1876.1 
339 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
black walnut timber was bought “on the stump,” 
that is standing in the woods, at two dollars a thou¬ 
sand feet. It is now salable at §30 to §35 a thou¬ 
sand, and for burls or beautifully veined or cloud¬ 
ed timber, much more is paid. A tree, 34 inches in 
diameter, three feet from the ground, and with a 
stem 48 feet high, will make a thousand feet, and 
should therefore be worth 30 to §35 as it stands. As 
it is a rapid grower, there is unquestionably a good 
profit in planting this timber at the current prices. 
Portable and Temporary Fences. 
Portable fences are necessarily coming more and 
more into use, because of their cheapness and 
adaptation to the more economical and improved 
methods of cultivation. There is no necessity for 
more than one fixed fence upon a farm, and that is 
the outside or boundary fence. We can not see 
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" 3 
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7 
Fig. 3.—supports. 
Fig. 1. —BOARD-FENCE PANEL. 
that this- can bo permanently superseded by any 
method of herding stock, or by any other device ; 
for roads must bo traveled, and our neighbors can 
not be prevented from 
keeping stock in their 
fields, or using them as 
they think proper. A 
good outside fence is 
therefore absolutely nec¬ 
essary in any thickly pop¬ 
ulated part of the coun¬ 
try, although a herd-law 
may be useful as a tem¬ 
porary expedient in new 
settlements. The most 
effective, cheapest, and 
simplest portable or temporary fence will there¬ 
fore be very desirable, and from amongst the 
many suggestions we have received for this pur¬ 
pose, there may probably be some that will be 
adopted and used. A very good one is sent to us 
by a correspondent at Ganges, Mich., which is il¬ 
lustrated by figures 1 and 3. This fence is used in 
that part of the country, and thought highly of. 
It consists of a panel made of fence-boards or edg¬ 
ings, 13 feet long, with the end cross-pieces set in 
6 inches, leaving the boards projecting. The posts 
for the fence consist of two pieces of 3 x 4 scant- 
ling crossed at the top, and connected at the bot¬ 
tom by a piece of inch board six inches wide, in 
which a notch is cut as shown. The fence is set 
up by resting the ends of the panels upon the 
posts, and overlapping them in the crotches at the 
top and the notches at the bottom. End braces 
may be used here and there iu the fence, if thought 
Fig. 3.— SKELETON FENCE. 
advisable. Some other kind of fences are suggest¬ 
ed by Mr. L. D. Snook, of Tates Co., N. Y. These 
are not uncommon in the eastern part of the coun¬ 
try, and that shown at figure 3 we have used very 
satisfactorily as a temporary fence to a pasture for 
horses and cattle. If set up firmly, it will resist 
as strong a wind as an ordinary rail fence will. It 
will not, however, like the preceding one, an¬ 
swer for a sheep pasture. It is made by driving 
short posts into the ground, which should be 
notched at the top, or else crotched or forked 
posts should be used ; upon these the lower rails 
Fig. 4.—STRENGTHENING A BOARD FENCE. 
are placed, and held in place by cross stakes over 
the joints. These stakes should be firmly driven 
into the ground. The second tier of rails arc 
placed upon these, and we have found this suf¬ 
ficient to keep cattle or horses that are orderly 
and contented within the bounds of a good pas¬ 
ture. Where the pasture is poor, and a tempting 
crop of corn or :lover is in the next field, no cows 
or horses will be likely to resist the desire to 
put their heads through and lift the top rails. In 
such a case a heavy third rail, placed upon interme¬ 
diate cross stakes, should be used. Another kind 
of fence, shown at figure 4, consists of a temporary 
expedient for increasing the bight of a low fence, 
when it may be found necessary. This is done by 
placing stakes at each side of the temporary fence, 
and laying a rail upon them, which may be held 
firmly by means of a loop of fence wire, passed 
around the stakes. A method of adding to tne 
hight of a low stone wall, is shown at figure 5. 
The engraving shows the plan so clearly, that no 
description seems to be necessary. 
--—*> -©» -«K—- 
Watering Stock. 
Water is not often looked upon as food, yet it 
plays a part in the nourishment of an animal either 
directly or indirectly in much larger proportions 
than any other, or indeed all other aliments. An 
animal deprived of water will perish very much 
sooner than it would when deprived of solid food. 
As about 75 per cent of the flesh and blood of an 
animal is water, and as evaporation from the skin 
and lungs is incessant and copious, it may be 
readily conceived how necessary to health is an ad¬ 
equate supply of water. Unfortunately this fact 
is generally unknown, or is forgotten, or neglect¬ 
ed—indeed there are thousands of farmers who 
actually believe that some of their animals, sheep 
for instance, require no water at all at certain sea¬ 
sons of the year. There are many farmers who 
think it unnecessary to give a drink of water to a 
pig, but who consider the slop it receives as ample 
for its needs, or that when a pig is fattening, dry 
food only is needed, and that water makes soft 
pork. There arc many more who are hardly so ig¬ 
norant as this, yet act precisely as though they 
were, and neglect to provide any water for their 
stock but what they can procure from pond holes 
or sloughs. The consequence is, the immense loss 
which has befallen farmers, complained of every 
year as something unavoidable, and for which 
they look for sympathy. It is very true that 
if anything that is necessary to health is withheld, 
disease and death will follow; and it being very 
true that an ample supply of pure water is neces¬ 
sary to health, and equally true that this is with¬ 
held to a very great extent, the consequence is un¬ 
avoidable. Thus disease occurs in thousands of 
centers,'which spreading around these centers by 
contagion or infection, becomes general, and is 
diffused over a large extent of country. In this 
way the just and unjust suffer alike, and many 
careful farmers may suffer from the carelessness of 
one neglectful neighbor. There are many districts, 
especially in the West, that are but poorly supplied 
witli water. There are many farms well supplied 
with water, where the appliances for using it are 
insufficient or badly managed. Ponds of stagnant 
water are nurseries of disease, and do much mis¬ 
chief. Streams, unless of a peculiarly favorable 
character, are almost as dangerous and objectiona¬ 
ble. Where the banks of a stream are muddy and 
marshy, and the current slow, the water is apt to 
carry germs of disease or the eggs of dangerous 
parasites. Streams that are swift of current and 
flow over gravelly or sandy beds, are less unsafe, 
but still not altogether safe, as they may become the 
means of conveying infection. Springs are not al¬ 
together safe, and in some cases are positively dan¬ 
gerous, as when their margins become fouled by 
trampling and the droppings of stock. Wells are 
the safest source of supply that can be had. The 
water of wells is generally filtered through a con¬ 
siderable depth of soil, and is free from' contamina¬ 
tion by either dead or living impurities. For sheep, 
especially, no water is safe but that from wells, and 
as pigs are almost equally subject to parasitic dis¬ 
eases as sheep, well water should be provided for 
them whenever practicable. The cost of a well, 
with the requisite power for elevating the water, 
and some safe, convenient, and economical method 
of presenting the water to the stock, should be 
considered as a necessary outlay upon every farm 
where stock is kept. If a well and windmill could 
be placed at the point where four farms join, and at 
the joint expense of the four owners, each farm 
could be supplied, without inconvenience, at one- 
fourth of the expense that would otherwise be ne¬ 
cessary,and the advantage gained would be secured 
in many cases at less cost than that of time needed 
to drive stock to a pond or stream. To have water 
in the stock yard and in a place convenient of ac¬ 
cess, is one of the economies of the farm that can 
scarcely be neglected. 
An automatic apparatus for supplying the water 
troughs and preventing either the waste or the foul¬ 
ing of the water, would be very desirable. To be 
satisfactory in use, the arrangement for watering 
should be complete and well adapted for the pur¬ 
pose required. A method of watering stock that 
wc have seen in use, and which we consider to be a 
very satisfactory one, consists of a well shown at 
figure 1, with a pump operated by a wind-mill, or by 
hand, (see engravings on next page); a supply tank 
or reservoir (A), above the surface of the ground, 
from which aipipe leads to a covered regulating tank 
(13), in which is a valve (H), operated by a float (I), 
which admits water from the supply tank when it 
is opened by the descent of the float consequent 
upon the lowering of the level of the water. From 
this tank the water passes to the watering tank 
( G), which is covered (see N ., /, A, N). A plank 
floor is laid around this tank to prevent trampling or 
rooting by hogs, as shown in figure 3, in which is 
also seen the cover that prevents the animals from 
using the water improperly. The advantages of 
this apparatus are : there is no waste of water, 
as the overflow from the supply tank may be car¬ 
ried into the well again by a pipe; the water in the 
watering tank is kept at a uniform level within an 
inch of the cover, and within reach of the stock by 
means of the float valve ; the pipes are below reach 
of frost; the water is cool, wholesome, always 
clean, and always accessible and abundant. The 
apparatus is patented, and is controlled by the 
United States Wind Engine and Pump Company, 
of Batavia, Illinois. The cost of the apparatus is 
not necessarily beyond the means of almost every 
farmer, as the tank may consist of ordinary barrels, 
and the pipes and valve may be fitted to them by 
any person who can use common tools. There are 
few simple inventions that can be turned to more 
profitable use than this. 
