181 



THE FARMERS HANDBOOK. 



In Fig. 25 the stockyards are made of split pine. To the casual observer 

 they appear to be very substantial and as strong as that timber will allow. Both 

 the posts and rails arc from mature and fairly sound trees. They are on a station 



belonging to a gentleman as keen, 

 observant, and well informed on 

 matters pertaining to agronomy as 

 any person with whom the writer 

 comes in contact. Yet, until the 

 matter was discussed with him. 

 although he was well aware of the 

 characteristics of the timber, he had 

 not given any thought to the re- 

 duction of the strength of these 

 timbers when he allowed his men 

 to cut them as they had done in 

 making these yards. 



In Fig. 26 the photo, is taken 

 much closer to the posts and rails 

 than Fig. 25, and from inside the 

 yard. 



The reader will observe that about 

 half the rail has been cut away and 

 Fig. 26. a very small tenon left to fit the 



mortise of a very substantial post. 

 A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and so here the strength of this 

 fence depends on the strength of the tenon. Furthermore, even the tenon 

 has been weakened by adzing w r ood from the convex outer hardwood, instead 

 of from the inner wood towards the vicinity of the pith. Obviously, to make 

 the yards as strong as possible with this class of timber, much larger mortises 

 should have been made in the posts, and there should have been no adzing 

 from the rails. 





Fig. 27 is a picture of yards made 

 of hardwood, which at first sigh!, 

 appear very substantial, but while 

 they are strong enough to hold 

 sheep, goats, or quiet milch cows, 

 they frequently fail to stem the rush 

 of frightened cattle. The rails are 

 of sawn timber of a short, curly 

 grained hardwood, and about 1-j 

 inches thick. They are much too 

 narrow in comparison with their 

 length. Being so narrow and long-, 

 they bend to only a moderate pres- 

 sure upon their middles. To guard 



against the rails being forced out — which frequently happens — the mortises 

 should be at least 2 inches deep; but, instead, they are only half that depth 

 in the post. 



