FENCING. 165 



By adopting this mode of keeping the fences in order, the result 

 would be satisfactory both to proprietor and tenant. It would benefit 

 the proprietor, inasmuch as well-kept fences always increase the value 

 of land ; and the benefit to the tenant would come to him in having his 

 fences and gates always in good order. His crops would always be secure 

 from the inroads of cattle and other animals, and there would be no 

 shelter for rabbits in the sides of the fences ; and besides, the nurseries 

 for rearing weeds would be done away with. 



The benefit of well-kept fences is of more importance to farmers than 

 many of them think ; but so many of them go on in the old way that 

 their grandfather and great-grandfather did, that they think they ought 

 to go in the same way too. 



SECTION 5. Turf Fences. 



Turf fences are used on high-lying and exposed districts, where per- 

 haps timber is not plentiful, and stones are not to be had for erecting 

 walls. There are two kinds of turf fences usually erected one suitable 

 for a plantation fence is shown in fig. 43. 



This kind of turf wall is suitable for enclosing a plantation, as it only 

 acts as a fence on one side. The turf along the site and close to the 



FIG. 43. 



fence is used in its erecting. The work is usually commenced by cut- 

 ting the turfs about fourteen inches broad and two feet long. These are 

 laid along the line of fence, having each turf laid lengthwise across the 

 line. One man or set of men first proceed as described ; another man 

 opens out a ditch immediately in front of the fence, and the soil from 

 the ditch is thrown behind the turf, as shown on the sketch at b. These 

 turf walls are usually made forty inches high, and sloped to fifteen inches 

 broad at top. As the building of the wall proceeds, the excavation of 



