100 COMMON SENSE 
‘ 
were surprisingly strong. We doubt if any animal, short of a horse 
or a cow, could have broken-them. 
The panels were easily and rapidly made by using proper facili. 
ties. Four posts were sunk in the ground, so as to make the legs 
of a sort of bench 16 feet long, 8 feet wide, and the usual height of 
aworkbench. Along the front a good plank 18 feet long was laid. 
It was braced in the middle by nailing it to the edge of another 
plank 14 feet long. Of course the latter plank was on the under 
side, and, as it presented its zédth against any force tending to 
bend the upper plank, the bench was pretty stiff. ‘Two pieces of 
plank, each 8 feet long, were laid across the end posts, so that the 
bench was a sort of skeleton affair closed on three sides, the other 
side being open, and the middle also quite free. Six feet trom one 
end of the bench two other posts of the same height were set, and 
across the top was laid a plank 8 feet long. This was intended to 
support the panel when it was shoved off the large bench when 
nailing on the top row of lath. Having the material all handy and 
prepared, the three rails were laid down, their ends resting on the 
end planks of the bench, ‘The two stout end pickets were then 
nailed to them, the proper position of the rails being shown by a 
rod, properly marked. All the panels were, therefore, precisely the 
same. ‘his framework of the panel being now held square, the 
diagonal brace was cut to fit accurately, and then firmly nailed in 
its place. Then the first lath was nailed on, a thin board, 6 inches 
long and 13 inches wide, and having a block nailed to its upper 
surface to serve as a handle, being laid between it and the 
first picket so as to get the space right. The rail into which the 
nails were being driven rested on the long plank, and all the laths 
were nailed at one end before an attempt was made to nail the 
other. Then the middle rail was lanl on the plank and the other 
ends of the lath nailed to it. Then the diagonal brace was laid on 
this plank and the lath nailed half way up. The panel was then 
turned round, and standing between the top and the middle rail the 
upper half of the diagonal was nailed. 
Everything was now finished except the nailing of the lath to 
the upper half. The panel was strong enough to resist much bend- 
