The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-10-31
THE FENCE MUST GO.


"How blest the righteous when he dies"
Good Housekeeping,
THE FENCE MUST GO.
The agitation against the universal
and generally unnecessary Use of the
fence has already borne substantial
fruit in many parts of the coutry. There
are many villages East and West from
which these offensive barriers have been
entirely removed; and one feels in look
ing at many lovely town that, while
the land is held in eeveralty, the land
scape belongs to the community. There
is nothing more striking to an American
in the landscape of Belgium or Bavaria
than the entire absence of fences. The
gain in beauty and finish, in the com
pleteness and harmony of stretch OF
country, is simply immeasurable. The
Belgium and BavarIan farmers are far
more economical in their methods than
our own, for very obvious reasons, and
1t is quite certain that if the fence
served any real purpose they would be
quick to introduce it. On the other
hand, with their rigid economies and
their careful use of every bit of sol, f,
they have found it greatly to their ad-
vantage to save both the land and ex-
peuse which are involved in keeping up
fences. The American fence is the ug-
lest feature of the American landscape.
1t is never Otherwise than offensive to
the eye. and it is often in a condition of
general dilapidatiOn, or furnishes a con-
venient place for the deposit of the odds
and ends of the farmers work. We are
now substantially agreed that the fence
is an ugly object; the expense of build
ing and Keeping IN order, both in actual
outlay and in the land which 1t occupies,
has demonstrated over and over again
that it is one Of the most costly and least
remunerative investments which the
farmer makes; and it is also conceded
that, for the most part, the fences now
in use serve no purpose whatever. A
little more stringent control of cattle,
and the legitimate use OF the fence for
paddocks to contine them, would reduce
to minimum the large expenditure to
which most farmers are now committed
by extravagant fence-build ng.
The Christian Union has more than
once raised its voice against the fence,
and we are heartily glad to find so in
fuential paper as the american Gar
den attacking the fence with great vgor
and marshaliDg against it a very strong
array of influence. The discussion which
it opened in August it has continued 10
supplement in October, and has sue
ceeded in drawing to its side large
number of men whose opinions may be
taken as fairly representing the general
sentiment of the country among all those
who had given thought to the matter.
The great trouble is that most people
have not given thought to it. Like the
Dutchman who persisted in carrying his
grain to the market in sack hung from
his saddle, with all the grain in one end
of the sack and corresponding weight
of stones in the other, and who suddenly
awoke at last to realize the superior ad.
vantage of emitting the stones and dl-
viding the grain INTO two equal parts, a
good many people have not yet awaken
ed from Rip Van Wiukle sleep on the
fence question, and are still sustaining
miles of useless fence and spending
thousands of unnecessary dollars simply
because they have not given thought to
the matter. The mass of opinion which
the American Garden has collected
shows, however, that the movement
against the fence is steadily spreading.
Mr.. Joseph Cook, after declaring him
self heartily in favor of the disuse of
fences wherever they are not positively
essential, adds that his lecture tours
across the country show him that 1.-The
custom both West and East is more and
more to omit fences wherever not abso-
lutely indispensable" Bishop Clark, of
Rhode Island, covers the whole question
| in so incisive fashion that his article
ought to be printed as tract by the no.
| fence reformers. He calls attention to
the curious tyranny of the fence often
seen in our villages, where small and
unpretentlous wooden house is some
times surrounded by a large and very
expensive iron fence with heavy stone
posts and an imposing gateway
Bishop Clark goes to the heart of the
matter when he says: There IS GER
tainly no cheaper way of beautifying a
town than by removing the fences.n A
great many stone fences owe their exist
ence to the fact that their building uti-
lized a great many loose stones which
had to be gotten rid of. The same stones
however, at a greatly reduced expense,
and to the permanent improvement of
VI ln6 OOuihluuibl, ullhut nave DScu uocu
for building purposes, for the repair Of
highways, and for drainage. Il is easy
to protect fields from the invasion Of
strolling cattle by simply enforcing the
law. There are cattle in Belgium; one
sees them in every direction. But evi
IDENTIFY they are kept in place without
the intervention of the universal fence.
Mr.. Edward Atkinson approaches the
question from a scientific standpoint,
and indicates the stages in the evolution
of the fence as follows: "The first step
from barbarism to partial civilization
was the occupation and defense of land
by closed fences or stOckades; the next
step from partial civilization to semi
civilization was the change from the de-
fense OF the land to fencing and the
last step toward the complete civilization
of given community is the doing away
with any necessity for fencing, and the
consequent removal of the fence" 1t
would be great advantage if this sim
pie and extremely lucid history of the
pedigree of the fence could be posted on
every fence in the country. An anony
nous contributor, who may possibly be
Mark Twain, alt hough we do not ven.
ture a guess on the matter, has formu-
lated several good reasons for the fence.
He thinks that house. owners are gener-
ally rich, and ought to he required to
spend their money in putting up fences
10 order stimulate trade. "If properly
made and kept in repair, fences can be
depended on to keep trees, shrubs. flow
ers, and vegetables from s.raying into
the road, and thus obstructing travel
and possibly injuring animals who have
to use the public highway. HE finds an
other great advantage in fences in the
fact that they occupy great deal Of
ground, which 1t is unnecessary, there
fore, to till. Professor Sumner is not
quite 80 certain Of his position on the
fence question as on the tariff, but he
leans toward the progressive side, and
thinks that an agitation on the subject
will introduce new code in regard to
fences. Bill Nye declares that the fence
line has kept more people out OF heaven
than rum but he thinks that stone