Year: 1868

.
made throughout the country, all
for the benefit of the good people
Of course, the Fence. laws should
not be neglected. The abolition
of the present Fence laws is a
measure on which the Radicals
and Democrats can heartily unite.
The Radicals. ought certainly to
vote tor it. because, ever since the
days of Abraham Lincoln, and
! even before, they have always had
the rails to split, and they always
will have this burden to bear, this
ought to be argument enough for
them, for they, better than any
one else, know the labor it re-
quires, which is always done in
! the winter time. As to the Farm
er, let him reflect and reason for a
moment, after this manner: is the
, few head Of cattle and hogs l am
able to keep about me, worth all
this labor of several miles of zigzag
worm fence. Why even the tim
ber is. almost as valuable as the
stock, and in F considering the
amount of stock about him, he is
not to count hisSwork animals for
they are alwaysin use Or in the
stables. Then it5dwindles down to
this, for a very few head of COWS
and hogs, I must keep up several
miles of worm Fence even on a
small farm. If%the Fence laws
were abolished, then each Farmer,
of course, would have to select
some most suitable spot on his own
place and enclose it we'll, for the
purpose Of keeping his few head Of
stock on his own pastures, which
would be far better and his stock
far safer fromsdepredation, either
by Radical = Or s.7tEel en- toe5-
all this laborious time devoted
to Rail-splitting, building worm
Fences and cleaning out old hedge
rows, could be turned to great
profit, such as making manures,
hauling straw and other, litter, on
vonr worn out lands, and hauling,
off some Of the larger rocks, that
almost render untenable' some OF
our best lands, to clearing up,
ditching and draining wet places
in your fields, and improving your
plantation generally. Again, on


large, old worn out: plantations,
there are many good spots Of land


scattered about here and there,
that the farmer could jump from


one to the other, cultivating them
all, without the necessity of long
string of fence around the whole
space of worthless ground. for a
few acres Of good land. By all
means, we say let the Fence laws
be- abolished, the times, our STU
alton and condition imperatively
demand it. Lot every man be re-
q: ired to keep his own stock on
his own land, off my landspastures,
and cultivated fields, without my
going to the now great trouble
and expense ofbuilding so much
fence. The great and common
interest of this section, and 1 be-
lieve the State at large, needs this
legislation much more than all the
Reconstruction measures that are
being forced uponus. We do not
want to reconstruct our old and
broken down fences. AS every
newspaper throughout the State
must necessarily, to some extent,
be interested in any great and
common measure that looks to the
good or hurt of the people Of it's
district and prosper accordingly,
I call on them to agitate and put
the question to the people, are
they or not in favor Of the aboli-
tion of the fence laws? 1t will
save an immense amount Of hired
and now costly labor, it will save
too many a noble forest, nearly
all of our Fences are now rotten
down and we are utterly unable to
keep them up. It will save too
many an old field pine, to be con-
sumed by our increasing miles OF
Rail Road, thereby putting money
directly into your pockets. The