280 GENERAL ECONOMY OF THE FARM. 



hundred, would give the owner of the farm an average gain of 

 twenty dollars for each and every year the acre of land was 

 thus appropriated; in addition to furnishing all necessary 

 fencing for the farm. This, dating from the commencement, 

 is a handsome profit. 1 



Cedar post and rail fence. JAMES GARNETT, Esq., a name 

 familiar to the reading farmer, says "I can affirm, from my 

 own experience, that a cedar post and rail fence, without any 

 ditch, the materials for which grow spontaneously over a large 

 portion of Virginia, and will grow by planting almost any 

 where in the United States, will last, without the slightest re- 

 pair, from thirteen to fourteen years; and may be made to last 

 six or eight years longer, by a few occasional supplies of rails 

 and posts. I also know, from my own experience, that either 

 cedar, chestnut, or locust, the last of which is more durable 

 than either, will, in fourteen years, grow sufficiently large to 

 make the fence anew, if planted by the side of it one or two 

 to each panel." From Mr. Garnett's Address before the 

 Fredericksburg, Virginia, Agricultural Society. 



A great diversity of opinion has prevailed among many per- 

 sons as to the best time for cutting timber, so as to insure its 

 greatest durability. Some recommend the summer season, 

 some the fall, others the winter, when the sap has generally de- 

 scended; while others again who have entered into a careful 

 investigation of the subject, have come to the conclusion that 

 the most suitable period for felling timber is in the spring 

 while the sap flows freely. This will, no doubt, be considered 

 as rank heresy by many of those who cannot regard with com- 

 placency what they deem innovations on their old and favourite 

 systems. But this opinion is gaining ground, from the simple 

 circumstance, that it is well sustained by incontrovertible facts. 



An old and observing friend, Captain COOPER, of the navy, 

 furnished for publication some time since, in an agricultural 

 work, a variety of facts, touching this important matter; from 

 which it clearly appears that spring, that is, while the sap is 

 flowing freely, is the best time for cutting timber.* The late 

 JOSEPH COOPER, Esq., warmly advocated this system. In the 



* Farmer's Cabinet, vol. iii. p. 29, one fact is given. J. C., ("JOSEPH COOPER, 

 Esq.,) informed me that a detachment of British troops crossed from Philadel- 

 phia the 1st day of May, in 1777, and on the 2nd commenced cutting down his 

 woods for the supply of the army, and at the same time to burn up his fencing, 

 which they completely accomplished. "But," said he, "they taught me the 

 proper time to cut timber to make it last. After they marched off, I found 

 many trees that were not cut into cord wood; those I split into rails, believing, 

 at the same time, they would soon decay, from their being cut in the sprint 

 but I have been agreeably disappointed most of them are as sound now as 

 when made into fence." This he related five-and-twenty or thirty years after 

 the peace of '83. 



