FENCING AND DRAINING 183 



the top wire being 3 inches below the top of the posts. This 

 gives a fence 4 feet 3 inches high. On banks 5 wires will 

 be usually sufficient to form a fence 2 feet 6 inches high. 

 Wires should be of the best galvanized drawn wire, and the 

 two top ones should be No. 6 gauge, of which about 390 yards 

 go to the cwt. ; while the others can be No. 8, giving about 

 570 yards to a cwt. They should be fixed to the posts with 

 ij inch galvanized staples, which should not be driven tightly 

 on to the wire except at the straining posts. Any form of 

 straining machine can be used to tighten the wires ; screwed 

 eye bolts are good, as when these are used the wires can be 

 tightened or loosened when necessary without trouble. Winder 

 brackets are also good. The top of the posts should be sawn 

 off at an angle to prevent water lodging on them. 



The cost of the 8-wire fence described above will be from 

 3-y. to $s. 6d. per yard ; it varies according to the price of 

 wire. The large straining posts can be made from home- 

 grown material for about 45. each, intermediate posts for 

 about io<^., and the pointed piles for about 5^/. The cost 

 of the fence should be kept as low as possible by putting in 

 as few wires as will serve the purpose. 



Where rabbits alone are to be kept out the following makes 

 an efficient fence : 



Use posts cut from the woods, of larch, oak, ash, or chestnut, 

 4 feet 9 inches long, about as thick as a man's arm ; set these 

 12 feet apart driving them i foot 6 inches into the ground, and 

 have stronger posts at the corners. Put up one top wire, No. 10 

 gauge, at 3 feet from the ground. To this tie galvanized wire 

 netting 42 inches wide, i inch mesh, and No. 17 gauge. Turn 

 6 inches of this under the turf towards the outside of the planta- 

 tion, or if the soil is very sandy, drop 6 inches vertically into 

 the ground, to prevent rabbits burrowing under. Such a fence 

 before the war cost about 6d. per yard, but in 1920 the cost of 

 wire netting has so increased that it cannot be done at less 

 than about is. 6d. per yard, so it is all the more necessary to 

 exterminate rabbits before planting. 



