IN THE POULTRY YARD 97 
pointed, so.as to prevent any bird that might fly on to them from 
resting there. None of our birds, however, have ever got over 
these fences, as we are in the habit of trimming the quills of the 
wings of our Leghorns and Hamburghs. 
When my man made the first few panels, he pointed the lower 
laths also, and placed their tops several inches above the middle 
rail. ‘This formed one of the best traps for chickens that I ever 
saw. ‘They would jump up, their heads would slip into the wedge- 
shaped opening between the laths, and there they would hang by 
the neck. J lost several fine hens in this way, until I had the tops 
of the lower laths sawed oft square. 
At first we had some trouble, owing to the tendency of some of 
the lath to split. We soon remedied this difficulty, however, by 
wetting the lath. When thoroughly wet they are not easily split. 
The lath were pointed by means of a draw-knife and a carpen- 
ter’s woodeni vise. A small circular saw would no doubt have done 
the work better. 
After the panels were completed, they were placed against some 
straight fence or wall to dry, which they did very rapidly. They 
were then painted with crude petroleum, and panels so treated have 
been in use five years without showing any sign of deterioration. 
Such panels are very strong. I have heard complaints of lath 
fences being weak and liable to be broken down by the birds, in 
which case, of course, mischief would result. In my own yards 
no breakage has ever occurred. I have no doubt but that if a cow 
or a horse ‘were to attempt to pass this fence they could succeed, 
but that any bird short of an ostrich could break it down I do not 
believe. I have seen heavy birds—birds weighing twelve pounds— 
throw themselves against this fence in their fights without produc- 
ing any bad effect on it, and even good-sized dogs have rushed 
against these fences without injuring them. It will be seen that 
the lower rail is about a foot from the bottom, so that the shock 
given by dogs and birds comes at the strongest part of the fence, 
and the diagonal brace is also a great help against any local blows. 
T have therefore come to the conclusion that lath fences that break 
down easily must either be badly constructed or made of very 
