24 



F A li M K R 8 ' Ji E G I S T K 11 



Various substitutes have been proposed for the 

 common post and rail fence, llie most prominent 

 of which will be iierealter noliced. Notwithstan- 

 ding the {Treat scarcity of tinu)er in the Ailaniic 

 states, which is a matter of oreat solicitude, in 

 view of obtainins: in lulure a supply ortiniber suit- 

 able for fencing alone — tlie sysiem of post and rail 

 (cnces — will) pro()er mananemenr on tlie pari of 

 fiu'mers may be easily and advantageously per- 

 petuated. 



James Worth Esq., of Sharon, near Newton, 

 Encks county, Pennsylvania — a genlleman who 

 has devoted much of his tune, talents, and fortune, 

 in promoting the general interests ol'agricullure — 

 after a minute and carelial examination of the 



K' very farmer should see without 



his grounds suitably stocked with 



pective value, 

 delay to havini 

 I rees. 



It is estimated that a fence of locust posts and 

 chestnut rails, with very little repair, will last lor 

 at least sixty years, so ihal the necessities of the 

 fiirm would require only the third cutting of the 

 limber — the two intermediate cuttings, yielding 

 ihirty thousand posts and rails are ready for a mar- 

 ket, which would be readily found, and wliich at 

 ihe low rate of five dollars a hundred, would give 

 the owner of the farm an average gain of twenty 

 dollars, fji' each and every year the acre of land 

 was thus appropriated — in addition to furnishing 

 all necessar}' Itjncing for the iiirm. This, dating 



claims of all tlie varieties of fences used and re- fiom the commencement, is a handsome profit 



commended throughout the country, came to the 

 conclusion that the post and rail, and the stone 

 fence, (wherever the materials for iis construction 

 abound) was best adapted to the country and the 

 interests of the fiirmer. Having determined in 

 favor of the post with five rails, for general purpo- 

 ses, he says : — 



" 1 turn my attention to that particular kind, and 

 will proceed to provide for its future supplJ^ Plant 

 an acre of ground with chestnut and locust seeds, 

 five-sixths of it with chestnut (or rails, and one- 

 sixth with locust for posts. Four trees will grow 

 on a perch, making six hundred and ibT\y on the 

 acre. I suppose that forty of them will fail, leav- 

 ing six hundred trees, each of which will produce 

 in Ihirty years, and every Uventy to twenty- five 

 years afterwards, twenty rails or posts, wliich will 

 yield at each cutting twelve thousand posts and 

 rails, or two thousand pannels. Then say the 

 acre of land is worth eighty dollars, it will reduce 

 the materials to (bur cents per pannel, which with 

 making and putting up will not exceed twenty- 

 five cents. In point of durability I am persuatled 

 that it will be exceeded by none, except the stone. 

 and it will have an advantage over ihat by being 

 moveable when necessary." 



Mr. Worth's reasons for preferring the locusi 

 post and chestnut rails are thus stated. It occu- 

 pies less ground than any other — the borders of Ihe 

 fields are easily kept clean — the great durability of 

 the materials — the ease with which thev may be 

 be ol)tained by every farmer, as the trees flourish 

 in a tolerably good soil in every part of our coun- 

 try. One acre thus appropriated is sutHcient fur a 

 farm of five hudrcd acres — arid consequently, a 

 quarter of an acre will be abundant lor a linin of 

 one hundred acres. To what better or more pro- 

 fitable purpose can so small a porlion of the best 

 land on the (ium be appropriated ? The only ob- 

 jection is, that there is no immediate availability — 

 that t>om twenty-five to thirty years must elapse 

 belbre the trees can be made into rails. This ob- 

 jection is as unsatisfactory as it is unsound. 

 There are thousands who, if ihcy \vcre.now to ap- 

 propriate sufficient ground, according to the size 

 of their fitrms. and plant it as propo>ed, may with 

 the blessing of Providence, live to enjoy its advan- 

 tages lor years. What! not [dant an orchard, or 

 a grove ol locust, or a cluster of maple, because we 

 may not live to enjoy the benefits tliereof! Such 

 sentiments should never find an abiding place in 

 the bosom of an American firmer; for every m- 

 telligent man knows lull well, ihat every measure 

 of this kind lends not merely to adorn and beautify 

 his planlatioi), but alt'o greatly to increase its pros- 



Cedar post and rail, fence. — James Garnett, 

 esq., a name familiar to the reading farmer, says S 

 " I can affirm, from my own experience, that a 

 cedar post and rail fence, without any ditch, the 

 materials for which grow spontaneously over a 

 large portion of Virginia, and will grow by planting 

 almost any where in tlie United Stales, will last, 

 without the slightest repair, fi-om thirteen to four- 

 teen years ; and may be made to last six or eight 

 years longer, by a lew occasional supplies of rails 

 and posts. I also know from my own experience, 

 that eitlier cedar, chestnut, or locust, the last of 

 wliich is more durable than either, will in fourteen 

 years grow sufficiently large to make the fence 

 anew, if planted by the side of it one or two to 

 each pannel." — Mr. Garnett''s jlddress before ihe 

 Fredericksburg,, Va., j^griciiltural Society. 



A great diversity of opinion has prevailed among 

 many persons, as to the best time for cutting tim- 

 ber, so as to insure its greatest durability. Some 

 recommend the summer season, some the fall, 

 others the winter v/hen the sap^ has generally de- 

 scended ; while others affain who have entered in- 

 to a careful investigation of the subject, have come 

 to the conclusion that the most suitable period lor 

 felling timber, is in the spring while the sap flows 

 It-eely. This will no doubt be considered as rank 

 heresy by many of those who cannot regard with 

 complacency, what they deem innovations on the 

 old and favorite s^'stems. But this opinion is 

 gaining ground ; from the simple circumstance 

 that it is well sustained by incontrovertable facts. 



An old and observing friend, Capt. Cooper of 

 the Navy, furnished for publication some time 

 since in an agricultural work, a variety of facts, 

 toue'.hing tliis important matter; from which it 

 clearly appears, that spring, that is, while the sap 

 is flowing li-eely, is the best time for cutting tim- 

 ber.* The late Joseph Cooper, Esq. warmly 

 advocated this system. In the same paper, page 



* Farmers' Cabinet, vol. iii. p. 29. — one fact we give. 



"J. C. (Joseph Cooper, Esq.) informed me tliat a 

 detachment of British troops crossed from Philadelphia 

 on the 1st day of May, in 1777, and on the 2d com- 

 menced cutting down his woods tor the supply of the 

 army, and at the same time to burn up his fencing, 

 which they completelyaccomplished. "But," said he, 

 " they taught me the proper time to cut timber to makoi 

 it last. After they marched off, I found many trees 

 that were not cut into cord wood : those I split into 

 rails, believing at the same time they would soon decay, 

 lioin their being cut in the spring — but I have been 

 agreeably disappointed — most of them are as sound 

 now as when made into fence." This he related five- 

 and-twenty or thirty years after the peace of '83. 



