44 
Field Gates. 
They were the property of a master of hounds in Shropshire, 
who managed to get his tenants to overhaul their gates twice in 
the year and clear away all rubbish and vegetation about the 
ground-line. The writer has further the record from Kincar- 
dineshire of a larch gate being in use at the same place for forty- 
five years, and then given over to a new tenant. He has a piece 
of larch rail perfectly sound after forty years’ use, and a piece of 
a birch rail from the Gallery estate, Forfai-shire, which is 
authenticated by the present Laird to have been cut in 181G, 
and in constant use since. It is covered with lichen, but is 
hard and sound ; at the same place there are flakes or hurdles 
in use made of birch forty-one years ago. The preparation was 
this. The trees were peeled when felled and put aside for a 
season, cut the next year, and the rails were carefully stacked to 
complete the seasoning and to prevent warping. What a plea is 
here for the knowledge and exercise of care in the management 
of home timber ! Rails of split ash and black willow ai’e useful 
to refill half-worn heads and heels. 
Gate Posts. 
If oak is the best timber for gates, and larch the next best, 
the same order holds good for gate posts. Fortunate are those 
districts where ribs can be torn from the everlasting hills and 
set up for gate posts. These may be seen in Derbyshire of mill- 
stone grit, shaped and set to perfection, and at no great cost — 
not much more than that of an average oak post. Other counties 
have suitable freestone, and North Wales has its slate rocks, 
less shapely but costing little beyond the labour of a short 
transport and setting. A stone post, if set in cement, will do 
with 6 inches of ground hold. 
If seasoned heart-oak is used, it matters little whether it is 
hedgerow or plantation timber. The abundance of one and the 
ready sale of the other determine which it should be. Sapwood 
of oak decays quickly, and besides the disfigurement above 
ground, the post becomes loose, and dilapidation to the gate is 
facilitated. If an oak gate post is painted with the natural sap 
in it, the sap induces a fungoid growth which will wreck a full- 
sized post in ten years. If the same post had been four years 
cut before use, it might have lasted for fifty years. 
Matured larch, peeled only, will last longer than if squared 
by the saw. The best preparation for larch posts is to re- 
tain the bark, keeping the trees their full length. Raise 
them well off the ground, protect the ends from the sun, and 
leave them for two years. Then remove the bark and cross cut 
