CHAPTER H. 



FENCING. 



" SWIFT from the rural shades, O Muses, bring 

 Your wonted aid, while of the Fence we sing I 

 And let the fence our fathers built of rails, 

 With stakes and posts and boards, or logs or pales, 

 Close up the long-neglected gaps." INGERSOLL. 



59. IF there is any one thing more than another which is a 

 source of constant anxiety and unremitting care to the farmer, it 

 is the erection of suitable fences for enclosing his own grounds for 

 the purpose of excluding lawless intruders, or keeping his own 

 animals within proper bounds. "Wherever a farm may be located, 

 or whatever may be its productions, fence, fence, fence, is the first, 

 the intermediate, and the last consideration in the whole routine of 

 the operations of the farm. Erecting new fences and repairing 

 old ones, and laying up a rail here, and fastening a loose board 

 there, is something that demands the vigilance of the farmer, 

 from the commencement to the close of the year. If there is a 

 day, or a number of days, when the laborers of the farm have 

 arrived at a point when they do not seem to know what to do to 

 advantage and profit, they can almost always find something con 

 nected with the enclosures of the farm, the performance of which 

 will be a work of some profit and economy, and sometimes of 

 very great convenience. In the winter and spring, in summer 

 and in autumn, on stormy days and leisure days, and parts of 

 days, if all the plans of the farm are wisely laid, something may 

 be done at fences or gates, or bar-posts or bars. But few farmers 

 have any proper idea of the expense attending the fencing of a 



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