112 
COMBINED WIRE AND PICKET FENCE. 
through the adhesive masses of clay soil, there¬ 
by opening them to the free admission of air 
and moisture. Where these lands have been 
underdrained, and the subsoil plow has been 
used, the application of lime is invaluable. The 
addition of moderate quantities of manure on 
fields thus prepared, insures prolonged effects. 
When applied to light and sandy soils, with the 
addition of vegetable manures, lime compacts 
and renders them more adhesive. The manures, 
roots of grasses, &c., are thus combined in a 
fine mould on the surface, forming a proper 
conductor and radiator of heat, an absorbent of 
moisture, and the most appropriate bed for the 
roots of plants. Lime seems to exert a further, 
and most improving effect in both clay and 
sandy soils by inducing those chemical com¬ 
binations in their constituents, which tend ma¬ 
terially to correct their inherent defects. By 
rendering clays more porous and friable, and 
sands more adhesive, their mechanical texture 
is made to approximate as nearly as possible, 
towards the perfection of each. It is used with 
great effect on peaty soils, as it hastens the de¬ 
composition of the vegetable matter, and dimin¬ 
ishes its porosity and sponge-like texture, there¬ 
by rendering it less absorbent of water in excess, 
which is one of its greatest faults. For such 
soils, it ought always to be applied in its caustic 
condition, as quicklime. 
Lime acts favorably for vegetation , by correcting 
the acidity of the soil. It not only combines 
with and neutralises most of the acids found in 
soils, or that find their way in them from springs, 
but it also decomposes and renders available 
for the wants of plants many substances which 
in their natural condition are really noxious to 
them. 
Lime decomposes the inert vegetable substances in 
the soil, and converts them into an immediate 
and appropriate food for the crop. It is in con¬ 
sequence of this favorable action and the large 
increase of the crop thereby secured, that the 
vegetable manures, and so much of the mineral 
element, as are required by plants, are speedily 
abstracted. The consequence is, that deteriora¬ 
tion of the soil inevitably follows, unless other 
qianures are added. The lime simply enables 
the soil to yield in a few years, what would 
otherwise require a greater number. But these 
augmented crops furnish the means of perpetual 
and increasing fertility, even if a part only of 
the excess beyond the ordinary yield, is appro¬ 
priated for this purpose. 
It is essential to the favorable action of lime, that 
the soil contains a full supply of vegetable matter; 
and when the lime has been applied in excess, or it 
ceases to act, more vegetable matter must be added. 
The effect of lime is not perceptible in the soil 
the first season it is applied, and its full influence 
is seen only after the second or third. Its effect 
is greatest when kept near the surface. 
To Raise Early York Cabbage.— Plant the 
seed, in hills, in October, and before the ground 
freezes turn a furrow up to the plants each side 
and then cover them with a hand hoe and 
uncover in the same way in the spring. 
COMBINED WIRE AND PICKET FENCE. 
This fence is the invention of Mr. Lucius 
Leavenworth, of Trumansburgh, Tompkins Co., 
N. Y., for which Letters Patent w r ere issued last 
October. The wire can be formed so as to put 
the pickets up in sections of any required length. 
It is drawn sufficiently tight at each corner of 
the field to strengthen the fence and fasten the 
pickets so that a brace is only necessary at the 
first and last posts. 
The remainder of the posts, if wood, can be 
set in sills; if iron, in flat stone. The hooks, 
H, H, pass through the posts to allow the wires 
to be drawn. The screw on the opposite side 
of the posts will draw the end of the hook to 
the post which secures the wire. The wires are 
first secured on the post C, by screws and bolts, 
so that all the parts are of simple construction. 
It can be taken down, removed and put up 
again with very little trouble, as it weighs only 
about thirty-five pounds to a rod. 
Fig. 36. 
It appears to be well adapted for farmers on 
the western prairies, and in all countries where 
timber is scarce. With suitable machinery, 
where timber is plentiful, it is calculated that 
pickets can be manufactured for from thirty to 
thirty-five cents per rod, and the wire formed for 
putting it up, will cost from twenty to twenty- 
five cents. 
Fig. 37. 
Fig. 36 is a front, and fig. 37 a sectional view of 
the improved wire fence. A, is the ground, B, 
the bottom or bass board, C, D, are the posts, 
K, K, are the pickets, L, fig. 37, is a wire, H, 
H, are the binding hooks, one of which is repre¬ 
sented by 2. The bottom board is bevelled 
at the top, and the bottom of each picket has an 
angular notch cut in it to fit on the upper edge 
of the board, which gives firmness to the fence, 
while the board presents a bevelled edge to the 
weather. 
