62 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Mar. 



ANOTHER CHAPTER ON WIRE FENCE. 

 BY MYRON ADAMS. 



Messrs. Editors: — I did not say all I wished 

 concerning Wire Fence in your January paper, 

 because I°am aware that short articles are much 

 more acceptable to your readers than long ones. 

 The fence there described is rather a fancy fence 

 than a cheap one, being in front of my dwelling 

 house, and in a very exposed situation. I am sen- 

 sible that it is much more expensive than ordinary 

 farm fences need be, but much cheaper for that par- 

 ticular place than any other I could make. I wished 

 rather to present to the public what I had done, than 

 untried theories of what I might do. 



I find my fence the subject of some remarks in 

 your last paper, and am well aware that the subject 

 of wire for fencing is attracting much attention 

 throughout the country. I think if Judge Peters 

 had waited until he had built the sample of wire 

 fence he speaks of building, he would have found 

 experience to have corrected somewhat his plan as 

 laid down in yoar last paper. In the first place he 

 would have found that there is no possible advan- 

 tage of having a wire fence over four feet high, as 

 no° animal will attempt to jump it. The reason I 

 suppose to be, that they do not see it until too near 

 to jump. Nothing has ever attempted to jump mine, 

 although it has been assaulted by every kind of 

 animal that runs the street. They always expect 

 to pass right through without hindrance or moles- 

 tation, but° the moment they strike the wires they 

 recoil as if touched by an invisible hand. His man- 

 ner of fastening the wires by passing them through 

 holes in the posts, and driving in plugs, will not 

 answer. I began my fence in the same way, but 

 found whenever an animal run against it the wires 

 slipped, and the fence was broken through. The 

 number of wires, and their distances apart, arQ. ob- 

 jectionable. If the object be merely to fence against 

 horses and grown cattle three wires are as good as 

 more. But if sheep and swine are to be restrained 

 by it, nine wires at the distances I proposed will be 

 found better adapted to the purpose. If animals get 

 their heads through, they will break the wires if they 

 are able. 



I will now describe the manner I would build a 



common field fence. After having set the posts and 



braced them as described in the January number, I 



should place the coil of wire upon a reel and drawing 



out the end run it from one post to the other — having 



the same number of wires and distances apart as 



before described. After these were strained, I should 



take narrow strips of boards instead of those iron 



posts mentioned in the January number, and drive 



tenter hooks over the wires to keep them „at their 



relative distances apart and from sagging. If the 



ground is of uniform descent, twenty rods is the 



distance I should place the posts apart, and this 



should constitute one pannel, separate and entire from 



the remainder. The object of this is in case of 



accidents it may the more easily be repaired. The 



next pannel might commence from the same post, 



but the wires should not be connected. I should 



think two men could build twenty rods of this fence 



in a day, after the wires had been prepared by boiling 



in oil. This is the cheapest way of building wire 



fence I could name. And yet I should prefer going to 



the expense of iron posts, as I have before described. 



Those persons who build a wire fence in the 



cheapest possible manner, I fear will be discouraged, 



and throw it aside as worthless. Farmers ought to 

 be content if they can build a durable fence, and one 

 that answers every desirable purpose, for fifty cents a 

 rod. Mine has been one of experiment from the 

 outset, and I have tried almost every plan I have 

 heard suggested. Before I had completed it in the 

 manner described, it was frequently broken ; but since, 

 it has only been broken once, as before mentioned. 

 Your reviewer is pleased to speak of it as offering 

 no more resistance to an animal disposed to ramble 

 than "the spider's most attenuated thread." With 

 due deference to his opinion, permit me to say, that 

 if he should witness the throng of starved village 

 cows which roam our streets, and notice with what 

 eagerness they eyed the apples just out of their 

 reach, he would at least allow that this fence had 

 enchantment about it. I know that this kind of 

 fence is more liable to accidents on account of its 

 being invisible. But this objection is in a great 

 measure counterbalanced by suffering no damage 

 from high winds, or forming no snow drifts beside it. 



I will now describe my manner of mending it 

 when broken, remarking, that nothing conveys a 

 more vivid picture of complete ruin than a broken 

 wire fence, as the wires recoil and twist up the 

 whole length of the pannel. After loosening the 

 wires at the windlass, I provide myself with a small 

 furnace, such as is used in families for heating flat- 

 irons — bring the ends together and heat them in the 

 furnace, then flatten them for two or three inches, 

 laying them together and winding with small wire. 

 Then, by turning upon the cranks, the fence is 

 brought to a standing position, and is repaired much 

 quicker and at a less expense than a board fence 

 could be. It will not answer to loop them together, 

 as telegraph wires are united, as they always break 

 in case of accidents when the wires are bent. 



I should like to tell of the vibrations which a damp 

 snow causes to the wires — of the sweet sounds 

 which sink and swell through the air on a cold windy 

 night — and of the cost of this kind of fence in com- 

 parison to other fences, if wire can be purchased as 

 cheaply as stated by Judge Peters — but have not 

 time to say more at present. East Bloomfield, ."V. 

 Y., February, 1849. 



DOOR YARD FENCE. 

 BY N. ALLEN. 



A durable, and in many places a cheap door yard 

 fence may be constructed as follows : Get rough 

 stone as they come from the quarry, (3 feet long or 

 more,) and set in the ground 18 or 20 inches. That 

 part of the stone above ground should not be more 

 than 8 inches square. Prepare casings as for wood 

 posts, of uniform size, and sufficiently large that 

 when well mitred together they can be put over the 

 stone posts. At the proper height for the top and 

 bottom rails, (to which the pickets are to be nailed,) 

 mortice through the casings, and make tenons on the 

 ends of the rails, long enough to pass through the 

 casing, and admit a pin through the ends of them, in 

 the inside of the cap. Set the cases over the stones, 

 putting in the rails and pinning as you proceed. 

 Then straighten your posts and rails, and raising 

 the cases from the ground a few inches, proceed to 

 fill up the cases to the top with small stones, taking 

 care to put them in as closely as possible around the 

 stone posts. Then cap your posts and upper rail to 

 suit your own mind— but let it be done with taste. 

 Toledo, O., February, 1849. 



