COTTAGES AND FARMS 



25 



The rickyard is fenced off from the pasture by the 

 stout old oak post and rail, good to see in these days of 

 unsightly iron railings. It is the true fence of the country, 

 and a thing of actual beauty in the free play of line of the 

 rails and the slight inequality of the posts. A wooden 

 fence of sawn timber must always be a stiff and soulless 



The Rick-Settle 



thing ; but for these fences the posts are simply shaped 

 with the adze and side-axe from the butts of tree trunks 

 of a suitable size, or of larger trunks quartered, and the 

 rails are also of oak, quartered by rending with the wedge, 

 driven by the axe. 



It is often a matter of surprise and regret to me, when 

 I see in large places, with hundreds of acres of woodland, 

 what appears to be a thoughtless and stupid use of iron 



D 



