. The natural history of the farm : a guide to the practical study of the sources of our living in wild nature . Natural history. THE FENCE-ROW 189. Pig. 73. May-apple—fine wild herb that lingers in the fence-row. bles springing up everywhere, and wild grape, woodbine and poison-ivy climbing up the posts. But, however much grain the farmer may have spilled on the sod, we do not find grain growing there. Our cultivated grains are weaklings, requir- ing constant coddling. Just what we do for them when we break the sod, may be seen on the furrow side of the fence-row. If here and there be an over
. The natural history of the farm : a guide to the practical study of the sources of our living in wild nature . Natural history. THE FENCE-ROW 189. Pig. 73. May-apple—fine wild herb that lingers in the fence-row. bles springing up everywhere, and wild grape, woodbine and poison-ivy climbing up the posts. But, however much grain the farmer may have spilled on the sod, we do not find grain growing there. Our cultivated grains are weaklings, requir- ing constant coddling. Just what we do for them when we break the sod, may be seen on the furrow side of the fence-row. If here and there be an overturned sod that has escaped subsequent tillage, we see the wild things have been cut off far below the ground and turned upside down. Thus we kill some of them, and give others a bad set-back, and leave the severed roots of all of them (excepting such as sassafras) to rot in the ground. But as our plowshare cuts, our mold-board breaks the sod while turning it over, leaving it more open to the air, and favoring new growth of roots. The difference made in texture may be proved by probing with a stick, and the effect of subsequent tillage as well, if we probe both the sod, turned and un- turned, and the mellow root-free soil of the field. As time has run, and farms have multiplied and the wild animals, against whose incursions fences were once built, have disappeared, as methods have become more intensive and greater areas have been devoted to raising forage and less to the ranging of the stock, fences have become less important; at least, relatively fewer fences are needed; for many fields may now go unfenced. Yet wherever a fence is built and a little strip of accompanying sod remains unturned, there will still appear the same old denizens of the fence-row that nocked at the heels of the pioneer—berry-bearing bushes and brambles and vines. Amid the vicissitudes of tillage, the fence-row is as a haven of refuge for these wild Please note that these images are extract
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