FENCING 



239 



that the two points will not enter the same grain and cause 

 a crack from which the staple may be easily pulled. 



Erection. Both barbed wire and woven wire are dis- 

 tributed by being unrolled from the rear end of a wagon, 

 or woven wire may be rolled along the ground and the 

 barbed wire unrolled by means of a crowbar placed through 

 the center of the spool so that two men can carry it. 



Splices should be made when the length of the roll does 

 not reach to a corner post to which the stretcher is attached. 

 Sixty to eighty rods usual- 

 ly make a sufficient dis- 

 tance for proper stretching 

 of barbed wire, although 

 under favorable conditions 

 of level ground and a 

 powerful stretcher a half- 

 mile can be stretched at 

 one hitch. There are 

 various forms of commer- 

 cial stretchers on the mar- 

 ket that give satisfactory 

 results, and if much fencing is planned a commercial stretcher 

 is desirable. A block and tackle can be used, and very 

 satisfactory work may be done if the axle of a wagon is 

 blocked up until one of the rear wheels is free from the 

 ground and one end of a piece of smooth wire is attached 

 to the fence wire and the other end to the hub of the wheel. 

 Sufficient tension can be given the fence wire, when the 

 wheel is turned, so that the smooth wire will wind around 

 the hub. For stretching woven wire, the stretcher must 

 be attached to the wire by some device which will bring a 

 uniform strain on all of the horizontal wires. When either 

 woven wire or barbed wire is fastened to a corner post, the 

 ends of the wire should be wrapped around the post and 

 twisted back over themselves. 



Wire should be stretched as tight as possible within 



Fig. 202. 



Fence staples 1% and 1% 

 inches long 



