THE USES OF WOOD 



FENCING MATERIALS FROM FORESTS 



BY HU MAXWELL 



Editor's Note:— This is the eleventh story in a series of important and very valuable articles by Mr. Maxwell on wood and its 

 uses. The series will thoroughly cover the various phases of the subject, from the beginnings in the forest through the processes 

 of logging, lumbering, transportation and milling, considering in detail the whole field of the utilization and manufacture of wood. 



THE forests have fenced American farms, orchards 

 and yards. Much material other than wood is in 

 use, and was used in the past, and doubtless will be 

 in the future ; but wood has held first place from the 

 earliest times, and it is not inclined to yield that place 

 now. It has been abundant and relatively cheap in many 

 parts of the country, and in most ways has been satis- 



the land in the process of clearing. Such a fence was a 

 continuous windrow of brush extending round the field. 

 The building of one of that sort was like killing two 

 birds with one stone ; for the removal of the brush 

 cleared the land, and when properly piled, the brush 

 constituted the fence. Such a fence answered most pur- 

 poses when freshly built, but it soon decayed, and then 



Courtesy of "The While Pine Bureau' 



WHITE PINE GATES OF QUALITY 



An attractive gate gives class to premises and .furnishes an introduction which never fails to impress favorably those who 

 see it for the first time. Architects and landscape gardeners understand how to make the most of this asset. In this 

 respect, wood seems more genuine than metal. This is the gate at famous "Beverly" on the Pocomoke River, Maryland. 



factory. The kinds of fences buijt of wood, or partly 

 of wood, have been numerous and interesting, and fashion 

 has been regulated largely by convenience. The first 

 fence that encloses a newly-cleared field in a forested 

 region may not be the same in style, appearance, and con- 

 struction as that enclosing the meadow which occupies 

 the same site a century later. The original fence may 

 have consisted of brush, limbs, and poles procured from 



it settled so low that horses, cattle, and sheep could walk 

 over it at will and thus enter and depart from enclosures. 

 The brush fence never was much protection against hogs, 

 for these animals were able to force passage through 

 and under, and a short period of decay put such a struc- 

 ture out of commission. The brush fence used to be 

 common and it has not yet become obsolete. It was 

 never regarded as a wholly creditable farm improve- 



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