62 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 



good deal from the wind bloA^^Ilg between the boards, some- 

 times sharp enoiigli to bhght all the fruit witliin its range ; 

 yellow deal weather-boarding is a favourite fence, but the 

 boards soon spring and discover the vacancies between them ; 

 and these vacancies are as large as those between ripped oak- 

 palings. We have seen boards made of inch stufi^ edge to 

 edge, and ploughed and tongued ; but this comes expensive, 

 and one might almost as well pay a trifle more, and have a 

 brick wall. We have seen walls of four-inch brick-work, with 

 a nine-inch pier every five feet ; and for an internal wall 

 within other premises of our own this might do. In fact, 

 many orchards have such walls built in several places, for the 

 sake of naihng trees to them, and for protecting a few warm 

 borders. The best and cheapest, but not the most durable, is 

 deal weather-boarding, as it is called ; that is to say, boards 

 an inch thick, perhaps, one side, and the eighth of an inch the 

 other edge, and called feather-edged. This closely and properly 

 nailed, so as to lap over each other a little, and well fastened 

 to top, bottom, and middle rails, with strong posts every rod, 

 and sHght ones halfway between them, will, if well tarred or 

 paiuted, and kept so, last many years. Eipped oak-palings 

 would last a lifetime, or, perhaps, half-a-dozen lives, if but 

 well soaked ^vith tar once in three 3^ears ; and though it is 

 dear at first, it will be many years before it requires a nail to 

 be driven, or any other kiud of repair. A favourite paling in 

 some neighbourhoods, on account of its strength, is formed 

 with slabs, which are the first pieces cut off the trunks of 

 trees, and are consequently flat on the sawed side, but have the 

 roundness of the tree on the other. If these be straightened 

 at the edges, and be naUed to correspondingly strong posts and 

 rails, they form a first-rate fence, powerful against cattle, and 

 tolerably lasting ; in fact, if kept well painted, oded, or tarred, 

 the wear is endless. Open palisades are for the most part 

 adapted for ornament, but there is no saving. Certainly, 

 they admit more air to the borders, and let the public view 

 the interior ; but they are not advisable, unless it be for an 

 internal fence, merely to part one portion of our ground from 

 another. The making is as costly as a soHd fence ; the paint- 

 ing or tarring is quite as expensive, and nothing is gained by 

 it, except it be appearance, which is a matter of taste. 



There are other modes of making a fence, which may be 

 cheaper where the wood can be had ; tliis is, dri^dng stakes 



