Portable Fencing for Sheep. 
547 
impress itself only on those who have not much experience of 
net-fencing, and who are frightened when they find a struggling 
sheep for the first day or two caught in the net ; a little experi- 
ence will overcome all this." 
When a field has no available boundary-fence twenty nets will 
be required as a full allowance. But if any of these outside 
fences answer the purpose a proportionate deduction may be 
made. Let us take as an instance a twenty-acre field in the form 
of a parallelogram, say 20 chains long, by 10 chains wide. Then 
if all the fences are secure for sheep, with only 330 yards of net- 
ting the roots can be consumed to advantage. In this case the 
sheep will have the run of all the cleared ground, but as most of 
us like to keep the ploughing pretty close up, to afford a back 
fence another 220 yards will be required, or eleven nets in 
all. Therefore much depends upon the state of the external 
divisions. 
The stakes are pitched at an average distance of three yards, 
or a shade less in front when guarding the turnips, and a 
little more apart when facing the open ground. They are chiefly 
made from the thinnings of larch plantations, and may consist 
either of whole or sawn timber. If the latter, the size will be 
If inches square, and the cost about \hd. each : but when hooped 
with a stout iron ring at top (a good investment) an additional 
Id. must be reckoned. 
Hence we get at the fact that the average cost of nets and 
stakes together will be about 5rf. per lineal yard. Now we can 
here purchase light ash sheep-hurdles 6 feet 6 inches long at Is. 
each, stakes and irons included ; so that there is only about 
per yard of difference in cost. With fair wear and careful 
mending these last just as long as nets, or with a heavier outlay 
in mending, you may reckon on even eight or nine years. A 
good man will manage nearly the same number of sheep — if 
stocking and not slicing the turnips is practised — with the one 
fence as with the other. Therefore for general use in the 
English Midland Counties, nets do not appear to offer any special 
advantage, even if they are equally desirable. But when you 
have to look to removals for any considerable distance, the case 
is greatly altered. Two single-horse carts will i-eadily shift all 
the nets, stakes, racks, and other baggage, belonging to the Scot- 
tish shepherd. In our own case, even for removals from field to 
field, a similar length of fencing would make at least four two- 
horse waggon-loads. When racks are made to move upon 
wheels, the Angus man, if he has but to shift to an adjacent 
field, can place his nets and stakes in the racks, and then a horse 
with a pair of traces will complete the removal. 
