18^3. 



,r m\ t^=^i%_^-9- TT f-^^" 



TH^ 33::Lmots mbmer. 



145 



Post and Board Pence. 



The best fence is probably the above, espe- 

 cially on the prairie where the wind sometimes 

 plays the dickens with the old worm fence. The 

 sod and ditch fence is out of date, baring proved 

 of no value. Wire fence is used in some parts, 

 of the State, and when well put up of No. 9 

 firire makes a good fence. But all things con- 

 sidered, the post and board fence is the best and 

 in most cases the cheapest for Central and 

 Northern Illinois, while the cost of boards and 

 the abundance of timber in most parts of Egypt 

 gives the advantage to the old Virginia form. 

 We have just completed 200 yards of post 

 and board fence, and give the cost. The posts 

 we use are burr oak, from not over two feet in 

 diameter — we have some thousand of such on 

 oar farm at Leyden, most of them set twenty 

 years, and from present appearance they will 

 at last double that time yet. The posts are large 

 size, as a matter of course. ' ' '^ 



400 posts in the woods, 4c. ..^^ .■^. . . .'...|16.00 



Hauling seven mil'^s 1.. .... . ... 12:00 



Four days sharpening, $1 4.00 



Two days hauling on to the ground 4.00 



5,000 feet fencing in Chicago, . $9 .... . . 45.00 



Freight, 4c ,....-.■..',. 20.00 ' 



One keg nails ..;.'...; . . . .. 4.00 



Five days driving posts, $1 5.00 



Five days foi' boy and team to assist; . . 7.50 



Nailing on boards, two boys 2^ days 8.75 



Staking out line, unloading lumber, etc. 75 



,.-_ , .j ..;:..' $122.00 



Op an average of sixty one cents per lod. 

 This is for three boards to the panel, the usual 

 fence against cattle and horses. Farmers in this 

 neighborhood confining their hogs in pastures 

 made hog tight, thus making a large saving in 

 the cost of fencing. 



To the above should be added the cost of haul- 

 ing from the depot, in this case the car was un- 

 loaded on the farm, thus saving-thefeost of haul- 

 ing three and a half miles. 



Here is a fence that, with little repair, will last 

 thirty years and probably longer, and for every 

 thing, except sheep and hogs, as though two 

 more boards to the pannel were used. The extra 

 two boards would have added full twenty-five 

 cents more to the rod or per cent. This is paying 

 rather dear for the privilege of having hogs 

 run at large, a sam that our reading,^ thuiking 

 farmers have concluded not to invest in^ ^ i^-^i j 

 ' Oak boards cost more than pine and are not 

 half as valuable ; they not only warp badly, 

 thus breaking off the nails, but rot off at the 

 knots and other places just when you- are not 



looking for such a condition of things. We have 

 seen poplar poles used in place of boards — that 

 is the common Aspen of our timber wet lands — 

 these are spotted on to the posts and nailed the 

 same as boards. We omitted to say that we are 

 careful to set the top end of the post in the 

 ground, thus reversing it in the order of 

 itH growth. From numerous instances in which 

 we have examined old fences we know of a cer- 

 tainty that they will last much longer thus treat- 

 ed. We can see hedge fences in the dim future 

 stretching their long line over the prairie swells, 

 and making the country beautiful with their 

 ridges of living green. 



Subsoil Flowing. 



Thanks to John Deer for a first rate subsoil 

 steel plow — It is one of the institutions that 

 should find a place on every farm. We have 

 used one for the past two years, but have not so 

 fully appreciated its value as at present. 



The coMtinued rain, rain, has put us in the 

 back ground in regard to nursery work. One day 

 last week the sun came out for a ihort time and 

 we bad two teams harnesaed, one put to a No. 1 

 clipper, turning up seven inches of the water 

 sodden soil, while the subsoil went five more into 

 the soil, loosening up the bottom. At night we 

 had one of the heaviest falls of rain of the sea- 

 son, but the next day in the afternoon we could 

 work on this plowing, the water sank into the 

 loosened bottom, and the Surface was ready for 

 the plants". Acting upon this discovery, we have 

 since made rapid work with our nursery plant- 

 ing, by paying little attention to the weather. 

 Should the weather continue wet, we shall go 

 into the corn field with the subsoil plow, and if 

 we get over only half the ground with the same 

 teams, we shall lose little time and be sure that 

 we have a dry surface. Farmers, this is a good 

 time to test the value of the sabsoiler. 



->?■■ 



A Porker. — The Ossipee Register saye that 

 Asa Beachman of that town, recently slaugh- 

 tered a monstrous porker of one year's ^^ro^K^ 

 that weighed 710 pounds. ^ 



^vr^ 



:-«r 



ExcBLLBKT WoRKS. — Pope's Essay on man, and 

 Pope's Essay on the Rebels at Island No. 10 

 Th^e are fine passages in both. 



«••- 



Morning is the best time to work gardens. 



