FENCES AND FARM BUILDINGS. 43 



" with impunity, unless he gives A ten days' notice of his inten- 

 " tion to throw open his fields to the commons between Novem- 

 " ber and April. During the time from April to November, if a 

 " line fence is removed by B, and A is made to sustain any loss 

 *' by such removal, B is responsible for the damage." 



Four feet and six inches is considered a lawful barrier against 

 any animals, and a fence lower than that is, in the eye of the law, 

 a sufficient barrier against the smaller animals. The court must 

 decide whether the trespassing animals were unruly^ and whether 

 the fence was sufficient to keep them out if they had not been. 



So far as interior fences are concerned, it should be remembered 

 that a poor fence makes an unruly animal and a good fence an 

 orderly one. It is better, where horses and cattle are to be kept, to 

 make all fences four and a half feet high, though a part of this height 

 may consist of a narrow bank of earth on which the fence is built. 



The material of which the fence is to be made must depend 

 mainly on what is most easily accessible. In heavily wooded, new 

 countries, capital fences are made of the roots of large trees, torn 

 from the ground and set up edgewise. Where wood is plenty and 

 stone scarce, rail fences are generally cheapest, although, in good 

 lumber districts, board fences, with their greater durability, are 

 more desirable, while, for general use, about houses, lawns, and 

 gardens, a picket fence has some great advantages ; and when 

 there are good stones to be had, nothing can supplant stone walls. 

 TVherc notl.ing is to be had but a fertile soil, that of itself must 

 furnish the fencing by producing a stout growth of hedge -row. 

 If the material for the fence must be brought from a distance, 

 iron wire netting is best to be used. 



To discuss the manner of making all kinds of rail, board, 

 picket, and iron fences, (which offer a very great variety of charac- 

 teristics, and may be made to suit,) and the growing of hedges, 

 which is a study by itself, would either swell this volume to a 

 very undesirable size, or compel the exclusion of other topics 

 which are of greater importance.* 



* Those who seek information on these subjects will find them treated at length in 

 the "Young Farmers' Manual," and in Warder's '" Hedges and Evergreens." 



