INVISIBLE IRON FENCES. 



213 



or more, and at the end of the last swath 

 starts up a hay-field, which is mown over 

 perhaps twice in the season ; but in most 

 cases, there seems no good reason why the 

 lawn ends and the hay-field begins just 

 where they do, instead of 10 or 100 feet 

 one way or the other ; in fact, there is no 

 good reason, for the length and breadth of 

 the lawn often depends upon the horticul- 

 tural zeal or pecuniary position for the mo- 

 ment. If the first mowing of the season is 

 made under the receipt of an increased or 

 unexpected dividend, the lawn gets a 

 swath or two more, and a cock or two of 

 hay is subtracted from the harvest ; while 

 the next year, under a smaller income, 

 thrift conquers taste, and the lawn, instead 

 of being shorn of its grass, is shorn of its 

 fair proportions. 



The wire fence, therefore, forms an 

 agreeable termination or setting to our or- 

 namental grounds ; or, if needs be, a di- 

 vision between the dressed and undressed 

 portions of the estate. By its adoption, 

 we might materially diminish the amount 

 of lawn now kept under the scythe, — pro- 

 ducing similar effects by substituting cat- 

 tle — especially sheep — and increasing very 

 much the charm of the landscape by the 

 introduction of animated nature. 



I doubt if the keenest eye can detect my 

 fence at 30 or 40 yards distance. Conse- 

 quently, our finest places even do not re- 

 quire a lawn larger than twice this breadth 

 in diameter, provided the grass on the 

 other side is kept equally short by sheep. 



Your parks or grazing fields can be as 

 well planted by surrounding the trees, or 

 clumps, or shrubs, by the invisible fence, 

 which are quite lost against the foliage ; 

 and the walks can be quite as much ex- 

 tended by wire gates. 



It is quite astonishing in England how 

 very small the proportion of mown lawn is 



to that which, by the use ol the invisible 

 fence, is kept equally short, and almost in 

 as high order, by grazing. At Windsor 

 Castle, I should doubt if the mown border, 

 or strip of grass round the park side of the 

 castle, exceeded 50 to 100 feet up to the 

 wire fence, beyond which they were plant- 

 ing, in June last, large masses of Rhodo- 

 dendrons, Laurels, Portugal Laurels, &c, 

 in the park, which they protected from the 

 thousands of sheep a n d deer that surround- 

 ed them by invisible wire fences. 



At Longleat, the magnificent seat of the 

 Marquis of Bath, there i^ a strip of some 

 300 feet of mown lawn, planted with rare 

 shrubs, between the river and one side 

 only of the house, and separated from 600 

 acres of grazed park by the invisible wire 

 fence. At Wilton House (the Earl of 

 Pembroke's,) Appelder Court (Lord Yar- 

 borough's,) Goodwood (the Duke of Rich- 

 mond's,) Blenheim, Chatsworth, Stowe, and 

 many more that I remember, the amount 

 of vwvm lawn consists really of little more 

 than the grass borders of walks, or the 

 strips that surround or divide plantations 

 in the gardens and shrubberies. Three 

 sides of the house are thrown open, and 

 kept short by deer and sheep. 



By the judicious introduction of wire 

 fences, I have thoroughly tested the strength 

 of this fence against cows and sheep ; and 

 I doubt very much whether an ox could 

 break it, — the wire being an?iealed. Be- 

 sides, here, as in England, cattle seem 

 to avoid it, as if suspicious of some 

 trap. 



In connection with this fence, I have 

 now made, by a common blacksmith, 6 and 

 10 feet long, hurdles, costing, the first $2, 

 and the last S2.50 each. In England, the 

 same weight costs 4s. 6d. sterling, (about 

 one dollar,) and 30 per cent, duty, and 20 

 per cent, freight, and charges $1.50 for 



