Fencing — Its Importance, Sfc. 495 
panel for common field fence. The durability of the iron posts 
need not be discussed, the form being of such a nature that a post 
for common, permanent, field or hurdle fence, need not exceed seven 
or eight pounds of iron, the cost of which will depend somewhat 
upon the locality M'here it is manufactured. 
The post is inserted in a stone of any shape of sufficient size, 
having a two inch hole drilled into it four or five inches deep; 
this stone is buried in the ground, even with its surface, by which 
one great difficulty is completely obviated, that is, the action of 
the frost upon the fence. It is a well known fact that a stone or 
stick of timber placed in a wet or heavy soil, even with the sur- 
face, does not raise any higher or sink any lower, but as the 
ground rises by the frost, the stone or stick rises w'ith it; and as 
the frost disappears, the stone or stick is left precisely in its for- 
mer position; thus the action of the frost upon the fence is en- 
tirely obviated. 
The wooden panels are constructed of rails or bars and pick- 
ets, twelve feet in length and ot any required height, with or 
without a base board. The pickets are round and inserted in the 
two rails, top and bottom, and these rails are fastened to the posts 
without nails, pins, or bolts of any kind. The peculiar construc- 
tion of the post secures the rails, and secures them firmly without 
the aid of any other means. When used as a hurdle or portable 
fence, the posts are inserted into a block of wood, two and an 
half or three feet long, and laid partially in the ground trans- 
versely. The pannels are put together by placing a post where 
the fence is to commence and hanging the panel on the post. 
The next post is placed, and the other end of the panel hung on ; 
the next panel laps on to the first, and thus after the panels 
are put together, that is, the bars and the pickets, and the holes 
bored in the blocks of wood, and we are informed that a man and 
a boy will erect half a mile of fence in one day; and this fence 
when placed, may be considered a permanent barrier against all 
ordinary domestic animals, and the fence may be taken up and 
conveyed to any place with ease, and put under cover in a small 
place during winter, if necessary. The first cost of this fence is 
less than any other hurdle fence now known, and can be taken up 
and put down on any variety of soil, at less then half the expense 
of any other hurdle fence ever invented. 
There are many sections of country which are subject to an 
annual inundation, and if the land is inclosed at all, a fence must 
be made in the spring, and removed in the fall, or be lost; thus 
a portable or hurdle fence is of great value, as it can be taken up 
and put dow-n with ease and facility. 
There are other sections of our country which are wholly de- 
prived of timber for many miles in extent. The praries of the 
