BARB WIRE FENCES. 213 



replacing the common uses of iron wire, gives a material 

 of great lightness and strength. The doubled and twisted 

 wire removes the former evils arising from changing tem- 

 peratures upon the fence ; but the twist should be evenly 

 laid to give the strand the full strength of both wires. An 

 excellent material is furnished in flattened or strip wire, 

 giving, where desired, a more visible fence ; but the most 

 universal form of barb fencing is presented in two twisted 

 galvanized steel wires, upon which the barb is inwrought. 

 So familiar is the article among the supplies of the agricul- 

 tural depots and in fence use that no further description 

 here is necessary. Its merits may be briefly told. 



1. It makes a strong efiective fence. 



2. It is easily handled, shipped in rolls containing eighty 

 rods of fencing ; two of these have about the same weight and 

 bulk as a barrel of flour. The farm team can haul from the 

 railway station to any part of the farm enough material for 

 two or three miles of fence. The railway freight car will 

 carry over twenty miles of fence material in one load. 

 Compare this with the nineteen times greater bulk of wood 

 fencing, whether rails, boards or poles. 



3. It everywhere compares, in the cost of wood fences, 

 even through timbered land, with a saving of from one-third 

 to one-half. 



4. It is easily and quickly erected by such skill and tools 

 as the farm can readily command. It will make an effective 

 barrier with one, two, three, four or five strands, varying 

 with the farmer's needs. In the first form, of a single 

 strand attached to trees through woodlands, it is to-day 

 furnishing thousands of miles of eflTective barrier to large 

 slock on hill pastures in New England, w^here a more effi- 

 cient and costly fence is not believed to be warranted. 

 Said one large farmer in Vermont who fences in this man- 

 ner, " I am getting a return on twenty-four hundred dollars 

 from land that has been worthless to me, and would not 

 pay for solid fencing." 



5. It is imperishable by fire. One hundred thousand 

 miles of barb fencing are in use on our railroad lines, which 

 are required to be carefully fenced in all the States, cither 

 by express statute, or by the interest of the railway com- 



