THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



103 



than to have all the joints on one post. Not less 

 than two eight -penny fence nails should be used in 

 a place. The whole fence may be planed and painted, 

 or not, as desired ; but in either case, the face sides ] 

 of the posts, and thflse parts of the boards which come | 

 in contact with the posts, should be painted, or smeared j 

 with coal tar, to prevent their decaying. After the i 

 boards are all nailed on, the efficiency and strength of 

 the fence will be much increased by nailing on battens, 

 four inches wide, over the boards on each post. The 

 insides of the battens and the fence boards, where they are nailed, 

 should be painted. Much care should be exercised in nailing on 

 the battens, lest the large nails split the ends of the fence boards. 

 If the nails are very large, holes should be bored through both 

 battens and boards for the nails. Some fence makers consider it 

 very important to fit pieces of boards in the spaces between all 

 the boards, and nail them to the posts ; but if a fence is well bat 

 tened, and if the nails which hold the battens are driven near the 

 lower edges of the fence boards, pieces in the spaces will not pay 

 for the labor of fitting them and putting them in. After the 

 battens are all nailed on, let the tops of posts be sawed off square, 

 and the cap board firmly nailed on. This should be four inches 

 wide, so as to cover the top ends of the posts and the top board 

 and the batten. If it should be desirable to case all the posts of 

 such a fence, or every second post, the manner and style of doing 

 it may be seen at Fig. 32, 



123. Which represents a style of fence which is almost uni 

 versally admired, especially by the farmers' wives. The fence is 

 designed to be planed and painted, and a part or all of the posts 

 cased. The face casings are eight inches wide, and extend ten 

 or eleven inches above the top of the fence. The tops of cases 

 are finished with square pieces of plank, or with a pyramidal top, 

 made of inch boards. The boards are all nailed on the posts, 

 and then the face casings to posts are nailed on, as if they were 

 battens. The side casings are then fitted by cutting gains in 

 them for the fence boards, and they are nailed to the face casings. 



