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CHEAP RAIL FENCE, FOR LAND NEWLY CLEARED. 



As soon as a piece of land is chopped and cleared, it 

 must be fenced in. This is accomplished by splitting 

 into what are called rails, the lengths or cuts generally 

 eleven feet long of black-ash, cedar, oak, elm, white- 

 ash, cherry, or basswood ; or, when handy, poles will do 

 in part, though rails are the best, and generally used. 

 Rails made from the pine, maple, and beech, the two 

 latter, are rarely seen. A straight fence of logs is some- 

 times put up, being logs of any kind, (about from ten to 

 fourteen inches in diameter) cut into lengths of twelve 

 or fourteen feet. The rails are split by the axe, and 

 iron and wooden wedges, with a large mallet or maul 

 made of wood. Some cuts, depending of course on their 

 freeness (easiness to split) and size, will yield from ten 

 to fifty rails each. The rail fence is built in a zigzag 

 manner, as follows: 



It is generally laid seven rails high, each rail placed 

 above the other, and crossing at the corners, with one 

 stake planted in the ground in the inside, and one on the 

 outside, of each corner ; and on these stakes are placed 

 riders, and the fence thus made is strong and steady. 

 From corner to corner is called a "panel." Of these 

 rails, and seven high including two stakes, and two 

 Aiders, to each panel, as above described 100 rails will 

 lay five rods, or eighty-two and a half feet of a fence, 

 including in this the zigzag ; and it will be, to the top 

 of the upper rider, above six feet high. Sometimes in 

 place of stakes and riders, what are called * locker*" 



