FEN 



FER 



135 



and mire only excepted. On a 

 clay soil it will stand, if the foun- 

 dation be laid in a trench, near as 

 low as the earth commonly freezes 

 in winter. But a wall of flat or 

 square shaped stones, will stand 

 tolerably well on any soil, laid on- 

 ly on the surface. 



It is true that walls will gradual- 

 ly settle into the ground, where 

 the soil is at all mellow,and heaves 

 with the frost ; so that it may be 

 necessary, in a century or two, to 

 dig them up and re-build them. I 

 find some of this work has already 

 been done in some of our oldest 

 towns. But this is a slight objec- 

 tion against the utility of this kind 

 of fence. For future generations 

 will bless themselves, if they have 

 materials on the spot to build fen- 

 ces with, when wooden materials 

 must unavoidably be scarce in 

 most places, and very costly. 



I am aware it will be objected, 

 that stone walls are not sufficient 

 fences against sheep. But it is 

 easy to make them so. A row of 

 flat stones laid on the top, and jut- 

 ting over, will make a wall suffi- 

 cient for this purpose : Or any 

 wooden poles, laid on the top of 

 the stone wall, supported by stakes 

 will check the passage of sheep. 

 The limbs of trees,with their small 

 branches upon them, laid on a 

 stone wall, make a cheap and ef- 

 fectual guard against the passage of 

 sheep. Riders with some of the 

 limbs on there are best for this 

 purpose. 



Farmers need not fear that they 

 shall impoverish their land by 

 clearing it of stones. For, after all 

 they can do to a soil that is natur- 



ally stony, there will be stones 

 enough remaining, a little way be- 

 low the surface, to render the 

 ground moist and warm. 



Rail fence is perhaps as much 

 used as any. The timber for posts 

 and rails should be felled in the 

 winter. To sharpen rails before 

 they are dried saves labour : And 

 posts should be mortised while they 

 are green. Rails are cut twelve 

 feet long. Posts should be six feet 

 and a half, or seven feet. The 

 best timber for rails is Cedar : It is 

 easy to split, light to carry and to 

 handle, sufficiently strong, and the 

 most durable of any. A rail of ce- 

 dar will last an age. Next to ce- 

 dar, rails of chesnut, white pine 

 and ash are best. But, for want 

 of better, some use rails of oak. — 

 Cedar is also best for the post, in 

 this and in board fence. The lo- 

 cust tree is said to be excellent. 

 But posts of white oak, which in 

 most places are more easily got, 

 will last about fifteen or twenty 

 years. If the lower ends of posts 

 be scorched in a hot flame, before 

 they are put into the ground, they 

 will last the longer. Also soaking 

 them in sea water will tend to keep 

 them from rotting. Juniper, the 

 Larch, is much used for posts in this 

 part of this country. They will 

 last forty years. For Hedge Fences, 

 see Hedges. For ditch fences, 

 ^gc Ditch* 



^ FERMENTATION, an internal 

 motion excited in substances, by 

 which the cohesion of their parts 

 is destroyed, and their nature 

 changed. But, that a fermentation 

 may take place, it is necessary that 

 some particles in the fermenting 



