FENCES AND FENCING. 223 



Whenever the burning ot timber to be rid of it has 

 ceased, there the making of rail fences must be near 

 its end. 



Where fences must still be maintained, I apprehend 

 that posts and boards are the cheapest material. 

 Though Pine lumber grows dear, Hemlock still 

 abounds ; and the rapid destruction of trees for their 

 bark to be used in tanning must give us cheap hem- 

 lock boards throughout many ensuing years. Spruce, 

 Tamarack, and other evergreens from our Northern 

 swamps, will come into play after Hemlock shall have 

 been exhausted. 



As for posts, Red Cedar is a general favorite ; and 

 this tree seems to be rapidly multiplying hereabout. 

 I judge that farmers who have it not, might wisely 

 order it from a nursery and give it an experimental 

 trial. It is hardy; it is clean; it makes but little 

 shade ; and it seems to fear no insect whatever. It 

 flourishes on rocky, thin soils ; and a grove of it is 

 pleasant to the sight at least, to mine. 



Locust is more widely known and esteemed ; but 

 the borer has proved destructive to it on very many 

 farms, though not on mine. I like it well, and mean 

 to multiply it extensively by drilling the seed in rich 

 garden soil and transplanting to rocky woodland 

 when two years old. Sowing the seed among rocks 

 and bushes I have tried rather extensively, with poor 

 success. If it germinates at all, the young tree is so 

 tiny and feeble that bushes, weeds, and grass, overtop 

 and smother it. 



