FENCES AND FARM BUILDINGS. 



45 



The following cut (Fig. i) shows the cross-section of a wall two 

 and a half feet wide at the base, one and a half at the top, and 

 four and a half feet high, which is hardly worth the stone it con- 

 tains. It stands on level ground, with no t ;,.. ,. 

 drainage, and no foundation other than a 

 moist soil. Its stones are laid up on the 

 independent principle — all that each one 

 asks of another is a place to rest. The 

 sides are straight and the top level. To 

 all outward appearance, it is perfectlv 

 good. But when winter sets in, the 

 freezing ground will raise the whole con- 

 cern perhaps, an inch, in the air ; warm weather comes and 

 thaws out the warm side first, and it settles an inch below the 

 level of the other side ; then another frost lifts it up again, and 

 another thaw settles it. A few such rackings topple down a lot 

 of stones against the side of the wall ; then comes another frost, 

 and these stones keep in the ground until after the opposite side 

 has thawed, when that goes down, and more stones fall that 

 way, or the wall gets a twist. A few winters of such racking 

 work will finish the wall, and it must be rebuilt. 



Fig. 2 shows the cross-section of a wall built of the same stones 

 laid in the proper manner, on a suitable foundation. The first 

 thing has been to make a sufficient drain (which, for this purpose, 



