Held Oates. 
37 
FIELD GATES. 
I. 
It requires only a limited knowledge of the economics of pro- 
perty in agricultural land to be aware of the importance of field 
gates. There is not only a considerable capital sunk, which 
requires a yearly outlay to make it serve well its short life, but 
it is not long before it has to be replaced. There is the con- 
venience or inconvenience, the pleasure or something akin to 
disgrace, of having good or bad gates in good or bad repair. 
The capital involved varies much on different estates and in 
different counties. It approaches lOs. per acre for small en- 
closures, as in Devonshire and other districts with rich pastures ; 
while, on the downs of the Southern Counties, and the moors 
and fells of the North, it is very small. 
The readiness with which good field gates, like good fences, 
proclaim the social condition of an estate or farm is such that 
there are few of the owners who are indifferent to the character 
thus stamped on them who have not had to harden themselves 
into this indifference. Good estate management and good farm- 
ing are rarely associated with bad gates or bad fences. Hunting- 
men are proud of good gates, and he who would be an enemy 
of strong language, or who would insure himself against the 
questionable epithets of the horseman trying in vain to open the 
gate, would do well to see to his gates when harvest is finished. 
It is proposed to treat of the construction of timber field 
gates and the materials to be used in making them, of gate- 
posts and methods of fixing them, and of the action of soils 
on timber posts. Reference is also made to the hanging and 
fastening of gates, and to iron gates. 
Local conditions greatly determine the materials to be used, 
and there may be good reason for using indifferent materials ; 
but it is not worth discussing whether there is less excuse for 
using indifferent materials than for bad construction and work- 
manship. Thoughtful construction will greatly assist inferior 
materials, and the best materials will not redeem ignorance or 
carelessness. Not seldom a rude gate, perhaps of split ash poles, 
is seen to keep its form, move freely, and last long, while an 
apparently well-made gate, with good parts, falls rapidly into di- 
lapidation. To reason from such a case that no great art or care 
is needed is the same as to argue that care is not required to guard 
the well-being of the body because the strength of the strong 
sometimes fails, while the weak hold on in their weakness. 
