The Monticellonian., 1902-03-14

MR. EDITOR 1t has been said that by standing q gun in crowd you can tell every fool in it by his desire to handle it; and may be the correspondents column of a county paper would be as good a test Now, as I have no new idea to air l have very little excuse to offer for making myself another one of the already provoking long list. But Bro. Joab seems to have discovered a bran new thing, 4 wire fence. Now it is such an open affair, no wonder he cries, Eureka, I think he has found something. l admit it is hard to see stock, hardly ever find it until it is everlastingly too late. But if
 he could see the mans bank ac- count that put it there he would probably think that he at least knew 1t was there. Men that monkey with wire fences either have or need bank accounts. The way he fires assertions at us is be- wildering, he appears to think his so self-evident he doesn't take the trouble to give us single reason why he thinks so. He says that farmers would fence off small pas lures, get few well bred pigs and raise better meat, but he brings for ward no proof. Now if this is so why hasn't t some of us found 1t out. Keeping up our fences, I am sure, would not prevent it. l will admit improved stock does pay some folk, The man that adver- tises heap and lies little or vice versa, or manages by hook or crook to dispose of his pigs from sIo to $5o each or his yearlings Sz5 to $500 does land office busi- ness, but how about the poor suck CT he caught. Now we hate to admit 1t but more than one of us has been there ourselves and we al ways thank the Lord 1t proved no worse with Us than 1t did and We came out wiser if we were poorer men. He says many have sold or recklessly destroyed their timber and now have to buy wire and lumber to fence their farmes. Now l guess that is so for it is so much like the picture of the hayseed buy ing the gold brick am not at all surprised at that but must admit l am at his remedy; he wishes to fix Us so we will all have to buy lum- Der and wire. Now our family is d big one and occasionally one sells his birthright like "Esaw or kills the goose that lay the golden eggs. But like the fox lost his tail in a trap, he tries very hard to introduce the fashion of no tails. Now the consolation that l give our thoughtless bretheren I borrow from "Honest Old Abe Lincoln" "The Lord loves poor folks or he would not of made so many of them and he also promises the tribe shall never become extinct" ;" But must admit carries little con- solation to Us that labor under the inconvenience of poverty, but we can't expect to have our pie and eat it too. He says, that all the timber will be gone in ten years. If that's so then we Il have to do as Ben. Franklin advises us, mot to cross a bridge until we get to 1t. " Now comes his clincher. He says Now brother figure the difference in the expense of fenc- ing your farm with a four wire fence or with ten rail hog proof fence and you will see which side of the hog law you stand on. , 1 think l see a smile, the very pic ture of complacency steals over his self satisfied countenance, still he fails to show you the the figures. Now one would really infer from his proposition that a rail fence was a very expensive affair and that his four wire fence would cost very little. Now as he has invited us to figure and it is not a very difficult problem, we'll figure on it and see which side of the fence we really ought to occupy. Now it will take about 100 pounds of wire for every quarter of mile.
 For mile 1900 lbs of wire at 4c'lb. S64OO 50 lbs of wire staples 'e 200. Post Soft (too far aparD 176 let l.S2. Total S67 .32. 672o rails for 10 rail fence l m at !c 3.6O. In favor of rail fence $33.72.
 Now I think if the ground is in proper condition to dig the post holes the labor would amount to about the same. Now this is what 1 would pronounce clear case of mistaken assumption or mistaken figures.
 Now while we thlnk of it here is another item that might have some weight with us. The wire fence is an outlay of absolute cash and we are not supposed to be ov- with it. The rail fence almost entirely an outln, of -