40 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



fences of the same length. A neighbor of mine cut a row twenty 

 rods long, and sold from it one hundred and ten dollars worth of 

 posts. I think there are few farms on which there might not 

 be grown profitably one or more of these lines of live fence posts. 



Post and Board Fence is considered by many the cheap- 

 est and best in the long run, and if well built and of good ma- 

 terial, it will last many years, with little or no expense for re- 

 pairs. The cost of building a board fence is so great that one 

 can not afford to use poor material. A sappy oak post that 

 will rot off in from six to ten years will cost as much to set 

 as a good locust or cedar, which will last from twenty-five to 

 forty years. All posts should be well seasoned, set not less 

 than thirty inches deep, and thoroughly tamped. There is some 

 difference of opinion as to the best time to cut posts, but the 

 weight of testimony is in favor of August, cutting when the wood 

 is freest from sap and will dry out rapidly. There is a popu- 

 lar idea that a post set top end down will outlast one set as it 

 grew, but experiment has, I think, failed to verify it. With 

 good, thoroughly seasoned posts of our best timbers, I do not 

 think any preparation for preserving them necessary, but with 

 posts of inferior timber immersing in coal tar would probably be 

 profitable. 



There are two ways by which we may decrease the cost of 

 post and board fence, one of which is by reducing the number 

 of boards, and the other by increasing the distance between the 

 posts. Not many years ago most farmers used five boards and 

 sometimes a cap in addition, thus making a top-heavy fence, 

 likely to be leaned and twisted by the wind when the ground 

 was soft. Of late years it is seldom that more than four boards 

 are used, however. I have for several years advocated, on all 

 level land, a three-board fence, and some of our best farmers 

 have adopted it, and find that it turns all stock perfectly. The 

 plan is simply to nail the first board so that the bottom of it will 

 be fifteen inches from the ground, and then plow a furrow or two 

 each side and bank up under the fence. This leaves a shallow 

 ditch each side, so that an animal coming up to it is in an unnat- 

 ural position. They can not jump with the front feet in the 



