86 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



April 



EXPERIMENT IN WIRE FENCE MAKING. 

 BY D. KINGMAN. 



Messrs. Eeitors -.—Believing that my brother 

 farmers feel an interest in whatever experiments 

 others may try, whether useful or otherwise in them- 

 selves considered,— especially if facts are stated, so 

 that they can practice, throw away, or improve upon 

 them, as their judgments may direct— I have been in- 

 duced to send you my experience in making wire fence. 

 During the last fall I constructed 104 rods of wire 

 fence in the following manner : I placed red cedar 

 posts one rod apart, the posts being sawed about 3| 

 inches square at the bottom, and 3£ by 2 inches at the 

 top, and set firmly in the ground to the depth of 2£ 

 feet. I then bored holes through the posts with a 

 I inch bit— the upper one 4| feet from the ground, 

 and then 9, 8£, 1\ and 6 inches below, using five 

 wires. Five inches below the lower wire I placed a 

 board fourteen inches wide, (with a short post in the 

 centre to which I nailed the board,) which comes near 

 enough to the ground. I then drew the wires through 

 the posts and strained them by means of a lever, one 

 end of which I stuck into the ground. I then looped 

 the end of the wire around the lever near the ground, 

 and while one is drawing upon the top of the lever, I 

 plug the hole tight with pins of red cedar, previously 

 prepared. I usually strained the wires 15 or 20 rods 

 at a time, then spliced the wires by looping and twist- 

 ing the ends, and proceeded in like manner again. 

 After the w : .res are in and the boards on, I take pieces 

 of wire of the right length and make one end fast to 

 the upper wire, and then wind it round the wires below 

 till I come to the board through which I bore a hole 

 and fasten the lower end of the wire ; three of these 

 wires between each two posts, thus fastening it all 

 together. 



The upper and low T er wires are No. 10, and the 

 others No. 11. I bought my wire of Messrs. Pratt 

 and Co., of Buffalo, at $7,50 per hundred. The five 

 wires weighed 355 pounds. The wire that I used to 

 weave in up and down was No. 1G, and cost 10 cents 

 per pound ; it took 25 pounds. My posts I bought 

 in the log (pretty large ones,) at $12 per cord ; one 

 cord made 105 posts, the number used. It took 2000 

 feet of hemlock boards, which I reckon at $7 a thou- 

 sand. The saving of the posts was $2,25. The cost 

 foots up as follows : 



355 pounds of wire, at 7j| cents, $25,02 



25 pounds of wire, at 10 cents, 2,50 



One cord red cedar posts, — - -12,00 



2000 feet hoards, at $7, 14,00 



Sawing posts, - -- — 2,25 



Making the cost of materials, - $55,77 



Which being divided by 104, the number of rods of 

 fence made, gives 53 £ cents as the cost per rod — aside 

 from nails of which I kept no account. 



Some of your numerous readers may be anxious to 

 know whether such fence will answer the purpose in 

 all cases. I can only say that mine is a road fence, 

 and that when it was built, there was a good crop of 

 pumpkins lying in the field along side, where they 

 grew, and that notwithstanding many cattle and hogs 

 made the attempt at them, they did not succeed ; and 

 my short experience goes far to convince me that no 

 cattle, hogs or fowls will get over or through it. 

 Ridgeway, JV*. Y., January, 1849. 



The above article should have been published in 

 our February number, but was overlooked. Its facts 

 and figures are important. — Ed. 



MORE ABOUT WIRE FENCE. 

 BY T. C. PETERS. 



My friend Myron Adams, Esq., has another good 

 article on the subject of wire fences. As he is the 

 only one among us, as yet, who has made the experi- 

 ment, I concede to him the right to speak by authority. 



But he does me too much honor where he writes 

 me "judge" and I fear a wrong impression might be 

 created if I were to leave the error uncorrected. I 

 am not a judge, never was, and never desire to be a 

 judge. The highest elective office I was ever eleva- 

 ted to, was Trustee of a School District, and some 

 idea may be formed of my popularity when I say that 

 I never got a single vote for re-election ! Perhaps 

 I am wrong in saying that I have never held any 

 other elective office, for I have been several times 

 honored by being elected President of the Genesee 

 County Agricultural Society. I am free to say that 

 I am prouder of that office than any other the far- 

 mers have it in their power to bestow, and am more 

 anxious to discharge the duties in a proper and satis- 

 factory manner. 



But to the fence. I have been confined so much of 

 the past month by sickness, I have neglected the sub- 

 ject entirely. Mr. Adams may be right as to the 

 number of strands, though I cannot see the necessity 

 of over five in four feet, for he says that is the 

 proper height. I however won't quarrel with him. 

 All I want is to keep the matter before the public, 

 and ultimately we shall get something that will be 

 reliable and useful. I am entirely confident that 

 within ten years wire fence will be the prevailing 

 fence in this country and abroad, because it will be 

 the cheapest, most durable and ornamental of any 

 that can be built. There will be failures of course, 

 but the very necessity of the thing will force it to 

 perfection. 



Mr. Adam's practice is worth all my theory, and I 

 learn very much from him each time he writes. He 

 has adopted the only true method of mending, or join- 

 ing the wires, and that by winding. The same meth- 

 od is used at the suspension bridges. I commenced 

 agitating this subject of wire fence about a year ago, 

 and although I have been often ridiculed and called 

 visionary, I have not been deterred from keeping it 

 up. I am amply repaid by the great amount of 

 knowledge which has been thus far brought out. And 

 before another year goes round, the building of this 

 kind of fence will be no longer an experiment. I 

 fully agree with Mr. Adams that farmers ought to be 



satisfied if they can build a durable fence for fifty 



ents per rod. Darien, JY. Y., March, 1849. 



GRAVEL FENCE. 



O. E. Garrison, of Troy, 111., gives in the Prairie 

 Farmer, the following mode of constructing gravel 

 fence. It looks quite practicable:— "Put up a wall 

 of gravel and lime three feet six inches high, (the 

 same way they build gravel houses) eight or ten 

 inches thick at the bottom and three or four at the top. 

 When the last layer is in the moulds, put in sticks 

 (strips of lath will do) eight or ten inches long, leav- 

 ing them six inches above he mortar, and sharpened 

 like pickets; you will then have a fence four feet 

 high that will last forever. 



If you want it to look nice, take sand and lime, 

 each an equal quantity, add any coloring matter to 

 suit your fancy — lay it on the wall and mark it like 

 stone blocks. It will make a fence nobody need be 

 ashamed of, at a cost of not more than a dollar a rod." 



