1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



193 





For the JSeto England Farmer, 



SMITH'S IMPROVED FARM FENCE, 

 PATENTED OCT. 11, 1859. 



NUMBER TWO. 



This fence is made much in the same manner 

 as No. 1, except the fastenings of the posts and 

 braces. It is built in sections of 16 or 18 feet 

 each, so as to be let down flat to the gronnd, while 

 it is held securely to the stone foundation ; thus 

 adapting it to all low lands subject to floating ice 

 and drift wood, and also to places where snow- 

 drifts are troublesome in the winter. When there 

 is danger of the boards being trodden upon by 

 cattle the sections are numbered, and can be easi- 

 ly detached from their foundation, and piled up, 

 or removed to a place of safety. The stones upon 

 which the fence rests are placed deeper in the 

 ground than those for No. 1, so as to allow the 

 sections of the fence, when turned down, to He as 

 nearly flat as possible, and thus prevent it from 

 warping. 



When it is necessary to let the fence down, 

 (which should be in the direction the current 

 runs,) a person passes along on the opposite side 

 of the fence, and with a hammer unfastens all the 

 braces from the posts on that side, and turns them 

 down ; which is easily and quickly done ; then, 

 on the other side, turns up the caps which con- 

 fine the outside posts of each section, at the top ; 

 then unfastens and turns down the braces which 

 support these posts, leaving the brace against the 

 middle post for the last. This is then unfastened, 

 the section let down, and a stake about 2 feet in 

 length is driven diagonally into the ground be- 

 tween the upper panels of the fence to prevent 

 this part of it from being lifted up by the water. 



The deep snows and driving winds of the pres- 

 ent winter have taught us severe lessons as to the 

 great inconveniences of snow-drifts. From Maine 

 to Maryland, and from the lakes to Tennessee, 

 there is hardly a square mile of territory over 



which a road passes, but where snow-drifts are 

 more or less troublesome. The roads leading 

 from our State capital to many of our largest 

 towns, for weeks together, have been, in many 

 places, absolutely impassable. An immense 

 amount of labor and steam has been expended 

 upon our common roads and railroads to keep 

 them open. Travelling over many of our roads, 

 in any way except on foot, at the present hour, is 

 unsafe if not dangerous. A single step out of 

 the track, and your horse flounders in the snow, 

 and the only chance of getting him back into the 

 path is to release him from the sleigh, and then, 

 perhaps, after a few more plunges you find youi*- 

 self and horse ready to repeat the experiment as 

 soon as j-ou meet another sleigh ! In many places 

 business over the road is suspended, or the roads 

 are abandoned, and the travel goes round through 

 the open field, and one is very apt "to wonder" 

 whether dogs and sledges would not be an im- 

 provement. 



NoAV what are the causes oi these snow-drifts, 

 and is there no remedy ? The snow seldom drifts 

 in the open fields, or in the cuts for our common 

 roads or railroads. There is not a single doubt 

 that nineteen-twentieths of them are caused by 

 road fences ; and if the publishers of the Farmer 

 wish to know how deep the snow is in this region, 

 I can answer correctly. It is good 2 feet in the 

 open fields, and from 3 feet to 5 feet between the 

 road fences. A Avell built dam does not more 

 surely arrest the waters of a running stream than 

 do these fences the drifting snows of winter. Re- 

 move the cause, and the snow will find and keep 

 its level almost as well as water, except in Ioav 

 places, and even in those it will not be very trou- 

 blesome. 



Now for the fence. Two men can remove the 

 sections of No. 2 fence, and put them back in the 

 spring in less time than it will take to open a road 

 the same distance, after a single driving snow 

 storm. As lawyers sometimes say, "Here we 



