THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 79 



inches, which, added to three inches at each end, between the 

 holes and the ends, will make twenty inches, the length of the 

 caps. Slabs which are cut from logs, at saw-mills, will make good 

 caps, and, as they can usually be purchased at a low price, they 

 will make very cheap caps. 



BOEING FENCE CAPS 



89. Is often done by hand, in the winter season, when farmers 

 have Jmt little to do. Two hands can bore one hundred or more 

 in an hour when they are not more than two inches thick. 



90. There are various kinds of augers for this purpose. The 

 kind which may be worked with the least power is a hollow 

 auger, which cuts a circular ring through the cap, of the size of 

 the hole, taking out a core from the centre of a hole. This kind 

 of augers is not capable, generally, of boring caps which are 

 more than about two to four inches thick. Their cost is from 

 four to ten dollars, according to the work expended in fitting 

 them up and making a bench for one. But when caps are to be 

 bored by hand, an ingenious mechanic may get up an auger, 

 bench and all, for about two dollars, which will perform well, and 

 bore all the caps which will be required on one farm. When an 

 auger is driven by horse power, or steam, or water, the mandrel 

 which holds the auger must be of iron, having its bearings turned 

 and polished ; but when boring is done by hand, the mandrel 

 may be turned out of a very tough and hard piece of wood, with 

 a kind of large centre bit firmly fixed in the end of it for the 

 auger, with a crank at the other end. An ingenious blacksmith 

 will make for fifty cents a centre bit, with a square shank six or 

 eight inches long, for fastening it in the wooden mandrel. The 

 caps are placed on a slide, which is made to move towards the 

 auger by a strap being attached to it, and passing over a pulley 

 and fastened to a foot treadle. After the hole is bored, the slide 

 and cap are pulled back with the hands. The whole of it is so 

 simple as to hardly require a description. Sometimes the cap is 

 fed towards the auger by a screw, working in a stationary part 

 of the bench; but feeding with a strap and treadle is- the quick- 



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