AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 215 



from rotting. The posts should be set at least two feet in 

 the ground. Some farmers cut their posts so long, and mor- 

 tise them in such a manner, that they can turn them upside 

 down, when the lower ends become rotten. 



It is said in the Barnstable Journal, that ' deacon Wins- 

 loAV Martin has on his farm a kind of fence, which for dura- 

 bility and beauty can hardly be exceeded. On each side of 

 the road adjacent his dwelling are rows of large button- 

 wood trees, set ten or twelve feet asunder. Into these, when 

 young, cedar rails were inserted, as into common posts. As 

 the trees increased in size, the wood formed closely around 

 the ends of the rails, and firmly secured them in their places. 

 It is certainly a durable and cheap fence, because it will re- 

 quire no repairs at least for one generation, and is moreover 

 constantly increasing in value. Were our roads lined with 

 this kind of fence, it would add not a little to the beauty of 

 the country and the comfort of the traveller.' 



The Farmer's Guide observes, that ' post and rail fences and 

 board fences are very good where the soil is dry. In a wet 

 soil, the posts will be moved by frost. Red cedar, locust, 

 and chestnut, are best. Butternut, black walnut, and oak, 

 are pretty good, lasting about fifteen years. For the rails, 

 cedar is best, lasting perhaps an age. If timber is scarce, 

 and the ground is level and free from stones, post and rail 

 fences, set in a bank of the earth of two small ditches, 

 thrown up together, ought to be preferred. If the posts are 

 too small to have holes m.ade through them, the rails may be 

 flattened at the ends, and fastened to the posts with spikes, 

 or with wooden pins well secured.' 



When ground is wholly subdued, and the stumps of its 

 original trees quite rotted out, stone walls, properly made, 

 are the best and cheapest fences. On hard, sandy or gravelly 

 soil, a wall will stand many years without repairing. On a 

 clay or miry soil, the foundation should be laid in a trench, 

 nearly as low as the earth freezes. But a wall of flat or 

 square shaped stones will stand pretty well on any soil on 

 the surface. 



A writer for the Genesee Farmer gives the following di- 

 rections for ' Planting Posts for Garden Fences, &c.' 



' Instead of filling the holes up with the earth taken out 

 in digging them, I would recommend filling in around the 

 posts leached ashes instead of common earth, and topping 

 oflf with five or six inches of unleached ashes above the sur- 

 face of the ground ; for it is generally between loind and 



