302 



SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part II. 



able, should be used without removing the bark, which has been found to add greatly 

 to their durability. In some places it is customary to plant trees for gate-posts, ana 

 after they have attained a certain size and thickness, to cut them over about ten fetl 

 above the surface : where the trees thrive, they form the most durable of all gate-posts 

 in many instances, however, they fail, and much trouble is necessary to repair the 

 defect. Where the posts are made of dead timber, they should always be strong, and the 

 wood well prepared : that part which is let into the earth should also be defended, by 

 dipping it in coarse oil, or giving it a coat of pyrolignous liquor ; and all that is above 

 ground exposed to the action of the weather, should be well covered with one or two 

 good coats of oil-paint. The expense of this preparation is but trifling, while the benefit 

 is very great. 



3087. The substance cf a gate-post, according to Parker, should be from eight to ten inches square, or for 

 very heavy gates a foot square would not be too large. If made of still larger size, it is better. The 

 steadiness of a gate-post, he says, depends in a great measure upon the depth to which it is set in the 

 ground, which ought to be nearly equal to its height. Five or six feet are, in general, fully sufficient : 

 but the posts may be kept in their places by a strong frame-work pla-ced under the ground, extending 

 between the posts. 



3088. The fastenings of gates, it is observed by Parker {Essay, 

 , -. &c. 1816.), are as various as the blacksmiths who construct them. 



The subject occupied his attention in connection with the hanging of 



gates, and he has introduced various improved forms. One of the 

 most secure (fig. 497.) is a spring-latch (a), opened by a lever (b) 

 which works in a groove in the upper bar of the gate, and therefore 

 cannot be rubbed open by cattle, while, by means of a knob at tlie 

 end of the lever, and rising up against the top of the upright bar (c), 

 so that cattle cannot touch it, it is very easily opened by persons on 

 horseback with or without a stick or whip. 



3089. A simple, economical, and effective spring-latch consists of a bolt (Jig. 498 a.), which is loose, and 



plays freely in two morticed openings in the 

 498 4QQ ^ 



497 



,a. 



^ 



fU 



499 



m 



500 



upright bars, and is kept in place by a spring 

 (6). The gate may be shut from either side, 

 when the bar, striking against the projection 

 (c) on the falling-post, is pushed back, till, 

 arriving at the mortice (e), the spring (6) 

 forces it in, and the gate is shut securely. 

 Such a gate is easily opened by a rider. This 

 is a good latch for the common field gates of 

 a farm. 



3090. For gates of an ornamental kind, Par- 

 ker says, he does not know a better latch 

 than the crooked lever [fig. 499.) now in com- 

 mon use. 

 3091. The reversed latch (^g.50O.) is one of the latest improvements in this department, and is par- 

 ticularly suitable for the gates in a 

 gentleman's park. On the edge of 

 the head of the gate a pin {a) is 

 screwed ; and on the falling post a 

 plate containing two latches (6 c) turn- 

 ing on pivots. Whichever way the 

 gate is opened, if left to shut itself, or 

 if shut by force, it easily passes within 

 the one latch, and is retained between 

 that and the other. Taking it alto- 

 gether, this is one of the cheapest and 

 best field-gate latches. Where a gate 

 opens onlj on one side, the latch plate 

 may be made of one half the size, and 

 with only one of the latches, according 

 to the side on which the gate opens. 

 A contrivance of this sort is in use at 

 some of the pleasure-ground gates at Bretton Hall, near 

 Barnsley, Yorkshire, and is found very efhcacious and satis- 

 factory There are also some very handsome iron gates at 

 that residence, which, with the latch stopper alluded to, 

 will be found figured and described in the Gardener's Maga. 

 xine, vols. vi. and vii. 

 3092. Gates are of different kinds (Jgs. 501. and 502.), according to the partiodar 

 -^ ^ custom of the district ; but the 



principal sorts made use of 

 are, the swing gate, the fold- 

 ing gate, the slip-bar gate, 

 and the wicket and turn-about 

 gate. 



3093. The improved swing gate 

 of the northern counties is well 

 adapted for agricultural purposes. 

 There is a projection on the fore- 

 Dart of the hanging style, which 

 rises nine inches, and on which the lower end of the diagonal bar, P'^^^J^f "P^^f .o'bel veVvSng a^^^^ 

 a diagonal bar through which the three middle horizontal bars pass. ^ Vl ^v HI inderftood amon| the 

 durable gate, and its construction, hanging, and principle of operation, are .veil understood among tne 

 country carpenters and hedgers of those parts. 



