This speaks to the changing world. Corn used to be one of the crops in New Orleans. It is not grown in New Orleans any more but the decoration on the fence attests to what once was.

A story goes that the owner of the fence has a wife who missed her home state of Iowa and the corn that grew there. This fence was placed in the 1840s. Corn did not grow in Iowa until 1869. This was the most expensive fence in a catalog of this time so the owner may have put in this fence to show off his wealth.