428 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



use 5 wires, so that the cattle need not be so 

 much tempted to thrust their heads between, 

 and so that calves and "such small deer" need 

 not get through. 



The tension of the •wires makes the whole 

 strength of the fence, and to get them straight, 

 and keep them so — "Ay, there's the rub." No 

 matter how far you want to go on one course, if 

 the ground is level, stretch the wires the whole 

 distance. A tree at each end is the best post. 

 Indeed, it is almost impossible to set a stone or 

 a woodcH post, that will not yield to the constant 

 strain the first spring. If you set posts, set them 

 very deep, and brace them with strong timbers 

 resting against short posts set for the purpose. 



The best implement with which to strain the 

 wires, is a little thing which you can make in ten 

 minutes, in this way. It was invented, I think, 

 by Hon. Simon Brown, of the N. E. Farmer. 

 Take a stick of round hard wood, about 4 inches 

 in diameter, and 16 inches long. With a two-inch 

 auger, bore two holes through it, at right angles 

 with each other ; one near each end. Bore anoth- 

 er small hole, say J inch through the middle, 

 krge enough to pass tlie wire through conve- 

 niently. Make 2 handspikes, say 2 feet long, to 

 fit the auger holes. Having secured the wire at 

 one end, unroll it by trundling the coil along on 

 the ground, so as not to get any kinks in it, 

 which you are sure to do in any other way, until 

 you reach the other end. 



Bore a hole, say ^ inch or inch through the 

 tree or post, and pass the wire through, leaving 

 3 or 4 feet spare length. Pass the wire through 

 the small hole in your windlass, and wind it 

 round once or twice so that it will not slip ; then 

 put in the handspikes, and you can strain it until 

 it will "like an angel sing," or perhaps the sound 

 will be more like a fiddle-string than the music 

 of the spheres. You can thus apply more power 

 than 4 horses, and can hold the strain steadily. 

 Then drive a hard wood plug into the hole 

 through the tree or post, on the outside. This 

 will hold the wire, till you take off your windlass, 

 and bind the wire a few times round the project- 

 ing end of the pin. 



At 8 feet distance along the wires, drive small 

 stakes for the purpose of keeping the wires at 

 their proper distance apart, so that cattle cannot 

 pass between them. With a short, stiff saw cut 

 notches slanting downwards into the stakes, to 

 receive the wires, and confine them by nails. A 

 single clapboard nail driven upward across the 

 wire will hold it. The whole strength of the fence 

 depends on the end posts, and the tension of the 

 wii-e, as I have said. After cattle have got ac- 

 quainted with wires, they are very discreet about 

 attempting to pass them. 



Oiiu hkii J.; m ()>•>. Splice ibo wires a^ the tele- 



graph men do theirs, which you can learn by 

 looking at them. They never loop their wires, 

 because they will break at the loop if thus con- 

 nected, but they lay the ends together, lapping 

 them a few inches, and then bind them round 

 with a short turn three or four times. 



My land here is clay, and posts will not stand. 

 Last spring I set a row of white pines between 

 my pasture and field, 8 feet apart, fifty rods. To 

 these I intend when they have grown a few years, 

 to attach wires for a fence. Of course it does 

 not do a tree much good to bore holes through 

 it and drive nails into it, but I have several pine 

 and oak trees not more than 6 inches in diame- 

 ter, through which I made ^ inch and inch holes 

 in 1852, three in a tree, and tortured them with 

 my "infernal machine," and they seem to thrive 

 none the less. 



If I wanted to deal gently with the intermedi- 

 ate trees I should drive in irons several inches 

 long, with holes at the ends, leaving them to pro- 

 ject so as to keep the wires off the tree sufficient- 

 ly to allow for its growth. A wire resting against 

 the side of a tree will injure it more than if k 

 passed through the centre, because it will cut it 

 as the tree grows. I tried driving large spikes 

 into my end trees, to hold the wires, but found 

 the wires injured the trees more in this way than 

 when put through the middle of them. If you 

 ever saw a sugar orchard, you have observed that 

 trees, like the "rest of mankind," may be hored a 

 good deal and not die, however much they may 

 suffer. Lest I bore you too much, I will desist, 

 and send this by way of the New England Far- 

 mer, for "the greatest good of the greatest num- 

 ber." Yours trulv, H. F. French. 



EFFECTS OF THE SUN'S LIGHT OM" 

 VEGETATION. 



The Ohio Valley Farmer publishes the follow- 

 ing. The observations detailed were furnished 

 by Isaac N. Woodward, of Montezuma', Indiana. 



It is a Avell conceded fact, that the sun's light 

 has a powerful effect upon both animals and 

 plants, and that a certain portion of it is neces- 

 sary to their growth and proper development. 

 The different colors of vegetation, also, are at- 

 tributable, to a certain extent, to the sun's light ; 

 this may be proven by noticing vegetables that 

 have flowers, which grow in the shade, and com- 

 paring them with those that grow in the sun- 

 shine. We will find there is quite a difference in 

 the growth and color. I have noticed that pota- 

 toes and other vines, which happen to come up 

 in cellars, always direct their course to that por- 

 tion of the cellar from which the most light eman- 

 nates. But I have more particularly observed its 

 effects on fruit trees. I find it is generally the 

 cas» that those apples which grow in the tops o 

 the trees, where they ai'e freely exposed to the 

 .sun's light, are larger, of a brighter color, and 

 have a richer flavor than those which grow on the 

 under limlis or in the shade. And I believe, if 



