FENCES Ayn GATES. 



?5 



alike, and all the holes in the poet are the proper distance apart. After 

 your poets are bored, the next step is to have a narrow-blade ase, with a 

 short handle, as shown at c, Fig. 2 (a common axe, would do, however), 

 and with this mortise out the holes, which is done by laying the poet flat- 

 wise on the ground, or on a 

 stout, low trestle, similar to 

 the " pointer " shown at Fig. 3. 

 When one side is mortised half 

 out, turn the post and finish. 

 A good hand will bore and 

 mortise fifteen posts a day with 

 these tools. The rails for this 

 kind of a fence are spUt out in 

 the woods, 9 1-2 feet long, all 

 of the same length. A good 

 hand can cut down the tim- 

 ber and split out one hundred 

 of them in a day, in fair timber. 

 They are hauled home gener- 

 ally before being jwinted. The 

 ends of the rails should fill the 

 holes as nearly as possible, so 

 as to exclude moisture, the 

 tighter the better. Pointing 

 the rails is simple work. Two 

 short-legged, stout trestles of 

 any rough logs are placed 

 about eight feet apart, as 

 shown at Fig. 3, in each of 

 which two large wooden pegs are driven to receive the rail, and between 

 these pegs the rail is placed, thin edge up, and fastened in between the p^s 

 with wedges of wood. They are now sharpened off to about an inch thick 

 for six to eight inches, the comers slightly nipped, and the work ia done. A 

 man will point over two hundred in a day. 



To make holes in the earth, a digger (see Fig. 2) is used. It is about ten 



inches long by five wide, 

 made perfectly straight, 

 and to weigh, handle and 

 all, about twelve pounds. 

 It is made of good iron, 

 laid with the best steel. 

 Any blacksmith can make 

 one. They coat about 11.50, 

 without handle. Tlie 

 handle should be six feet 

 long, and heavy. A club at 

 one end would do for a ram- 

 mer to run the dirt in the holes. In making the fence, set the first post 

 firmly, and slip in one end of the rails, as shown at o, in Fig. 4. After the 

 next hole is dug set the next post in, and before you put in the dirt place the 

 other end of the rails in on both sides, and drive; then fill up and ram 

 firmly, and so on to the end. Drive the rails with a wooden mauL Never 

 we an axe. When vou come to a comer, you must have a large poet witb 



no. 2.— SHOVEL, AXI Ajn> DIGOEB. 



FIG. 3. — ^TRESTLE FOE POUfTISQ THE BAILiS. 



