FENCES. 



spring rye, &c., can be depastured. 

 A light post and rail fence may be 

 made moveable by furnishing the 

 posts with feet. Light iron and wire 

 hurdles are now introduced in Eng- 

 land, and also iron rods passed 

 through wooden posts for permanent 

 fences. 



Walls are put up at fifty cents to 

 one dollar the rod. The following 

 is from Law : 



" The stone wall may either be form- 

 ed of stones built without cement, or 

 it may be built with mortar like com- 

 mon masonry ; but the last of these 

 methods is rarely practised with the 

 common fences of a farm. The ce- 

 menting of the stones with mortar 

 adds, indeed, to the durability of the 

 wall, but then the expense is too 

 great in common cases. The wall, 

 therefore, for the ordinary purposes 

 of the farm, may generally be built 

 of stones alone, though sometimes 

 with a little mortar, merely for ce- 

 menting the coping, and occasional- 

 ly for pinning or closing the inter- 

 stices of the outside. When stones 

 cannot be obtained, brick may be sub- 

 stituted. 



" The materials for building the dry 

 stone wall, as this kind of wall is 

 termed, may be sandstone, whin- 

 stone, or any other stones of suffi- 

 cient durability. Loose stones taken 

 from the surfiice, termed land stones, 

 answer sufficiently well, if they be 

 of proper size, and not too much 

 rounded ; but in the latter case they 

 present too smooth a surface, and 

 cannot be kept in their places with- 

 out mortar. 



" The implements to be used in 

 building the dry stone wall are a ma- 

 son's hammer, a spade or shovel for 

 clearing the ground for a foundation, a 

 pick or mattock, and a frame of two 

 upright posts fixed togetlier, so as to 

 correspond with a vertical section of 

 a portion of the wall. 



" The line of the intended fence be- 

 ing fixed upon and marked on the 

 ground, the stones for building should 

 be brought forward, and laid down on 

 both sides, if possible, of the line of 

 fence, but if not, on one side. 

 278 



" Pins being fixed in the centre of 



the space to be occupied by the wall, 

 the workman proceeds thus : he car- 

 ries his wooden frame to some dis- 

 tance along the line to be built upon ; 

 he sets it perpendicular, which he is 

 enablfid to do by means of a plumb- 

 line attached to it. He then fixes 

 another similar frame at the place 

 where the wall is to commence ; he 

 stretches two cords between these 

 two frames on the outside, and as 

 these cords correspond with the out- 

 side of the wall at a given height, he 

 has a guide for building it of the 

 required dimensions. After having 

 built one portion, he uses only one 

 frame, the wall itself serving after- 

 ward the part of a frame ; for the 

 cords being fixed to both sides of the 

 wall, and then attached to the frame 

 which is placed in advance, the work- 

 man has, as before, a guide by which 

 he proceeds in building. 



" The i-oundation of the wall should 

 be laid on firm ground, and when 

 there is not green sward to build 

 upon, the loose earth should be taken 

 out by the spade, until a solid found- 

 ation is arrived at. In building, the 

 largest and flattest stones should be 

 used for the foundation ; and it is 

 very desirable, if the materials used 

 will allow, to place stones at inter- 

 vals of sufficient size to lie across 

 tiie breadth of the wall, so as to bind 

 the wall together, and render it more 

 secure. 



" Different kinds of coping may be 

 placed upon the wall to defend it. 

 One of these consists merely of turf, 

 two sods being laid upon the wall, 

 with the earthy sides placed towards 

 each other. Another species of cop- 

 ing consists of large stones, which, 

 being closely built and wedged togeth- 

 er, are cemented by mortar. This is 

 a complete and durable species of 

 coping ; but when it is used, a row 

 of flat stones should be laid on the 

 top of the wall immediately beneath 

 the coping, and made to project a lit- 

 tle on each side of it. 



" A wall, sufficient for the purposes 

 of the farm, may be 32 inches wide 

 at bottom, 16 inches wide at top, and, 



