224 



The Worm Fence. 



Vol. VII. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 The Worm Fence. 



Messrs. Editors, — There is an article 

 in your last number, which will be of more 

 value to the readers of the Cabinet, than 

 their subscription money for that work since 

 its commencement: I allude to that on fenc- 

 ing-, a business which is becoming of more 

 importance to us every year that we live. 

 The Address of the President of the Phila- 

 delphia Agricultural Society at their last 

 meeting, placed the importance of the sub- 

 ject in a very conspicuous point of view, and 

 left us to regret the necessity of the evil — 

 for few, T believe, will ever entertain the 

 idea, that it would be expedient to throw 

 open our fields, as in France, without a fence 

 as boundary — that would be to retrogade 

 with a witness — at the same time, it is rea- 

 dily admitted that a great portion of our per- 

 manent fence might be done away, were the 

 practice of temporary fencing, as in England, 

 to become general. But the "Old Farmer 

 of Salem county," steps in, and points out a 

 way to reconcile both parties; teaching us 

 how to save thousands of dollars, and add an 

 elegance and neatness to our farms that will, 

 I conceive, in the end, prove of still greater 

 importance, for I am one of those who be- 

 lieve that the morals of a country are in- 

 debted, in a considerable degree, to " good 

 roads and neat fences." Your last number, 

 therefore, had not reached me half an hour, 

 before I had a model-fence under way, 

 planned according to directions; the propor- 

 tions being one inch to a foot ; and in a sur- 

 prisingly short space of time, I had finished 

 nine panels of the most elegant fence that 

 I ever saw, whether of "worm, post-and-rail, 

 or quick;" the form being a wave, rather 

 than a worm, and uniting the qualifications 

 of strength and beauty, in a very eminent 

 degree. But in process of erection, I think 

 I have made some improvements upon the 

 method described in the Cabinet, which I 

 beg to state, for the information, and if I 

 mistake not, for the advantage of your read- 

 ers generally. 



In the first place, then, I find that a worm 

 or angle of 3 feet, is sufficient for the pur- 

 pose of perfect strength ; producing an ele- 

 gance of curve, far more pleasing to the eye 

 than the straight fence, for any situation, 

 and requiring but very little more ground 

 space than it : while, at that angle, the loss 

 in the length of rails in a panel of eleven 

 feet, is nine inches only; a fact, which would 

 scarcely be credited, were it not proved by 

 demonstration. But in the directions given 

 in the Cabinet, there are some things which, 

 I think, can be improved upon ; for it must 



be very difficult to bend the rod of iron at 

 the stone and clinch it over the bottom rail, 

 if the rod be of a size to give sufficient 

 strength to the fence, without shaking and 

 injury to the work; neither can "an inch 

 and a half" of bar be sufficient length for 

 the purpose. And then, what is to keep it 

 in its proper place on the stone, unless that 

 be broad, in proportion to its height ! Now, 

 in my plan, I have overcome this difficulty 

 and objection, by merely letting the iron rod 

 into the stone about an inch and a half, and 

 fixing it there with melted lead ; a labour 

 and expense not worth the naming, when 

 compared with the service rendered. II 

 seems to be intimated also, that a panel at a 

 time can be finished ; but it will be found 

 that the rails must follow each other singly, 

 for a considerable length of space, before 

 one panel can be finished, as the ends o: 

 them must lap one over the other — but thjjf 

 is of no importance. Not so, however, wit). 

 the proposal to clinch or bend the rod ovei 

 the top rail — a work which I should deem 

 almost impossible, without destroying the 

 fence by shaking it to pieces. And then, k 

 the event of any of the rails failing, or i 

 wish to remove or repair the fence, how arc 

 these clinchings to be raised up, withoul 

 breaking them oft', and injuring the fence' 

 Now, for this trouble and difficulty, I hav< 

 substituted the very simple plan, of punch- 

 ing a key-hole within half an inch of th( 

 end of each rod ; and when the top rail— 

 which should be stout and half round — ii 

 placed, I shall procure a piece of iron hoop 

 say six inches in length, punch a hole in th< 

 middle of it for the reception of the end o 

 the rod ; insert it, and drive a key throng} 

 the hole and clinch it; and then bend tin 

 ends of the hoop to fit exactly, and einbraci 

 the end of the top rail. Thus, I have ; 

 fence, erected in a much shorter time thai 

 would be required for the fixing a post-and 

 rail fence, that can be removed in a quarto 

 part of the time ; and the first cost canno 

 be one half as much; while the insertion o 

 the rods into the stones-will constitute it on< 

 of the strongest that can be devised ; as tin 

 angles, acting on the principle of the arch 

 present a resistance that cannot be over 

 come by any common occurrence. 



" Oh ! but the expense of all this !" I hea 

 some one exclaim. True, hut I am one wto 

 care not what I give for a thing; the onl; 

 question is, what can I sell it for? But le 

 us see what the extra expense would anioun 

 to. Drilling the holes in the stones I shal 

 not allow a charge for; every farmer and hi 

 servants can do this at "odd times," by put 

 ting all hands upon it; they can also pael 

 the lead and pour it into the holes ; whil 



