fence, are formed with the same materials ; but in all 

 cases the tops are covered with straw, which the thatchers 

 perform in a very neat manner." Denson's Peasant t 

 Voice, p. 31. 



MODE OF FENCING AND DITCHING. 



A good emhankment, three feet high, with a ditch, fur- 

 nishing a drain for surplus water, is made with astonishing 

 rapidity. The embankment affords a foundation for a 

 short post to hold two or three rails, which is found suffi- 

 cient to inclose or exclude cattle. The machine to make 

 the embankment need not cost over two dollars, including 

 labor and materials. It may be constructed by any 

 farmer, with the help of an axe and auger. It seems 

 almost incredible that two planks twelve feet long, united 

 at an angle of eighteen or twenty degrees, can throw up 

 dirt with such facility. The wedge and inclined plane 

 seem united, and the only difficulty is, to ascertain at 

 what angle dirt will slide. The angle above mentioned 

 will answer in most soils. If the angle should prove too 

 obtuse, the brace in the rear might be so formed as to 

 graduate the scraper as desired. If the planks are ex- 

 tended in length, the height of the embankment may be 

 increased, or the dirt thrown farther from the furrow, if 

 the object is to turnpike the soil or to grade it for rails ; 

 and it appears, that the machine will greatly lessen the 

 expense of making roads on lands where large roots form 

 no obstacle to the common plough, which precedes this 

 scraper. To expedite turning at the end of the furrow, 

 a bent lever, (a crooked joint will answer,) affixed about 

 the centre, will raise the machine so as to turn on a point ; 

 and much friction may be saved, by tacking to the land 

 side a few inches of plank at the front and rear, or by 



