Wire Fences. 129 



nished, and then refer to the advantages arising from this 

 method of enclosing and subdividing grounds. 



An "invisible wire" fence consists of three principal parts: 

 the wire, the straining pillars, and the intermediate stand- 

 ards. The chief use of the standards, besides considerably 

 strengthening the fence, is to prevent the separation of the 

 wires when any animal attempts to press through, and they 

 are placed, according to circumstances, from six to eight feet 

 apart. The straining pillars are designed to keep the wires 

 at full stretch, and are placed, when the lines are straight, at 

 the distance of seventy or eighty yards from each other. 

 These pillars are formed of wrought iron, with the necessary 

 number of holes drilled through them at the required dis- 

 tances. They are formed with a strong cross tail, having 

 the two ends turned down in order that they may be fastened 

 into a block of stone. The extreme pillars have a double 

 spur or stay fixed to them, placed in a line with the fence 

 and opposite to the strain applied to the wires. The inter- 

 mediate standards are also of iron, but of smaller dimensions 

 than the pillars, and are likewise fixed in stones, or blocks of 

 wood, where stones cannot readily be got. They, too, have 

 holes drilled through them for the wires to correspond with 

 those in the pillars. 



The wires having been strained to the requisite tension by 

 means of a powerful screw and secured to the straining pil- 

 lars, the fence is then complete. 



It will thus be seen, that the superior inherent property of 

 the fence is its elasticity, by which it yields to the charge of 

 the horse or the pressure of cattle, and resumes its former 

 position the instant the shock is past or the pressure removed, 

 and without sustaining injury or the least derangement. 



The purposes to which the fence has been applied are nu- 

 merous, some of which are, as a fence against horses, sheep 

 and cattle; not only as ring fences, but for dividing fields, 

 domains, and high pasture grounds ; for forming parks for 

 red, roe, and fallow deer ; as a fence along turnpike roads 

 and railways ; for enclosing flower gardens, shrubberies and 

 pleasure grounds : and for these latter purposes it can be, at 

 a small additional cost, made quite impervious to those pests 



VOL. XII. NO. IV. 17 



