THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 101 



of good timber, a horse or steer may mount on it and hang there 

 until he becomes satisfied that his weight will not break down 

 the fence ; but the timber must be free from knots and curls, and 

 places where the grain runs crosswise of the boards. If a board 

 four and a half inches wide will sustain such a weight and resist 

 such a thrust as have been mentioned, it cannot be considered as 

 the best economy to saw boards for fence over four and a half 

 inches in width, and sixteen feet long ; and it cannot be denied 

 that boards of these dimensions are sawed up in the most econom 

 ical manner for fences ; but if the timber be full of knots, and is 

 "cross-grained," it would be more economical, and wiser policy, 

 to saw some of them at least eight inches wide. With these con 

 siderations, the builder will be able to determine with propriety 

 what sizes, length, breadth and thickness, will be 



THE MOST ECONOMICAL DIMENSIONS OF FENCE BOAKDS. 



121. In order to save fence posts, the logs for boards should 

 be cut sixteen feet long, besides the stub-shot. "With this length 

 the posts should be set just eight feet apart, from centre to centre. 

 There can be no objection to cutting logs for fencing eighteen or 

 twenty feet long ; but with that length of boards, it would be 

 necessary to have more than two posts to each panel, for a dis 

 tance of more than eight feet between posts, when the boards are 

 only four and a half inches wide, would be rather too great ; but 

 if boards were sawed proportionally wider and in no case should 

 fence boards be sawed less than a plump inch in thickness there 

 could be no objection to cutting the logs eighteen or twenty feet 

 long, and in setting the posts nine or ten feet apart. It would 

 be far better policy to saw fence boards that are four and a half 

 inches wide, one and one-eighth or one and one-fourth inches 

 thick, instead of sawing them one inch or less in thickness. 

 Fence boards, when not well painted, become thinner every year 

 by the wearing away of the grain, caused by the influences of 

 wet and dry weather, and consequently every board becomes less 

 strong year by year. 



