ARRANGEMENT FOR HORSE WORK V 101 



A home-grown fence is quite possible in Calif orriia, J u'sirig 'for 

 pickets the southern cane or the Asiatic bamboos, both of which 

 grow readily on moist land in this state. Mr. C. A. Maul of Kern 

 county was recently reported to have completed the construction 

 of a mile of fence, using these canes for pickets. His plan was this : 

 Second-hand railroad ties were bought and split for posts. These 

 were set a rod apart. With a machine that costs about twenty-five 

 dollars, the canes were woven into a web, using six No. 14 wires 

 for the chain. The canes were cut three and one-half feet long, the 

 fence posts are four feet high and along the top of them a barbed 

 wire is stretched, so that when completed one has a chicken or 

 rabbit proof fence as well as a strong stock fence. This fence, Mr. 

 Maul says, can be built for forty cents a rod where one raises his 

 own cane. It is very durable, the cane becoming as hard as bone 

 and never rotting; rabbits can not gnaw it, and it will not ignite 

 from burning grass near it as common pine fencing or lath will ; 

 stock can see it and hence will not run against it ; it can be made of 

 any height desired, the canes growing as high as twelve to fifteen 

 feet; it may be taken down, rolled up and moved without injury 

 and at slight expense. In addition to their use as protective fences 

 these woven canes and wire serve as windbreaks, sunshades, etc., 

 as such may be desired for temporary service. 



ARRANGMENT FOR HORSE WORK. 



Although our foreign-born friends who do most of the mar- 

 ket garden work in California retain their native predilection for 

 hand labor and plan their gardens accordingly, it is advisable that 

 farm vegetable growers should arrange to use as much horse 

 power as possible. Both for this purpose and to facilitate furrow 

 irrigation or seepage ditch irrigating, if the slope suits it, the garden 

 should be somewhat brick-shaped, because of the greater work 

 which can be done with the same or fewer turnings of the horse or 

 team than on a square piece. At both ends there should be a road- 

 way left for turning the team. This shape is equally adapted for 

 flat or ridge cultivation. 



In the horse-power farm garden there should, of course, be 

 no permanent walks. If walks are desired, leave spaces length- 

 wise unplanted and uncultivated and smooth down the surface with 

 a roller. Such arrangements, however, waste land and waste 

 moisture, for the hard ground draws water laterally. It is better 



