230 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



A farm tliat is well fenced, though its soil be but moderately 

 productive, is almost certain to attract the attention of a pur- 

 chaser as well as traveller. Aside from this, such improveinents 

 greet and gladden the eye of the occupant from day to day, and 

 afford him the agreeable satisfaction of feeling that his culti- 

 vated crops are secure against the ravages of his roving herds. 

 Fences built of stone are undoubtedly the most durable, sub- 

 stantial and economical ; and for this purpose nature appears 

 to have furnished a large majority of the New England farmers 

 with ample material for fencing their farms into fields of con- 

 venient size. When a stone wall is to be built, a trench should 

 be dug below the frost line and wide enough to take the bottom 

 of the wall. This should be filled with small stones, and the 

 foundations of the wall laid near the surface. This not only 

 secures the wall against the action of the frost,' but at the same 

 time accomplishes a certain amount of drainage, which of itself 

 will fully compensate for the extra outlay and expense. If such 

 a wall be not over four feet in heiglit, and be built in a work- 

 manlike manner, it will not be likely to need any repairs from 

 the present generation, to say the least. We frequently err in 

 building farm walls too high. High walls are much more expen- 

 sive to build, more liable to fall after they are built, and by the 

 roadside are in exceeding bad taste. To a certain extent they 

 break off the view from the adjoining fields, giving to the high- 

 way a sort of dreary and monotonous aspect, at the same time 

 making it a complete receptacle for all the snow which a driving 

 storm can deposit between its walls. 



Where, from a scarcity of stones, it is necessary to construct 

 fences of wood, it becomes a matter of considerable importance 

 as to how posts and stakes^ may be rendered most durable. A 

 chestnut post six inches in diameter will not ordinarily last more 

 than ten years in a dry soil, and if the soil be moderately wet it 

 will decay and fall down in a much shorter time. White cedar 

 will stand perliaps fifteen years. The red cedar, or juniper, 

 and the locust are undoubtedly the best kinds of wood to resist 

 the action of the weather, and therefore for fencing purposes 

 are almost invaluable. The juniper is usually found on rocky 

 hillsides and stony pastures, and therefore is seldom used for 

 fencing purposes in the neighborhood where it grows. 



