THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 195 



the hooks can be taken out with facility and put into holes one 

 or two feet higher in the winter when the snow is deep, which is 

 a convenience of no trivial consideration in many localities where 

 snow is liable to drift about the gate. The bed-piece a should 

 be of durable timber, and extend a little on the outside of the 

 posts and braces. The sills b b should be let into the bed-piece 

 about two inches. The posts need not be more than six inches 

 square, and the plate four by six. The gains, tenons and mor 

 tises should all be painted well, or smeared with coal tar. By 

 attaching a piece of plank each post may be used as a straining- 

 post for wire fence. The bed-piece a may be a round log, flat 

 tened a little on the upper side, with the surface not less than 

 three inches above the surface of the ground. The sills should 

 not be set on the ground, but supported with flat stones. 



RAILWAY GATES. 



259. It may be asked why I do not give an illustration of a 

 railway gate, since there are so many different styles of them. 

 If I had ever seen one that I truly admired as economical and 

 convenient, I would not fail to give a description and illus 

 tration of it, but I have never seen one that I liked half as 

 well as a hinge gate ; and I never have known one instance 

 where a man had used a railway gate for a few years who did 

 not utterly dislike it, and wish a good hinge gate were in its 

 place. An illustration of one looks well, and a new gate looks 

 well, and if well made will work well for a few seasons ; but if it is 

 used very much the wheels will soon rub hard against the wood, 

 and will make it run hard ; and in wet and wintry weather the 

 wheels will be frozen fast, and a man's strength will be required 

 to open it ; and, more than all else, a railway gate is more expen 

 sive than a hinge gate. A good stick of timber, more than 

 enough for two gate posts, is required for the track, and as it is 

 laid near the surface of the ground, it will not last but a few 

 seasons. A man will make and hang a good hinge gate with 

 less timber and in less time than a railway gate, and when it is 

 finished it will outlast the railway gate by twice the number of 



