FENCING. 39 



and is useless for goats, who jump over it. Where 

 the stone is of a shaly nature it is useless for dry stone 

 walls, as in a few years the stone will crumble away ; 

 and where it is of a round bouldery nature it requires 

 a very experienced man to pack it so that it will not fall. 



A wall should be four feet high, three feet at the 

 base, and eighteen inches at the top, but if the stone 

 is very good, the base need not be so wide as this. 

 The great thing to look out for is that the men do not 

 put in " shiners " — that is, stones showing their longest 

 face to the front. They should put a great number of 

 " through " stones — that is, stones going right through 

 from one side to the other, and the stones on the two 

 sides of the wall should constantly overlap from one 

 side to the other. If this is not done, although the 

 wall may stand all right for a year or two, it will then 

 begin to fall into gaps in all directions. The usual 

 price for quarrying the stone and packing the wall 

 is Is. 6d. per yard, and this usually includes the men 

 loading the stone on and off the wagon, the farmer 

 finding wagon and oxen, also leader and driver, who 

 assist with the loading and off-loading. The wear and 

 tear to wagon and oxen is great, and if the stone has 

 to be ridden any considerable distance it will put another 

 shilling a yard on the cost of the wall. 



Although, as a rule, stone walling may be con- 



