THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 153 



there. The farmer can do as his own judgment may dictate in 

 reference to banking up the sides. 



193. Another thing of no little importance in building stone 

 fence is, to lay all the stones as nearly level as may be practica 

 ble. In making a wall up or down a slope, the workmen should 

 always work up hill, laying the stones level, instead of laying 

 them parallel with the surface of the ground. When stones are 

 laid sloping in a wall, they are moved much more easily than 

 when they are laid in a level position ; consequently, a wall built 

 in such a manner would not be as strong as it would be were the 

 same stones laid level. 



194. Whenever a wall is built along the hillside, and the dirt 

 is hauled down against it, the face of the wall should be more 

 battering than are the faces of a double-faced stone wall. It is a 

 very great error to lay up a wall in such places with the face 

 perpendicular ; because the earth will freeze and expand behind 

 the wall, and, unless it is several feet in thickness, it will thrust 

 it over in a very few years. Stone walls that are erected along 

 the sides of abutments should always be laid battering, lest the 

 sides bulge out in a few seasons, and they fall. The face of such 

 a wall should be laid battering not less than one foot in three. 

 For example, if a wall be three feet high, it should be laid bat 

 tering one foot ; and if six feet high, two feet battering. And 

 there is another very important consideration in laying up such a 

 wall, which is almost always entirely overlooked, or not even 

 thought of, which is this: the stones, especially the flat ones, 

 instead of being laid level, as in other kinds of wall, should be 

 laid pitching inward towards the bank or hill above, with their 

 surfaces at a right angle to the face of the wall. When a wall is 

 laid up in this manner, if the frost should ever thrust it over any, 

 it would settle back again to its original position as soon as the 

 earth behind became all thawed out. When a wall is built along 

 a side-hill, as has been mentioned, it should never be less than 

 two feet thick clear to the top. It should be as thick, and even 

 thicker, at the top than at the bottom. The wider it is, the less 

 liable it is to be thrust over by the frosts of winter. In localities 



