48 



NEVV ENGLAND FARMER. 



The main object to be sought in building fences 

 is, of course, to enclose the greatest possible quantity 

 of ground in the least possible fence. It may seem 

 a aelf-cvident proposition, that a certain number of 

 rods of fence will enclose a certain number of acres 

 of ground, no matter in what particular form said 

 enclosure may be made ; but there cannot be a 

 greater mistake, as I ^vill presently show. 



Most of the fields in this country are enclosed in 

 the form of cither squares or parallelograms. A 

 parallelogram (I will explain,, as every one may not 

 understand the term) is a four-sided, right-angled 

 figure, having two long and two short sides ; or, in 

 other words, it is what is known in many parts of our 

 country as an "oblong square." Now, suppose it be 

 required to enclose a field -with four hundred rods of 

 fence, in what manner shall it be laid out so the said 

 four hundred rods of fence shall enclose the most 

 ground ? If it be laid out in the form of an exact 

 square, each side will be one hundred rods in length, 

 and the field -svill contain exactly ten thousancl 

 square perches, or sixty-two and a half acres. If it 

 be laid out in the form of a parallelogram, having 

 two long sides, each one hundred and Ixfty rods, and 

 two short sides, each fiftj^ rods, it will still require 

 four hundred rods of fence ; but it will contain only 

 seven thousand five hundred perches of land, or 

 about forty-six and thi-ee quarter acres ; showing the 

 difference in favor of the square to be twenty-five 

 per cent. A lai-ge majority of fields in this country 

 are right-angled parallelograms, when squares would 

 have been equally convenient, and a large portion of 

 the labor and materials employed in constructing 

 and keeping up the fences might have been saved. 

 If fences were constructed without reference to other 

 boundaries, as in enclosing a quantity of land on a 

 prairie, the advantages of circles over every other 

 form are still more ob^'ious. For, suppose four hun- 

 dred rods of fence be built in the form of a circle, it 

 will enclose nearly twelve thousand seven hundred 

 and fifty perches of ground, being two thousand sev- 

 en hundred and fifty more than the square, and five 

 thousand two hundred and fifty more than the par- 

 allelogram. 



Hexagonal or six-sided figures, approaching nearer 

 to the form of circles than do squares, off"er similar 

 advantages. This is the form in which the bees 

 build their cells, and science shows that in no other 

 form can an assemblage of enclosures be made with 

 as little waste of material as in this, thus showing a 

 beautiful coincidence between mathematical knowl- 

 edge and animal instinct. On most farms circular 

 or hexagonal fields would be impracticable, owing to 

 the shape of the farm ; but there are certain small 

 enclosures where these forms are practicable. I 

 have taken the above large enclosures as examples, 

 because in them the advantage of one shape over 

 another is more obvious. Li small enclosures the 

 proportion is equally great, though of course not 

 equally glaring. 



In enclosing gardens, barn-yards, shccp-folds, &c., 

 the fences of which are usually built without refer- 

 ence to other boundaries, the circle offers advan- 

 tages over all other forms. For if a certain piece ofj 

 ground, for a garden or barn -yard, be enclosed with 

 two hundred and forty feet of fence, it will contain, 

 if laid out in a parallelogram, eighty feet on each 

 long side, and forty feet on each short ditto ; three 

 thousand two hundred square feet ; if laid out in the 

 form of a square, it will be sixty feet on each side, 

 and will contain three thousand six hundred square 

 feet ; if it be laid out in a circle, it will contain four 

 thousand five hundred and seventy-nine square feet. 

 This shows the advantages of one form over another 

 very plainly. 



The same principle applies to the construction of 

 out-buildings, such as corn-cribs, ice-houscsj smokC' 



houses, or hog-pens, in all of which a large propor- 

 tion of materials and labor can be saved by adopting 

 the circular or hexagonal form. 



Houses and barns have, from time immemorial, 

 been right-angled buildings, and I suppose, according 

 to the immutable laws of custom, must still be built 

 so ; but oven here, a large amount of materials and 

 money may be saved. I now speak of country 

 houses, where the builder is not obliged to plan his 

 house according to the shape of a contracted town 

 lot. Nine tenths of all farm buildings are in the 

 form of right-angled parallelograms ; and in thus 

 erecting them, space is sacrificed without any saving 

 in labor or money. For, suppose a house or barn be 

 built twenty feet front by forty in depth, which is a 

 very common proportion for buildings ; it will then 

 require one hundred and twenty feet length of wall to 

 enclose it, and its floor will contain eight hundred 

 square feet. If it be built in the form of a square, 

 thirty feet on each side^ the length of wall required 

 to enclose it wUl be the same ; but its floor will con- 

 tain nine hiuulred square feet, being the diff'erence 

 in favor of the square of one hundred feet, which, to 

 the farmer who likes a good roomy threshing-floor, or 

 to the wife who rejoices in a roomy house, is an item 

 of no small importance. 



From the above premises, then, we may draw the 

 following conclusions : — 



1st. That all large enclosures should be, as nearly 

 as possible, exact squares, not parallelograms or 

 " oblong squares." 



2d. That small enclosures, wherever practicable, 

 should be circular, or of some figure approaching the 

 circle as nearly as possible. 



3d. That small out-buildings should be circular, 

 and large buildings, where plenty of room is desired, 

 should be square. 



4th. By adopting the above forms, a large propor- 

 tion of time, labor, and materials, and therefore of 

 money, may be saved without any sacrifice of space. 



COLA. 



Note. — In endeavoring to make the above subject 

 plain, I am aware that I have departed from the strict- 

 ness of mathematical terms somewhat ; but the conclu- 

 sions deducted from the above will, I think, be found 

 mathematically correct. C. 



— Phila. Dollar Neicspaper. 



STARCH FROM INDIAN CORN. 



The Ohio Statesman informs us that large quanti- 

 ties of stai'ch are made from this grain in that state. 

 An establishment near Columbus is said to use twenty 

 thousand bushels of corn annually for this purpose. 

 No attention is now paid to the color of the corn, as 

 by the improved modes of manufacturing, as light- 

 colored starch is produced from the dark-colored 

 varieties, as from white. The quality of the st<irch 

 here made is said to be superior, commanding a 

 higher price in New York and New Orleans than 

 that made from wheat. The off'al of the grain is fed 

 to hogs ; and at the manufactory alluded to, five ta 

 six hundred head are annually fattened. 



DURABILITY OF RED CEDAR. 



"Wc have heard of an old farmer, who, when asked 

 how he knew that cedar posts would "last forever," 

 said he had freqiiently tried the experiment. Some 

 may doubt his assertion, yet its lasting powers have 

 been found to exceed a long lifetime. At the head 

 of one of the graves in " Old St. Mary's," Md., there 

 stands a cedar slab, which, as the inscriptien indi- 

 cates, was placed there in 1747, and is still perfectly 

 sound » 



