58 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



farm of one or two hundred acres, when performed in an efficient 

 and workmanlike manner; and could they see at a glance, in 

 dollars and cents, the amount expended in their fences, they 

 would be disappointed beyond measure. As a general rule, so 

 changeable and perishable are the materials of which fences are 

 built, that the expense of keeping them in good repair, from year 

 to year, consumes a much greater amount of the income of the 

 farm than we feel willing to appropriate for that purpose. But 

 fences must be erected at all events, and any thing that will 

 reflect light on the subject of fencing the farms of America, in 

 the most systematic and permanent manner, will be welcomed by 

 every one who is experimentally acquainted with the enormous 

 expenses which attend enclosing the fields of a farm, before it 

 would be prudent to commence the cultivation of the soil. 



60. Fencing is a branch of labor, in the operation of the farm, 

 which requires the exercise of a good deal of wisdom and judg 

 ment in selecting, preparing, arranging, and disposing of the 

 materials which are to be made use of in building fences in the 

 most economical, workmanlike, substantial and durable manner ; 

 and as economy, durability and substantialness are the most im 

 portant considerations, as a general rule, in building a fence of 

 any kind, and as there is a variety of materials to be worked up 

 into fences, the preparation of materials demands our first atten 

 tion. It cannot be denied that there is a vast destitution of eco 

 nomy, not only in preparing the materials for fencing, but in 

 working up those materials. The very best of materials, when 

 improperly prepared, fail to make an economical and substantial 

 fence ; and, also, the best of fencing materials, when unskillfully 

 arranged and worked up, make a fence far inferior, in almost 

 every respect, to a fence made of materials of a very inferior 

 quality, which has been well made. As economy in preparing 

 timber for fencing is an object of the first importance, when the 

 materials are of wood, we shall speak of the best and most suita 

 ble time for cutting timber, in order to secure its greatest dura 

 bility, when it is to be split into rails, as well as when it is to be 

 split into posts and stakes. 



