1877.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
97 
pedigrees, but we take from England anything that 
a breeder, who has a reputation, produces, without 
asking what cross he puts into it, or how his stock 
is made up. We ought now to establish American 
breeds, and before long we should be exporting 
animals back to England to improve their stock. 
Tips in Place of Shoes for Horses’ Feet. 
In some sandy districts, especially in the South 
and West, shoes are not worn by the horses or 
mules during the summer months, while in other 
places, shoes are worn too much at that season, 
and evil results in either 
case. If unshod, the 
hoofs are either worn 
away at the toe, or be¬ 
come mis-shapen and 
break away, leaving a 
very bad foot for any 
after-shoeing. When 
the shoe is retained too 
long, the growth of the 
hoof is interfered with, 
and the sensitive inner 
parts of the foot are in¬ 
jured, and become diseased. If, on the other hand, 
the shoes are frequently removed and replaced, an¬ 
other evil occurs; the frog is either cut away at every 
shoeing, or is kept elevated above the shoe, and 
never permitted to touch the ground, and its nat¬ 
ural use is never called into action. In either case, 
trouble may be avoided by using tips for the feet, 
like those shown in the engraving. These are made 
of light horseshoe bar, hammered out considerably, 
so that they are thin upon the inner edge and the 
ends. They are nailed to the toes in the manner 
shown, and protect them from wear, leaving the 
heels to come to the ground. The frog being un¬ 
touched, retains its proper office as a cushion for 
the sole, and keeps the working parts of the foot 
in a sound condition. These tips may be kept in 
readiness for use, and may be easily nailed on to 
the foot by any owner of a horse, if he will take 
proper precaution to drive the nail in the right di¬ 
rection. They may also be left upon the foot for a 
longer time than the ordinary shoe without injury. 
Shaping and Boring Fence Posts. 
The old-fashioned post and rail fence will proba¬ 
bly never go out of use, so long as posts and rails 
can be procured. Its stability and durability 
commend it above all other fences, where the prop¬ 
er timber—which is chestnut—is 
to be found. This timber is of 
quick growth; when the tree is 
cut down the stump soon sends 
up sprouts, which in 8 or 10 years 
are large enough for posts and 
rails ; the wood is soft, and easily 
worked into the required shape, 
and, when well seasoned, is very 
durable, provided the posts are 
set in the best manner. For this 
reason, an acre of chestnut tim¬ 
ber should be planted upon every 
farm where it will thrive. As 
the duration of a well built and 
well protected chestnut postr 
and-rail fence may be counted as 
forty years, there may be five 
crops of rails cut off from a thrifty 
plantation during this period. 
Probably no other timber can do so well as this. 
At this season, the work of preparing posts and 
rails is going on upon thousands of farms, while 
but very few of the farmers engaged in this work 
use the best methods. The posts are very roughly 
trimmed, and the mortises are chopped out with an 
ax. There is not only loss of time in this kind of 
work, but the fence when finished looks meanly, 
and will not be so durable as it ought to be. It is 
not considered, and perhaps not known to many, 
bow much the value of a farm is increased by being 
well fenced. An attractive appearance adds thous¬ 
ands of dollars to the salable value of many well 
located farms, and if they are not for sale, it is still 
desirable that they should be made to appear at then- 
true value. But the real value of a good, substan¬ 
tial, well built fence, is very much more than that 
of a poorly built one, and it is easy to spend as 
much time over a poor fence as over a good one. 
Some years ago we built a post-and-rail fence along 
each side of a road, running through the farm, and 
prepared the posts in the following manner. A 
boring table, shown in figure 2, was built of 4 x 4 
6canthng, and 7 feet long, which is the length of 
ordinary posts. The posts were trimmed upon the 
blocks shown in figure 3 ; the end was first squared 
to proper shape, (6 inches wide and 3 thick), and 
then wedged in the 6quare-notched block. It was 
then dressed to a smooth finish, gradually increas¬ 
ing in width and thickness to the but, which we left 
rough, in order to take a firm hold of the ground. 
The holes were dug larger than usual, and were 
filled in around the post with stones, firmly rammed 
down. A hint was taken in this direction from an old 
fence upon the farm, which was said to have been 
in this manner set 40 years before, and of which the 
posts were still quite sound. The post, after hav¬ 
ing been trimmed, was placed upon the table upon 
its side, and resting against the rear posts, with the 
upper end touching the shoulder on the board be¬ 
neath it. This brought it into the proper position 
to be bored. The boring guide, seen lying upon 
the ground in the engraving, was then placed 
was set in the hole of the guide, with the 6hank in 
the rest seen in the front. One hole after another 
was bored with great rapidity, many posts being 
placed, bored, and thrown off in less than three 
Fig. 3.— BLOCKS FOB SHAPING POSTS. 
minutes for each one. Afterwards the wood be¬ 
tween the holes was cut away with a broad mortis¬ 
ing chisel and mallet. When the fence was put to¬ 
gether, the holes and ends of the rails were painted 
with common tar. The cost of the whole, when 
finished, was about one dollar per rod, counting 
the rough posts at 15 cents, and the rails at 7 cents. 
A Very Convenient Farm Pig Pen. 
Herewith we give plans and a general view of a 
very complete and.convenient farm pig-pen, recent¬ 
ly built on the farm of Col. F. D. Curtis, of Charl¬ 
ton, Saratoga Co., N. Y. The building, shown 
complete at figures 1 and 2, is 48 feet long, 22 feet 
wide, and 12 feet high. There is an upper floor 
over the pens, which is used as a store-room for 
meal, com, etc., and a cellar beneath them, used 
for storage of roots, and cooking and preparing 
food. There is a cistern in the cellar, into which 
the water from the roof is collected, and a pump 
by which the water may be run into the feed-kettle, 
or to the pens above. The arrangements are made 
with a view to the convenient handling and feeding 
of the stock, as well as to most perfect sanitary 
conditions. The building is warm enough to pre¬ 
vent freezing in the coldest winter weather, so that 
young pigs may be reared without difficulty, even 
at this season, if desired. The outer and inner 
walls, and the floor of the upper room, are all of 
matched boards; the floor of the pens is double, 
there being first a floor of hemlock boards, with 
matched joints, put together with hot pitch ; the 
Fig. 1.— VIEW OF MB. CUBTIS* PIGGEBY. 
against the post, and held by short wedge-shaped I whole of this first floor is then thoroughly coated 
pieces of wood, resting against the front posts. with hot coal tar, and a second floor of li-inch 
The auger, fig. 1, made purposely for this work, | hemlock plank, with matched joints, also filled with 
Fig. 1.— AUGEB. 
