The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-08-30

made a trap fer leaves. sticks, and
waste soil from the field The fence
protected the roads and the farms. In
lowest places where water broke
through the fences a single opening
across the road carried the waste into
the woods or into an adjoining field
and Oft by one temporary ravinf Oc-
~caslonaiIy the fences were repaired,
the fence row cleaned up and the
accumulation of rich soil hauled back
on the field. In this way the old
fence repaired waste places in the
field as "no-fence' and wire fence"
cannot DO as farms are now conduct
ed. In many grades OF soil the public
roads were better in the days Of the
rail fence then at the present time.
Ihls Was notably so in sandy sec
ions.
The good roads need the help of
farms as much as good schools need
the help Of good school houses, and
a few simple suggestions viii do no
harm il they do no good. For MANY
years have observed the effect Of re-
moving the fences of my boyhood
days | have studied the question on
my own farm and on others. and
the Importance of correcting the mis-
takes in the use of the old fence
row has dcepened in me from wear
70 year. 1t was natural for farmers
TO be tempted to cultivate the rich
space formerly occupied by the fence:
hence the hedge was cleaned up,
planted, and for a few Years made the
best corn and cotton in the field. But
blowing out, not to the road but into
the road, has carried all that rich soil
into the road and off into the streams
and the OLD fence strip is the poorest
part OF the field. This metho is ruin
ing the roads and the farms. In many
farms the rows run at right angles
to the road and every furrow is a
oh n mol TO ~ -n4A ,-1 ,-x
OF the soil out of the field into the
road. The State can never nave good
roads or good farms under such meth
obs. The nO-fence will prevent good
roads. The remedy is not in return
to rail fences; but it may be found in
two things: First, by leaving a strip
Of land about the width of the old
s~erpentine fence all along the public
roads; allow that to grow up IN grass
and weeds and never allow the pillow
to cut this ribbon Of green. If that
belt of land were cut a few times dur
ang the summer with a mower 1T
would beautify the road and the farm,
as we'll as protect both. This strip
or belt would catch the waste from
the field and help to hold moisture,
and in curse of years the best rows
would be along the public road. j
have tried for several years to get
my farm man to do this very thing;
but for 1911 l p to see that 1t
is done. 1t has been lone in some
places and wherever 1t has been left
that way the road is better and the
crop is better, too.
The second remedy is a
law to compel farmers, or for
them to be a law unto themselves, to
run all their bitches away from the
public road whenever it is possible;
and, where it is impossible, that State
and farmers cooperate in caring for
the waste SO as not to tear up the
road bed. In most cases heavy tiles
across the road would control the
situation and preserve the road. It Is
folly to spend large sums of money on
roads while the farms are drained by
ditch and pillow into the public road
as a lead ditch to carry off the surplus
water from the fields. And more than
this, the roads carry the floods and
the soil into the streams. fill up the
streams with sand and make them
overflow quickly and thus render the
bottom lands useless.
This State must look to good farms
and good roads for wealth ant
strength and they must cooperate folt
best results. The quickest way to COR
rect the mistake is to enact a wise law
on the subject; the best way is for
farmers and road commissioners to
do it without law.
This may seem Of little importance
TO many ana lii pId"ttlCdDit 10 Ot1iCI|-
but any system that wastes the soil
of three hundred thousand farms,
damages the public roads of a whole
State, involves the interests Of two
million people, and the prosperity Of
the future, is not a small matter. The
true. the beautiful. and the good may
be applied to farms as well as philOs-
ophy;. and if one word can be said that
will awaken interest in a Statewide
subject of importance, it is not a word
wasted. Drainage and roads are to
the country what sewerage and
streets are to the city and there are
more millions in the country than In
the cities in the United States. With
good roads and good farms the drft
of population to the cities would be
less. and the drift to the country
would be more. Bad drainage OF
lands means loss Of young men as
we'll as loss of soil. This State IS
capable of being a great agricultural
! C-4o+a cn1 Crpqf manlfa turing