THE NEW FORESTRY. IIQ 



margin of the wood to be seen. On some estates, within 

 recent times, many miles of hedges in parks have been removed 

 and invisible wire fences substituted with excellent effect. 



The dry stone-wall fence makes a good durable fence for a 

 plantation, and if the first cost is considerable, it is perhaps the 

 cheapest in the end where stone is readily procurable. From 

 a landscape point of view, however, they are even more objec- 

 tionable than hedges. In all 'cases the regular "dry-waller" 

 should be employed by contract in the erection of such fences, 

 as an unskilled hand cannot do such work properly. The cost 

 of such fences depends on the suitability of the stone 

 employed, the distance it has to be brought, and the rate j of 

 wages paid in the locality. 



Wooden fences or pailings are of various kinds, but for the 

 protection of plantations only, the fence may be plain and 

 made out of the most suitable timber on the estate, or such as 

 can be got at the nearest timber yard or saw mill, where 

 fencing materials are usually in stock, the railway companies 

 using great quantities of such materials. Larch or oak 

 make the best fence, and the one or the other should be ,used 

 for the posts at least. Scotch fir or spruce will do for the 

 rails, which should be about four-and-a-half inches wide and 

 one-and-a-half inches thick. The top rail should be about 

 four feet from the iground, and the others should be close 

 enough to each other to prevent lambs getting through. This 

 is the common Scotch pailing, consisting of stout riven or 

 sawn stakes driven firmly into the ground and a continuous 

 bar nailed to them. Whatever kind of fence is employed to 

 protect plantations, they should be set up at a sufficient dis- 

 tance from the trees to prevent cattle and horses from 

 reaching them. 



SECTION IV. ROADS. 



Good roads increase the value of plantations because of 

 the facilities they afford for the removal of timber, always the 

 heaviest item of expense in disposing of timber, and generally 

 borne by the vendor, because it must come off the price in the 

 wood. " Easy to get away " is always a recommendation to 

 a sale of timber and one the vendor rarely omits in a notice of 

 sale. Forest roads should be laid out not more than two 

 hundred or three hundred yards apart in extensive woods, and 

 in a direction to afford the easiest and quickest means of 

 exit to road or rail. Access should also be provided, as far as 



