1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



33 



B. A. SMITH'S PATENT FARM TENCB. 

 No. 1. No, 2. 



No. 3. 



We have frequently during the few past years 

 had occasion to call the attention of our readers to 

 some new plan of farm fences, and this week we 

 present one patented in March last by Mr. R. A. 

 Smith, of Newburyport. 



We have only seen it in model, and cannot, 

 therefore, say as much as we might of its practica- 

 bility. The cut gives a good representation of it, 

 and scarcely needs any description. The fence is 

 made entirely of one kind of stock, the uprights 

 being of the same size as the rails. 



The alternate sections lean in opposite direc- 

 tions, causing the fence to spread about two or 

 two and a half feet on the ground, but giving it 

 great strength and stability. It seems to possess 

 these qualities in a great degree. 



We give a description of its construction, and 

 for fuller information refer the reader to an adver- 

 tisement in the columns of this paper. 



The above cut represents three sections of the 

 fence set up. In section No. 1, the letters a a a a, 

 represent the rails as fastened to the posts b b b. 

 The mortise for the cross-bars are shown at c c. 

 To set up the fence, take two sections and set as 

 represented in the cut, at such an angle that the 

 upper and second rails shall interlock each other 

 on opposite sides of the uprights as at e ; then 

 press in the lower ends of the uprights, and put 

 in the cross-bar d. This cross-bar, which is made 

 to pass from mortise in section No. 1, to mortise 

 in section No. 2, if properly fitted, holds the bot- 

 tom of the sections from spreading, as when the 

 fence spreads the lower and second rails bear on [ 

 the cross-bar edgewise, so that the cross-bar holds 

 the sections, and the sections hold the cross-bar, 

 making a complete dove-tail, — thus making a 

 strong, light and cheap portable fence. 



— it fires the brain, sharpens the appetite, derang- 

 es and weakens the physical system. On the 

 same sideboard upon which this delicious beverage 

 is served lies a newspaper. It is covered with 

 half a million of types — it brings intelligence from 

 the four quarters of the globe. The newspaper 

 costs less than the glass of grog — the juice of a 

 few grains of corn ; but it is no less strange than 

 true that there is a large portion of the communi- 

 ty who think corn juice cheap and the newspaper 

 dear ! 



Whisky and Newspapers. — A glass of whis- 

 ky is manufactured from perhaps a dozen grains 

 of corn, the value of which is too small to be es- 

 timated. A pint of this mixture sells for one 

 shilling, and, if of a good brand, is considered well 

 worth the money. It is drank in a minute or two 



LIME— ITS USES AND ITS ACTION. 



Many farmers appear to doubt the utility of 

 lime in agriculture. Yet no fact is more incon- 

 trovertibly demonstrated by science, than that 

 lime is indispensably necessary to tbe develop- 

 ment and even existence of both animals and 

 plants ; and as it is detectable in the organized 

 structure of the latter, there is a necessity for its 

 existing previously in the soil, or for its being 

 supplied, artificially, as manure. 



Chemical analyses have demonstrated that in 

 every one thousand pounds avoirdupois of the 

 following materials, the quantity of lime is as fol- 

 lows : 



Wheat. Barley. Oats. Potatoes. Turnips. 

 %Vu'nan?'i 1 1-0 0-9 0-3 0.8 



The very limited quantity of lime, however, 

 which these vegetables contain, ought by no 

 means to be regarded as a criterion in determin- 

 ing the quantity to be applied to the soil. The 

 action of this important mineral is to be developed 

 in other ways than that of merely aflbrding a 

 necessary ingredient to plants, and is cognizable 

 in a variety of modes, both as regards its effects 

 upon the mineral and vegetable substances con- 

 tained in the soil, and, indeed, upon the pliysical 

 character and construction of tlie soil itself. When 

 applied to tenacious clays, it induces relaxation, 

 renders the soil light and friable, and corrects its 

 acidity by its alkalescent action upon the native 



