270 
FENCES.-THE PRICE OF WOOL. 
no rack 
Besides the rack we have described there 
are two others. The one is placed against 
the wall, in front or above tlie horse, bat has 
no connection with the loft. The slats may 
be perpendicular or slanting. If the slats be 
perpendicular and the rack be of the proper 
height, it embraces all the excellences of the 
one we have recommended. Such a rack 
may be seen in our cut, in the July number. 
The only objection to this is that it is slant¬ 
ing. There is still another rack, Fig. 64 
above, which is placed below the horse’s 
head, but has no connection with the loft. 
In every respect it is such a rack as we re¬ 
commend, except that it should be placed 
two or three feet higher, according to the 
size of the horse to feed from it. 
This is a good rack, which our cut shows, ]■ 
if but little hay be given at a time, and that ™ 
little often, as to training horses; the on¬ 
ly objection to it is this necessity of feed¬ 
ing the hay little and often; where from 
the nature of the work, or from any 
other cause, this can be done, there is 
like the low one. But if much hay is to be giv¬ 
en at once, the horse in this rack will cull it 
over and leave a portion, which in the end be¬ 
comes so loathsome that he will not eat it, except 
compelled by dire hunger. 
A nearly perfect rack may be seen in the cut 
of Mr. Pell’s stables, in the number for June, 
page 185. The rack is a little too high, and the 
slats are too long. The bottom of the rack should 
be o;i a level with the bottom of the manger. If 
the rack were that much longer, and the slats or 
rungs shorter, no breath would foul the hay, and 
no seed and dust annoy the horse. 
In our next we shall treat of mangers, and the 
materials of which racks and mangers should be 
made. 
FENCES. 
Under this head the last number of the English 
Agricultural Society Journal contains an able article 
from the pen of Mr. Grigor. We are glad our own 
articles on this subject were written several months 
before this was published, otherwise we should have 
been accused of plagiarism. Of the evils of the pre¬ 
sent system of hedge fencing he thus speaks in heads 
to paragraph divisions, adding to each elaborate rea 
sons for the positions he takes. 
1. Our fences are injurious, and that to a great ex¬ 
tent, because they harbor and are a protection to all 
sorts of wegi^s- 2. They harbor and protect snails, 
slugs, &c. 3. They harbor a great many birds, and 
afford every encouragement to them in the building of 
their nests. 4. They are highly objectionable on ac¬ 
count of their size. 5. They are injurious on account 
of their number. 6. The same, on account of their 
containing timber-trees. 7. The same, on account of 
their shade. 8. The same, on account of the great 
exhaling surface they present. 
Some of the above objections, owing to the difference 
of climate in America, would not hold good with us; 
but here is onestartlingenough. Mr. Grigor calculates 
lli.U if the fences in England could be properly re¬ 
constructed, one million two hundred and eighty thou¬ 
sand acres of good land might be gained for cultiva- 
Hay-rack. Fig, 64. 
tion! We can only regret that he did not go a step 
further and tell us how much might be gained by abol¬ 
ishing the useless things altogether. We commend 
this article to the attention of our readers. 
The Maine Farmer, in speaking of our late attack 
on fences, says, “■ the Agriculturist seems to have 
enlisted during the war.” It certainly has; and in 
addition to the various missiles for attack that can be 
gathered together at home, we shall call into aid all 
the foreign shells and shot which can be imported 
from abroad. Will oar contemporary please manu¬ 
facture a little powder for us, to aid in charging 
home some new gnns ? 
THE PRICE~OF WOOL. 
We are daily asked, is wool likely to rise, or will 
it fall still lower than it now is. Without any pre¬ 
tensions to sagacity sufficient to peer into the future, 
we will answer simply, that we think wool will be a 
trifle lower before it is higher, and then that it will 
rise somewhat in price, though there is little prospect 
of its rising as high this year as it did the last. 
Our reasons for a rise in price are these : 1st. At 
the present low rates considerable quantities are going 
forward to Europe, which will ease the market a little 
in its present crowded state, of the very fine quali¬ 
ties. 2d. Business, upon the whole, is opening bet¬ 
ter for the fall trade than it was supposed it would, 
and we are of opinion there maybe a greater demand 
for woollen goods than the manufacturers and mer¬ 
chants anticipated, a month since. 3d. The short hay 
crop will cause a great many more sheep to be killed 
this fall than ordinary, thus reducing the flocks so 
considerably, that the weight of the clip next year 
will not be increased in proportion to the ratio of in¬ 
habitants. Another thing, the flocks will not be win¬ 
tered as well the coming season as they were the past, 
and consequently will not yield so much wool per 
heal in the shearing of ’46 as they did in that of ’45. 
But we must confess we are far from wishing wool 
■ to be much if any higher than it now is, because we 
do not think it for the general interest of the 
farmers that it should be. It bears a good pro¬ 
portionable price now to other products, and it must 
be recollected that the cheaper it is the more there 
