful car
rying on OF his business; but believe
that by a little study he could devise
plans whereby a very material cutting
off might be practiced, and still re-
suit in not particle of Inconvenience
to him.
1 know farms that are crossed and
checkered over with long strings oi
fence that every year require an enor.
nous outlay of money and labor, and
are of no benefit whatever to the owner.
They arc. III fact, nuisances, incum'
brances and an aggravatiOn.
To my mind nothing detraots more
from the farm than the practice some
| men have of dividing and subdividing
it by means of cross fences into lots
and patches. 1t gives the farm mar
row, scrimped appearance, and some
how impresses one with the idea o
/ cIoseness. On the other hand the
farm, with its fields and pastures, seems
to have an air Of freedom and liberality
that is enticing and pleasant
But to the practical side of the ques
tion. The less fence one has the bet
ter. 1t is better because it reduces tn,
expense of keeping them up, and it il
better because a considerable amoun
Of tillnbIe land is saved for producing
/ purposes rather than taken up will
| weeds and brush that too often flourish
along the fence rows. 1t is better be
cause your fields are larger and the pei
cent. of waste land lying around the
outer edge of every cultivated spot il
materially reduced.
/
this: would decide on what proportion
of my acres l wished to cultivate il
cereals. what proportion / wished t.
SOW in meadow, and what proportion
wished to use as pasture. Then
would divide my land as nearly as pos
sfble according to its adaptation Il
these crops, and so arrange it that i
would lie as nearly as possible accord
ing to its adaptation to these crops
and so arrange it that it would lie a
nearly as possible in regular squares
In this way l would secure the best ap
pearanco, and give to my farm broad
healthy look, and, with two or thre,
lines of straight cross-fence, supplan
the many zig-zag fences that are too
often seen winding about over a farm
cutting the few acres up into patches
and narrow strips.
1t depends a great deal on the loca
tiOn of the house as to the amount o
fence one can get along with on tn,
farm. If possible, the house should b,
SO situated that the pasture land will
lie adjacent, and thus do away with tn,
necessity of a lane leading back pas
the fields and meadows, to the pastur'
on the remote part OF the farm.
Every farmer should lay out his farm
| Systematically, and, with a little car,
and study. he can easily form plan
whereby large amount of fencing cal
be saved. Indeed, there are few farmer
who could not. by proper consideration
/ of the subject soon arrive at means b,
which large per cent. of the fence
they now have could be done away with
and their own convenience greatly en-
hanced thereby. There are not man,
farms free from the curse OF too mucl
fencing, and the sooner this annoying
surplus is done away with the better.
Mar your farm with just as little fenc
ing as possible. Do away with patche
and scraps. and in every possible cas-
throw your acres together Save tn
Expense of keeping up fences. and a
the same time, add to the value of you
farm by enhancing its beauty and con
venience, and by turning the fence row
to producing purposes Thomas T
MOntfort, in Prairie Farmer.