140 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



When the ground is level, after the pickets have all been put in 

 the loops, they may all be set up, and the wires strained (see Fig. 

 42) and fastened to each post, with staples driven over the wires 

 into each post. Where the ground is undulating, it is a most dif 

 ficult job to adjust the wires in such a manner that the pickets, 

 up and down slopes, will all stand in a perpendicular position. 

 Suppose, for instance, a fence is to be made fifteen or twenty rods 

 on a level, and then to rise up a slope from ten to twenty rods. 

 Let the wires be fastened to the post at the bottom of the slope 

 of ground, and have a set of straining-posis at the top of the 

 slope, and another set at the end of that part of the fence on level 

 ground ; and let the wires be strained from both ways. If either 

 of the wires should seem to be looser than the other, and straining 

 it more would incline the pickets from a perpendicular position, 

 it would be best for a man to step on the wire which is the tightest, 

 in several places, in order to bury the wires deeper in the wood ; 

 and then they can both be strained up to the desired tension. 



179. The cost of such a fence will be easily estimated, and the 

 fence very quickly made. The pickets, in this region, can be 

 obtained, turned and pointed, for one dollar per hundred, four 

 feet long. If they are one inch and a quarter in diameter, 

 which is as small as they ever ought to be, with four-inch spaces, 

 it will require about thirty -seven pickets for one rod of fence. 

 The cost of the wire will depend on its size ; and the cost of posts 

 will depend on the locality, and the kind of posts used. Posts 

 similar to Fig. 45 may be used for this style of fence, by passing 

 a wire around the wire which holds the pickets, and through the 

 holes in the post, and twisting jt up tight. Instead of having the 

 pickets four or more feet long, a ridge of earth two feet or so 

 high may be cast up, and the pickets be made correspondingly 

 shorter, which will lessen the cash cost, and at the same time in 

 crease the efficiency of the fence by means of the ridge of earth. 

 When such a fence is put up in a workmanlike manner, and well 

 painted, it harmonizes with the taste of many individuals better 

 than almost any other style of fence. 



180. Fig. 56 represents one of the most expensive kinds of 



