The Virginia Gazette

To the PRINTER.

SIR,

THE Scarcity of Timber in many Parts of this Colony, and the serious Consideration of all who have any Regard to Posterity. The daily Decrease of it, is a Circumstance which demands the most serious Consideration of all who have any Regard to Posterity. The Cause of it ought first to be inquired into, which being once known it is to be hoped some Remedy may be found out for so great an Evil. The principal Reason for this Waste of Timber appears to me to be occasioned by the vast Quantity of Rails that is found necessary for the enclosing of our Lands, the Quickness of the Decay of such Rails, and the absolute Necessity of annually repairing that Decay, to preserve our Corn and other Grain from Cattle, Hogs, &c. I have, in my Travels, frequently lamented the Destruction of whole Fields of Corn, entirely owing to the Want of proper Enclosures, and the Inability of the Planter to make them. This Evil appears to be increasing daily, and if not remedied soon must either end in the Ruin of the poorer Sort of People or in the Emigration of them to some other Parts where Timber is more plenty; and indeed we see the latter is already the Case with great Numbers, who are annually removing into the back Country. How then can this Evil be prevented? Can it be done by enclosing our Fields with Ditches or Hedges? I answer, not as we are now circumstanced; for although a Hedge or a Ditch may be made a sufficient Fence against Horses, Cattle, or Sheep, yet we have found, from Experience, that they will not keep out Hogs. These Animals can only be turned by Fences made of strong and sound Rails; for this Reason, you often see that a Planter, in Order to secure his Field from Hogs, is obliged to expose it to the Encroachments of Horses and Cattle, not having Timber to make his Fence high enough to keep them from leaping over. The only Remedy, then, that occurs to me, is the Restriction of those destructive, though necessary Animals, from running at large. I am not ignorant of the Difficulty of procuring an Act of Assembly for this Purpose, but am convinced, could such a Law be obtained, though the People indeed would at first be very much alarmed, yet, in a very few Years, they would find such Advantages from it that a Repeal of such a Law would be found extremely difficult to be had, if an Attempt was to be made for that Purpose. It is a certain Fact, that several of our Sister Colonies to the Northward have experienced great Advantages from Laws of this Kind. Pennsylvania, the Jerseys, and New England, a few Years ago could not supply their Inhabitants with Pork; they now export great Quantities, and of better Quality than any exported from hence. When those Laws were first enacted, the People were ready to rise up in Arms; but a few Years Experience convinced them of the Benefit of those Laws. If the lower Rank of People would consider how their little Estates are torn to Pieces and destroyed by the Hogs of those who have large Fortunes in their Neighbourhood, and of Course have very large Stocks of this Animal; if they would consider that little or no Advantage is reaped by their running out on the Score of Food, our Timber not producing any Mast once in eight or ten Years, and that the Slaves of those great Men have better Opportunities to destroy our Hogs going at large than if kept enclosed; if they would exercise their Reason for a Moment, they would be convinced that three Hogs fed with the Offal of their Houses, and the Corn they dispose of to treble that Number, would afford them more and better Meat than they ever had in their Lives from nine Hogs raised in their usual Manner of raising them; that they might enclose their Fields with less than one Half of the Timber, would have fine Pastures, which would enable them to raise large Stocks of Cattle and Sheep, affording them much wholesomer and greater Plenty of Provisions, Clothing for their Families, and Manure for the Improvement of their Lands; I say, if they would reflect on those Things, I am convinced they would give Instructions to their Representatives to endeavour to procure a Law to restrain Hogs from going at large. I would therefore recommend it to the Inhabitants of the lower Counties either to petition the General Assembly to make such Laws, or instruct their Representatives to endeavour at such Regulation, and this without Delay, since the Evil is so apparent, and so great. I have long waited to see something of this Kind recommended, but in vain. I have therefore broke through my Aversion to appear in Print, and chose to lay myself open to the Attack of the ill-natured Critick, rather than not do what I think my Duty as a Citizen.

I am, Sir, your humble Servant,

A FARMER.