FARM FENCING. 47 



Portable Fences. One great need for the farm is a really 

 good portable fence, which can be taken down and set up easily 

 and rapidly, without injury to the panels. The man who will 

 give us such a fence will deserve the gratitude of farmers. I 

 have never yet seen a portable fence that was free from serious 

 objections. Either it would blow over in a gale, or it was made 

 zigzag, and occupied as much space as a rail fence, or it must 

 have ground sills, keys, and braces which were in the way or 

 liable to get out of order, or worse still, as is often the case, 

 had no merit or value except that it paid the patent-right man 

 a fee. I think that during the last thirty years half the farmers 

 of my acquaintance have bought the right to use some kind of 

 portable fence, and a search through a township would not ordi- 

 narily result in finding a quarter of a mile of it in use. In 

 1878 I invented what I call a 



Self-supporting Truss Fence. I have had this fence in 

 use ever since on my farm, and for certain purposes I like it 

 well, and it has grown in favor with me each year I have used it. 

 The principle of this fence, 

 as you will see from the cut, 

 is that one panel supports 

 the other. I first tried making 

 it with oak pieces three inches 

 square for the uprights, and 

 with panels fourteen feet 

 long. I found it was heavy to handle, and that the boards 

 would sag in the middle. I now make it with oak uprights, two 

 inches square, and panels eight feet long. These panels are 

 light and easy to handle, and stand much firmer than if made 

 longer. In exposed situations, when I used the longer panels, 

 this fence was sometimes blown down in a gale, but I have never 

 had the eight-foot panels blown over, although I have for two 

 years used it for a barnyard fence, where it is five feet high. 

 In all exposed situations, I would recommend an occasional 

 stake, as the cost would be very small and the advantage great. 

 All that would be necessary would be to drive a stake in the 

 notch once in two rods, or every fourth panel, and drive a fence 



SELF-SUPPORTING TRUSS FENCE. 



