128 Wire Fences. 



satisfy the most refined taste. But as it more frequently 

 happens, that both the position of the grounds and the re- 

 sources of proprietors are unsuited and unequal to such em- 

 bellishment, fences and enclosures, of a sufficiently strong, 

 ornamental and protective character, must be sought for, and 

 we therefore! find that, where natural or live fences did not 

 previously exist, rough wood or stone were the materials 

 generally employed. In many cases, however, it was neces- 

 sary to attempt something in a decorative style ; stone could 

 not be applied in this way, and sawn and dressed wood has 

 therefore been pleasingly formed into a variety of elegant 

 railings and trellises. This, however, in our humid and ex- 

 jjansive hemisphere, is, in the first place, very costly, and in 

 the next, most provokingly short-lived. Till within the last 

 few years, our landed proprietors and country gentlemen 

 could only enclose their grounds and domains in this expen- 

 sive and most unsatisfactory way. I am now, however, 

 happy to say, that, in this country, England and Ireland, and, 

 I may also add, lately, in the East Indies, a new, strong, and 

 elegant substitute, for the old, heavy, and costly fences, has 

 been introduced, and within the above period most exten- 

 sively used. About ten or twelve years ago, it occurred to 

 Messrs. W. &- C. Young, the extensive manufacturers in iron, 

 in this city and in Glasgow, that by a combination of wire 

 (of a particular description) and iron, a sufficiently strong 

 and ornamental fence might be obtained suitable for all the 

 requirements of protection and enclosure, and at such prices 

 as would ultimately supersede the use of both stone and 

 wood for these purposes ; and that they have been eminently 

 successful in realizing their plan, is perhaps best indicated 

 by the great demand for this description of their work. In 

 the course of that journey, on which I was absent at the 

 time of your visit here, I had ample occasion to admire and 

 hear them appreciated ; and I am glad to have this opportu- 

 nity of drawing the notice of your countrymen to what must, 

 in fences, be to them — as it was to us, not long gone by — a 

 very great desideratum indeed. I shall now proceed to des- 

 cribe them, enumerate their various applications, quote the 

 prices (a most important point) at which they can be fur- 



