Editors Box. 275 



basket-making purposes, but I should doubt how far it would be a fence 

 sufficient to resist heavy cattle. If any of your readers who can speak 

 from experience would kindly give me some information upon the subject, 

 they would confer an obligation on A Subscriber. 



11th July, 1877. 



PRESERVING WOOD POSTS. 



Sir, — It is to be hoped that something practical will result from the 

 discussion on the best means of preserving gate and paling posts, as one 

 cannot fail to be struck with the evident waste of material which is 

 occasioned by six or nine inches of a post giving way at the ground level, 

 while the upper and under portions of it are comparatively fresh. 



We know that a post so affected for all practical purposes is useless, and 

 has to be flung aside and replaced by another that is sure to fail in exactly 

 the same way. 



Now the thing that is wanted to remedy this is for some means to be 

 devised in order to make a post of equal durability throughout, and if it 

 is possible to make the neck of a post last as long as the top and bottom, 

 the saving of labour and material would be immense. 



By way of helping to solve this somewhat difficult problem, I would lay 

 before your readers the following facts. 



About three years ago I had about eight hundred yards of a five-barred 

 paling to repair, the rails of which were good, the upper part of the 

 stobs also were quite fresh, but almost every one of them was rotten 

 quite through at the ground level, so much so that the wind at times 

 threatened to blow the whole structure to the ground. 



Now the usual way of fixing up a fence of this kind is simply to knock 

 the posts off one by one, and put others in their places, an operation 

 that generally breaks a number of rails before it is done. In the present 

 instance, however, I did not do that, but after a little experimenting 

 got some hundreds of iron prongs, which were driven in alongside 

 and nailed to the decayed stobs. Two men went over the eight hundred 

 yards in two days and a half, and the fence, as far as the stobs are 

 concerned, will to all appearance stand for eight or ten years without 

 needing further repairs. These prongs cost about 6|d. ai^iece, which 

 is cheaper than a larch stob, and one great advantage gained by their use 

 is that a beech stob, which lasts on an average only two years, can be 

 made, by having one of these prongs fixed to it, to last for ten years. In 

 closing, I would ask if there is anything to hinder the heavier kinds of 

 posts being treated in a somewhat similar way by having a substantial cast 

 iron socket sunk in the ground with suitable bolt-Loles at the top, to 

 which the post could be firmly screwed ? I should suppose that a post so 

 fixed would last for fifty years, if care was taken to keep the bottom of it 

 clear of the ground. R. Baxter. 



Dalkeith Park, 15th July, 1877. 



