210 
AMERIOAN AClIilCULTURIST. 
[June, 
Farm Fences. 
Every man needs some fences upon liis farm ; 
a permanent one surrounding liis garden, at 
least, and movable ones, or hurdles, for confin¬ 
ing stock, or for forming lanes where animals 
are to be driven near to tempting crops. 
Tha preservation of the tiniber in fence making 
is a great desideratum to all who build fences. 
We believe no cheaper, or more effectual, way 
can be pursued than the plan recommended 
after numerous, carefully conducted experiments 
by different persons, of painting the slats, and 
soaking the posts in hot coal tar, and, after allow¬ 
ing all to drip off that will do so in a few min¬ 
utes, to thoroughly sand the timber, and let 
Fig. 1.— PICKET PEKCE. Fig. 2. 
it get so dry, before using, that hammering will 
not jar it off. It is best to have a few slats un¬ 
painted, to be used if necessary to saw an}'-, and 
these might be painted subsequently. The la¬ 
bor of protecting thus both the above-ground 
and the underground parts of the fence, is so 
considerable, that only the bottoms of the posts 
and underground sills of gates are usually thus 
protected. It is, however, very important that 
those parts of the posts, slats and pickets, which 
come in contact, should be coated ivith coal 
tar, so that water shall not find in these spots 
an opportunity to soak and rot the wood. 
Picket Fence.— G. J. Greene, of Hudson, 
H. Y., writes: “ I like picket fences for these 
reasons; they do not take much lumber; they 
make a closer fence, especially at the bottom ; 
they are easier kept in repair; and cattle will 
not so readily interfere with, or break them down, 
as other kinds of fence; a steer that thinks noth¬ 
ing of jumping over a rail fence five feet high, 
can scarcely be driven over a picket fence four 
feet high. Fig. 1 represents 
a section of picket fence. 
I herewith send you a rough 
sketch of a fence, which, I 
think,has some good points. 
As the posts are the foun¬ 
dation of the fence, I have 
given them more attention 
than the rest. No good 
posts should be split; if the 
limber is large, it should be 
sawed, 4x5 inches square at the bottom, and 
3x4 inches at the top. They are neater, more 
readily used, and make a better fence. If the 
tiniber is six or seven inches in diameter, I 
would saw them through, as represented in fig. 
3, making two good posts, each with a 
straight side, out of timber which 
would otherwise have made but one. 
I set posts thirty-two inches deep; 
three feet would be better. Half the 
ills that a fence is heir to, arise from 
the posts not being set deep enough. 
3 represents a post as I would like 
Near the bottom, two notches are 
Fig.4. 
Figure 
to set it. 
cut in the opposite sides; after the post is placed 
in the hole, and the dirt filled in to the notches, 
two short pieces of board, or stones, are placed 
in the notches against the posts, and the tops of 
them are crowded or pounded into the solid 
earth with a rammer, as shown; the hole is then 
filled up. The post will not be thrown up by 
frost, will not readily sag over, and if the part 
which enters the ground be thoroughly coated 
with coal tar and sand, as described on page 
94 of the American Agriculturist for 1866, I be¬ 
lieve there will be no occasion to replace it 
during the present century. 
Fig. 4 represents a board sawed into pickets. 
Boards ten inches in width, and twelve feet long 
will make tweHe pickets, three inches wide 
at the bottom and two inches at the top. 
The bottom bars may be let into the posts or 
nailed upon them, and the top bars either nailed 
upon the tops of the posts, which should be 
sawed off even, or they may be nailed upon 
the sides of the posts. A strip half an inch thick, 
and two inches wide, nailed, as a batten, over 
the pickets at the top and bottom bars, -will pre¬ 
vent their being knocked off, and will add much 
to the appearance, and but little to the cost.” 
Boakd Fence. —A. A. Gauer, Albion, Iowa, 
sends the description of a fence common there. 
Fig. G. —rORTAELE FENCE. 
and a neat looking one for a fence of such 
simple construction, (Fig. 5). It is made of 
boards. The lower rail is six inches wide, the 
other two horizontal rails, five inches, and the 
two that cross, three or four inches wide. This 
is a simple and attractive variation of a [rlain 
board fence, and requires but little lumber. 
Posts 3 X 4 at the top, and 4x4 at tiie buts, 
would be abundantly strong if well set, and pro¬ 
tected from rotting by paint or coal tar. Bat¬ 
tens over the strips at the posts W'ould add both 
to the looks and durability. 
Portable Fence or Hurdle.— Contributed 
by H. A. Hawkins, Vinden, Ill.—I inclose a 
sketch of a portable fence, which is a favorite 
hereabouts. There are two uprights of hard wood 
to each length, and upon them the horizontal 
strips, of any light, durable lumber, are nailed, 
and braced by a diagonal brace strip. The ends 
of the uprights are rounded so as to enter two- 
inch, round holes in a cap or yoke. By these 
caps the lengths are united, and the fence is kept 
upright and firm by being placed zigzag or 
Avorm-fence fashion. [Figure 6 represents what 
might be a modification of this fence, one 
and a quarter, or one and a half, inch soft 
wood boards being used as posts, and the rails 
morticed and pinned into them. It was made 
to illustrate the fence described, and the dis- 
crep.ancy was unnoticed at first. However, 
this idea may be of account to some one.] 
Flour at Twenty Dollars a Barrel.— 
Flour at twenty dollars a barrel argues the 
need of more wheat growers. Probably no 
man anticipated, twenty years ago, that Califor¬ 
nia Avould be shipping wheat to New York, 
and that grain would form part of the 'Western 
freight of boats on the Erie Canal. Yet such 
are the facts. The land that received so largely 
of our products during the early days of the 
gold fei'er is norv returning them in kind, and 
the good people of interior New York are eat¬ 
ing bread made of California flour ! All bread 
stuffs are unusually high, and yet we have un¬ 
told millions of acres in the sea-board Slates, 
that are lying idle, or, at least, producing a scanty 
crop of grass, for Avant of willing hands to till 
them. And if we look at the West, Avhole 
townships and counties are Availing for the com¬ 
ing settlers, to turn up the virgin soil, and put 
in the seed. Why should not the multitudes at 
the East, struggling for a bare living, take pos¬ 
session of these acres, erect their cottages, and 
live independently upon the prairies ? They 
Avould soon support their families in comfort, 
and keep wheat, henceforth, at living prices. 
A Remedy for Strikes. ^ 
These endeavors of mechanics to force capi¬ 
talists to pay them higher A\mge3 are becoming 
Amry common in our cities and villages. These 
efforts are about as rational as to force the sun 
to give more heat,—the clouds to give more 
rain. The rain generally falls because it cannot 
help it, and wages come doAvn for the same 
reason. If there is great competition in the 
manufacturer’s business, he is forced to sell his 
products at a less price, he makes less profits 
and must reduce the price of labor or stop his 
business. As a rule, capital gives what it can 
afford for labor. If there is great demand for 
woolen goods, there is great demand for hands 
to make them, and the manufacturer will giim 
Avages enough to induce hands to Avork. Multi¬ 
tudes rush into the business and it is soon over¬ 
done. Wages are reduced by manufacturers, 
and the operatives strike to resist the fall, or to 
secure higher Avages. This is the cause gener¬ 
ally of strikes in all the trades. They are greatly 
OA’-er-done. Too many people are croAvding into 
them for a livelihood, under the mistaken idea 
that it is easier and more respectable to live in a 
city or village, than to live in the country and 
till the soil. Almost all business pursuits in the 
city suffer from this cause. 
Political economists will differ somewhat 
about the remedy for these strikes. Near all 
agree that their tendency is evil, inflicting upon 
the mechanic great loss of time, and prejudicing 
the employer against his hands, by attempting 
to force him to give wages that his business will 
not justify. Some advise mechanics to associ¬ 
ated effort, and thus become their own employ¬ 
ers. But this is no remedy in a business that is 
already overdone. In some kinds of business 
it may be a help. But the real ditSculty that 
underlies these strikes is the over-stocking of all 
mechanical pursuits. The farm is deserted for 
the Avork-shop, and the artisan suffers. Rents 
are made high by the multitudes that crowd 
into the city to compete for dwellings, and food 
is made dear by the desertion of the farm. The 
remedy is found in a return to the tilling of the 
soil, Avhere rents and food are cheap, and labor 
is Avell rewarded. There is no danger that this 
business will ever be over-croAvded. We could 
spare thousands of our Avorking population Avith 
mutual advantage to the city and the country. 
There are some Avho will always cling to cities, 
no matter in Avhat poverty they ma}’- live, but 
many others would be glad of a rural life, 
could they only find means of transportation. 
