The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1913-07-04
BACK YARD FARMER
Interesting Pointers on Garden
ing for the City Man or
Suburbanite.
WHAT TO PLANT AND WHEN
Advice BY an Expert on Agricultural
MISUNDERSTANDING the Fence
The Town CoW--Hedpes on
Small Lots.
BY PROF. JOHN WILLARD soLrE.

oy PROF. JOHN WILLARD eOlTE.
The time once was when no home
was complete without its surrounding
fence. or possibly hedge The fence
Idea Is an Inheritance from the an
cient days when each mans house was
his fort and his fence was likely to be
three-foot stone wall 20 feet high.
Times changed. and the battlement-
ed walls were no longer needed, grad
ually giving way to more decorative
and less expensive barriers. They
were Just as necessary as during the
feudal times, however, because with
peace came increasing crops and in
creasing cattle to modest them. The
cattle ran at will and were just as
fond of trespassing In a vegetable lot
"a they now are.
For this reason every home was
fenced In, and the custom still pre-
walls universally In England and some
parts OF the continent 1t is hardly
respectable not to be fenced in there.
This custom came to America. with
the nrst settlers, the Virginia colon
lists using white picket fences largely
and the Puritans developing that most
charming Of all fences. the New Eng
land stone wall.
westward they moved, taking their
fences with them. Stone walls changed
to rails and pickets to upended stumps.
until the timberless, stoneless plains
were reached. Here fences we're
needed most Of all because this was an
Ideal cattle country and increasing
numbers forbade their roaming at will.
1t naturally was an American who in
vented the barbed wire and woven
fencing, and today there are more
miles Of fence in America than In all
the rest of the world combined.
or late years we have begun to
awaken to the fact that there are ad-
santages In not fencing in private
yards that are free from Objectionable
neighbors. We do not need fences to
protect our front lawns from cattle
In our cities and suburbs, and their
only value Is sentimental one. By
removing the front yard fences from a
block OF suburban residences. we Sc
cure the effect of street twice as
wide and much more spacious grounds
about each house.
II front fence Is desired. let II he
IN keeping with the character of the
mousse and grounds. While a tall, or
namental iron fence Is the ideal type
or a formal city mansion, It is decid- |
sdly out OF place in a suburban set |
Ing. Nothing Is prettier than a white |
picket fence for colonial DWELLING.
and a cut stone wall is very attract |
We for large estates.
Fences for the city and country
Yards are still very popular. and
properly 80. 1t is In the back yard
nat the garden grows, the children
play and the clothes hang out to dry.
Here Is the waste paper barrel. the
garbage can. the ash pile and the
chicken yard. Let US have a little
privacy. place where we do not have
o be presentable. Let us put a high
board fence or hedge or some other
screen around the back yard, and do
Just as we please on. there.
We can plant vines and fruit trees
against the fence and hide it. beside
making 1t bear tribute. A six-foot
board fence will serve the purpose. or
lower one with a clump of high
'hrubs before 1t. Cement walls NAV
20 made as thin as three inches and
Is high as eight feet. II a more Der.
nanent fence is desired.