516 [Senate 



FENCES. 



Wire fences are made by planting posts firmly in the earth, at a 

 distance of eight or ten feet from each other, and then by means of 

 some tension machine, stretching any required number of wires, at 

 suitable distances, one above the other, from post to post, and then 

 securing them by means of a turn around the stems of large headed 

 nails driven almost home. 



These fences, if properly made, will turn any animal, even the most 

 vicious, as I once had an opportunity of witnessing near Philadelphia, 

 in the unavailable attempts of a furious bull to pass one of them. 

 They will be more or less durable, according to the material used. 

 When trees are substituted for posts, they present a beautiful relief 

 to the eye on large cultivated farms, are enduring, and may, if the 

 mulberry or fruit bearing trees be selected, be made in themselves a 

 source of profit to the farmer, and of health and comfort to grazing 

 animals, from the shade and shelter they afford. 



Galvanized wires would be lasting — if not, let black varnish be ap- 

 plied by means of a woollen cloth saturated with it, being once a year 

 used to coat the wires. White and black thorn hedges have been 

 successfully tried in this country, particularly in the States of Dela- 

 ware and Pennsylvania. The' only drawback to their more general 

 adoption that I have heard of, is their liability to destruction from 

 field mice, which shelter themselves among their roots, and devour 

 the bark and so destroy them. The apple shrub, pruned, makes a 

 good hedge, but like the thorn, is preyed on by mice. The locust, 

 willow, and red cedar, have all been cultivated for hedges. Some of 

 the mulberry trees may be so cultivated, except for enclosing grazing 

 animals, who would prune them too close. Willow does well on low 

 grounds, especially along water courses, where it answers the double 

 purpose of hedge fence and preserving the banks from falling in. 

 Red cedar well pruned, and its limbs interlocked, makes a valuable 

 hedge, and has the advantage of not being eaten by animals. In 

 France, fences are sometimes made by beating earth between planks 

 till a solid earth wall is produced, the planks being carried forward to 

 continue the process. The earth so used ought to have clay enough 

 in it to render it cohesive. Houses are so constructed, and when 

 covered over with good mortar last many years. 



Sod fences are made by a double row of sods, with earth between 

 them. Such fences should have shallow ditches on each side, with 

 cuttings of dwarf willows, or planted with the seeds of thorny run- 

 ning vines. Such fences are well adapted for prairie inclosures, and 

 wherever timber is scarce. 



EDWARD CLARK. 



