FENCES AND GATES. 



29 



FARy FEXCES.— FIG. 



Fig. 5 represents a plan of bracing a rail fence, whether it he staked aad 

 ridered, staked and capped, locked and ridered, staked and wired, or wir-^d 

 and pinned, all of which kinds of fence are easily blown down by a heavy 

 wind, rails broken, stock let into fields of valuable grain, time spent, and 

 patience exhausted in rebuilding 

 them. The manner of nsing the 

 arrangement is clearly shown in the 

 figure. It consists in placing on the 

 inside leeward comer a piece of raU, 

 one end resting ujwn the ground, the 

 other placed imdemcath the third 

 rail from tlie top. A fence braced as 

 shown has st<x>d five years without repairing, while a locked, staked ami 

 ridered fence by the side of it has been prostrated three times, although in a 

 less exposed situation, thus demonstratiJag the value of this attachment when 



used in connection with the 

 common rail fence. 



Str»igUt Ilait Kenre.— 



We present a section of 

 straight rail fence, which 

 will bo found easy and cheap 

 to construct, and economiciil 

 in sa\ing timber and occupy- 

 ing space on the land. 



In constructing this fence 

 good poets should bo firmly 

 act at such distances apart aa 

 will admit of the mils reach- 

 ing from the center of one i>o8t to the center of the other. If necessarj-, 

 straighten the face of the poets with an axe, and hew down the ends of the 

 rails to a uniform thickness. These rails are fastened to the posts by means 

 of a stake, which rests on a 

 stone or block of wood, and 

 is firmly wired at the top 

 and lx)ttom to the p<«t. In 

 constructing the fence it is 

 better to wire the Ixittom of 

 the stake first— at the proper 

 distance — and the top rather 

 loosely, so as to admit the 

 rails easily. When the rails 

 are laid up draw tlio top 

 wire tight, and if proper care 

 has been taken in straight- 

 ening the face of the post, 

 hewing the ends of tlie rails, 

 etc., the work will bind to- 

 gether very tightly. 



The fence Avill last as long aa the posts; it Ls strong, requires 

 no naUs, nor any more wire than to stake an ordinary cnxjked fence, 

 and it takes but little over half the posts necessary for an ordinary boaid 

 fence. 



WvVMt?^ 



?^r>7:^>^H 



FAKM FEXCES.— FIG. 5. 



^:g^!:^*0^^;^-^ 



SECTION OF STBAIGHT 11.VIL 11:>CE. 



