FENCED IN
On the 26th, when I reached the station at Exeter, I found Thompson and
the gray team just starting for the farm with the second load of wire
fencing. I had ordered fifty-six rolls of Page's woven wire fence, forty
rods in each roll. This fence cost me seventy cents a rod, $224 a mile,
or $1568 for the seven miles. Add to this $37 for freight, and the total
amounted to $1605 for the wire to fence my land. I got this facer as I
climbed to the seat beside Thompson. I did not blink, however, for I had
resolved in the beginning to take no account of details until the 31st
day of December, and to spend as much on the farm in that time as I
could without being wasteful. I did not care much what others thought. I
felt that at my age time was precious, and that things must be rushed as
rapidly as possible.
I was glad of this slow ride with Thompson, for it gave me an
opportunity to study him. I wondered then and afterward why a man of his
general intelligence, industry, and special knowledge of the details of
farming, should fail of success when working for himself. He knew ten
times as much about the business as I did, and yet he had not succeeded
in an independent position. Some quality, like broadness of mind or
directness of purpose, was lacking, which made him incapable of carrying
out a plan, no matter how well conceived. He was like Hooker at
Chancellorsville, whose plan of campaign was perfect, whose orders were
carried out with exactness, whose army fell into line as he wished, and
whose enemy did the obvious thing, yet who failed terribly because the
responsibility of the ultimate was greater than he could bear. As second
in command, or as corps leader, he was superb; in independent command he
was a disastrous failure.
Thompson, then, was a Joe Hooker on a reduced plane,--good only to
execute another man's plans. Thompson might have rebutted this by saying
that I too might prove a disastrous failure; that as yet I had shown
only ability to spend,--perhaps not always wisely. Such rebuttal would
have had weight seven years ago, but it would not be accepted to-day,
for I have made my campaign and won my battle. The record of the past
seven years shows that I can plan and also execute.
Thompson told me that he had found two woodsmen (by scouting around on
Sunday) who were glad to take the job of cutting the white-oak posts at
five cents each, and that they were even then at work; and that Nos. 6
and 7 would be fitted for alfalfa by the end of the week. He added that
the seed ought to be sown as soon thereafter as possible and that a
liberal dressing of commercial fertilizer should be sown before the seed
was harrowed in.
"I have ordered five tons of fertilizer," I said, "and it ought to be
here this week. Sow four bags to the acre."
"Four bags,--eight hundred pounds; that's pretty expensive. Costs, I
suppose, $35 to $40 a ton."
"No; $24."
"How's that?"
"Friend at court; factory price; $120 for five tons; $5 freight, making
in all $125. We must use at least eight hundred pounds this fall and
five hundred in the spring. Alfalfa is an experiment, and we must give
it a show."
"Never saw anything done with alfalfa in this region, but they never
took no pains with it," said Thompson.
"I hope it will grow for us, for it is great forage if properly managed.
The seed will be out this week, and you had best sow it on Monday, the
2d."
"How are you going to seed the north forty?"
"Timothy, red top, and blue grass; heavy seeding, to get rid of the
weeds. These lots will all be used as stock lots. Small ones, you think,
but we will depend almost entirely upon soiling. I hope to keep a fair
sod on these lots, and they will be large enough to give the animals
exercise and keep them healthy. I hope the carpenter is pushing things
on the house. I want to get you into better quarters as soon as
possible, and I want the cottage moved out of the way before we seed the
lot."
"They're pushing things all right, I guess; that man Nelson is a
hustler."
When I reached the farm I found Johnson and Anderson tearing down the
old fence that was our eastern boundary. None of the posts were long
enough for my purpose, so all were consigned to the woodpile.
My neighbor on the north owned just as much land as I did. He inherited
it and a moderate bank account from his father, who in turn had it from
his. The farm was well kept and productive. The house and barns were
substantial and in good repair. The owner did general farming, raised
wheat, corn, and oats to sell, milked twenty cows and sent the milk to
the creamery, sold one or two cows and a dozen calves each year, and
fattened twenty or thirty pigs. He was pretty certain to add a few
hundred dollars to his bank account at the end of each season. He kept
one man all the time and two in summer. He was a bachelor of
twenty-eight, well liked and good to look upon: five feet ten inches in
height, broad of shoulder, deep of chest, and a very Hercules in
strength. His face was handsome, square-jawed and strong. He was
good-natured, but easily roused, and when angry was as fierce as fire.
He had the reputation of being the hardest fighter in the country. His
name was William Jackson, so he was called Bill. I had met Jackson
often, and we had taken kindly to each other. I admired his frank manner
and sturdy physique, and he looked upon me as a good-natured tenderfoot,
who might be companionable, and who would certainly stir up things in
the neighborhood. I went in search of him that afternoon to discuss the
line fence, a full mile of which divided our lands.
"I want to put a fence along our line which nothing can get over or
under," I said. "I am willing to bear the expense of the new fence if
you will take away the old one and plough eight furrows,--four on your
land and four on mine,--to be seeded to grass before the wires are
stretched. We ought to get rid of the weeds and brush."
"That is a liberal proposition, Dr. Williams, and of course I accept,"
said Jackson; "but I ought to do more. I'll tell you what I'll do. You
are planning to put a ring fence around your land,--three miles in all.
I'll plough the whole business and fit it for the seed. I'll take one of
my men, four horses, and a grub plough, and do it whenever you are
ready."
This settled the fence matter between Jackson and me. The men who cut
the posts took the job of setting them, stretching the wire, and hanging
the gates, for $400. This included the staples and also the stretching
of three strands of barbed wire above the woven wire; two at six-inch
intervals on the outside, and one inside, level with the top of the
post. Thus my ring fence was six feet high and hard to climb. I have a
serious dislike for trespass, from either man or beast, and my boundary
fence was made to discourage trespassers. I like to have those who enter
my property do so by the ways provided, for "whoso climbeth up any other
way, the same is a thief and a robber."
The ring fence was finished by the middle of October. The interior
fences were built by my own men during soft weather in winter and
spring; and, as I had already paid for the wire and posts, nothing more
should be charged to the fence account. In round numbers these seven
miles of excellent fence cost me $2100. A lot of money! But the fence is
there to-day as serviceable as when it was set, and it will stand for
twice seven years more. One hundred dollars a year is not a great price
to pay for the security and seclusion which a good fence furnishes.
There was no need of putting up so much interior fence. I would save a
mile or two if I had it to do again; however, I do not dislike my
straight lanes and tightly fenced fields.