40 
Field Gates. 
in the line of a diagonal. All such joints are greatly protected if 
the parts crossing are well coated with white lead or tar when 
they are being clenched together. If the timbers are creosoted 
the evil effects from retaining moisture are greatly modified. 
The rigidity given to the bottom and top rails will admit of the 
use of a thin top rail for gates opening into or between tillage 
fields, or where the grazing is not by heavy cattle. Where horses 
are grazed, a strong oak rail is desirable, unless that doubtful 
expedient, now somewhat common, is resorted to, of stretching 
a line of barb-wire a little above the top rail. This design will 
do for a gate 11 ft. wide; a gate wider than that should be in 
two divisions. 
The size of field gates varies from 8| ft. to 10^ ft. in length, 
and from o ft. 4 in. to 3 ft. 9 in. in height. Carters do as little 
damage in narrow gateways as in wide ones, though in saying 
this it is not implied that the damage is trifling in either. Modern 
implements require wide openings, and several inches may be 
gained or lost by the gate-hinges used. Every inch over 9-J- ft. 
wide should be grudged. Gates between arable fields will suffice 
if 3 ft. 4 in. high. A few more top rails may be broken during 
the hunting season than on gates 3 ft. 9 in. high. The latter 
height is required when horses and bullocks are grazed. 
There are positions where a light and smart appearance is 
desirable in a gate. The gate shown in fig. 4 should have an 
ordinary top rail with cap-piece, the bottom rail in. by 
3 in., and the intermediate rails 2 in. by 2 in. The lateral 
strength of these last is increased if they are tenoned angle- 
wavs into the head and heel. The ties and struts are iron, £ in. 
by 1£ in., but the struts will be better if $ in. thick. The 
iron should be neatly checked into the head and heel and top 
and bottom rail, bedded there in white lead, and fixed by bolts 
or rivets. The white lead helps to exclude moisture, and, in the 
case of oak, prevents corrosion in the iron. Stout screw-nails 
may be used to fix the iron to the intermediate rails ; small 
