126 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



deep, and by placing the iron tenon in the hole, and by pouring 

 in melted lead to make it solid. Such posts may also be fastened 

 into blocks of wood, or into plugs of wood driven into the ground 

 as deep as for fence posts. 



160. In making a wire fence with iron posts inserted in sills 

 of stone, it is best to form a ridge of earth where the fence is to 

 stand, about twenty inches high, and three feet wide on the top, 

 and seed it with grass seed, allowing it to settle one season; and 

 then place the sills in which the iron posts have been set, on the 

 surface of the ridge, in a line with each other, as in setting posts 

 of wood. Bowlders, into which posts have been set, may be 

 sunk a few inches into the ridge in order to make the holes in 

 the posts stand in range with each other. Posts set in this 

 manner may seem to some people like a very superficial fabric, 

 possessing little permanency, but after such posts have been 

 placed a few weeks, let a man move them, if he can, by taking 

 hold of the iron posts. Such posts may be placed thirty feet apart 

 on the ridge, and two or three stay wires put on the main wires, 

 between the posts. In order to prevent swine from lifting the 

 bottom wire, the stay wires may be first fastened to the stakes 

 driven into the ridge, and then passed around the other wires to 

 the top wire. After the wires have been put in and strained, the 

 holes may be plugged with hard wood to keep them from rendering 

 back and forth when the wires are pressed sideways. A fence 

 made after this plan will remain permanent, without doubt, as 

 long as one man usually wants a fence. If the posts should ever 

 become a little inclined, they may be readily set erect by raising 

 one end of the sills. 



THE NUMBER OF WIRES 



161. In a fence will always depend upon the size of the animals 

 to be turned by the fence. No sheep, cattle, or swine, of a hun 

 dred pounds weight, will be able to pass between the wires of a 

 fence like Fig. 46, when the wires are well strained. In merely 



