THE YOUNG FAKMER's MANUAL. 



to connect a fence with it. If the post is ten or more 

 inches wide, it will be wide enough for the bar-holes 

 or mortises, and a row of round holes for the ends of 

 rails. In case the post is not wide enough for a row 

 of holes for the ends of the rails, a stake may be set 

 on one side of it, with pieces of boards firmly nailed 

 on from the post to the stake, for supporting the rails. 

 The mortises should be not less than two inches wide ; 

 and the length of them and spaces is shown by the ' 

 figures. The mortises for the top bars, when bars are 

 made to be let down, must be a little longer, up and 

 down, than the bottom ones, so as to allow the other 

 ends of the bars to go down to the ground. For slid 

 ing bars, the mortises need not be much longer than BAB-POST. 

 the width of the bars. 



116. Repairing bar-posts is something that is seldom thought 

 of by those who have lots of bar-posts which have rotted entirely 

 off at the surface of the ground. The tops would last many 

 times fifteen years longer, but the lower ends of them have de 

 cayed. Let such posts be pinned firmly to a strong stake or two, 

 and an old bar-post will subserve the place of a new one. 



117. Bar-posts should be made on stormy days and in the win 

 ter, when the forces of the farm are not engaged in the operations 

 which demand attention at some particular season. To aid the 

 beginner in laying out the mortises for a bar-post, take a narrow 

 strip of thin board and cut notches in it, so that it may be laid on 

 a post and the mortises and spaces marked off correctly and alike 

 on all the posts. The length of the mortises and width of spaces 

 must first be laid out correctly on the marking board, and then 

 there will be no danger of mortising a post wrong. The mortises 

 and spaces may be made according to Fig. 29. 



