PRICE AND WEIGHT OF WIRE FENCE 
267 
much—it proves the mass of them are as far 
behind this age of improvement in agriculture, 
as their old bog meadows and alder swamps 
are behind their capabilities of production when 
drained, and that there is as much need of im¬ 
provement in the swampy intellect of one as in 
the soil of the other. 
PRICE AND WEIGHT OF FENCE WIRE. 
We give, below a table which will show the 
sizes of wire in hundredths of an inch; that is, No. 
4 is 0.25, which shows it one fourth of an inch in 
diameter. The weights given are for strands of 
one rod, (16£ feet, or 5£ yards,) in length, and 
also for one mile (320 rods, or 5,280 feet) :— 
Class of 
wire. 
Diameter in 
hundredths 
of an inch. 
Weight per 
lineal rod. 
Weight per 
lineal mile. 
No. 1 
0.32 
4 lbs. 
2 oz. 
1,321 lbs. 
2 
0.30 
3 “ 
10 “ 
1,166 “ 
3 
0.27 
2 “ 
15 “ 
944 “ 
4 
0.25 
2 “ 
8 “ 
809 “ 
5 
0.24 
2 
5 “ 
746 “ 
6 
0.22 
1 “ 
15 « 
627 « 
7 
0 .20 
1 “■ 
9 “ 
518 “ 
8 
0.18 
1 « 
4 “ 
419 “ 
9 
0.16 
l “ 
0 “ 
331 “ 
The most economical size for serviceable field 
fence is No. 4. This can be bought at whole¬ 
sale from five to six cents a pound. Almost the 
only requisite in building wire fence is to keep 
up the tension. That built by Colonel Capron, 
as described in our eighth volume, page 256, is 
as good as it was three years ago, and never 
cost a cent for repair. A good durable cattle 
fence can be made of wire for 50 cents a rod. 
APPLICATION OF MANURES—CONCENTRATION 
OR DISTRIBUTION. 
The following views by Mr. Charles Law¬ 
rence, recently published in the London Agri¬ 
cultural Gazette, are replete with good sound 
sense, and are well worthy the attention of 
American as well as English farmers. The 
principles herein advocated are applicable to 
all countries, irrespective of soil or climate :— 
“I have never been able to reconcile with 
certain well-established facts in the growth and 
nutrition of plants, the very general practice of 
concentrating manures immediately under the 
seeds of our root crops. This practice appears 
to be extending; for I perceive our implement 
makers are exerting their ingenuity to contrive 
implements for dropping the manure; and that 
it has been observed repeatedly, in print, that 
drilling the manure is wasteful; as if that de¬ 
posited between plant and plant was useless. I 
nevertheless adopted the practice, because, as a 
general rule, I think it the safer course to adopt 
any practice that has been in favor with the 
best agriculturists, rather than follow out the¬ 
oretical view’s,however apparently well founded. 
Having, however, recently attended a lecture by 
Professor Way, delivered at a meeting of the 
members of the Royal Agricultural Society, at 
! which he entered on this subject, incidentally, 
I in his discourse on the preparation of superphos¬ 
phate of lime; and his observationshaving been 
in exact accordance with the views I had pre¬ 
viously entertained, I am induced to recommend 
my brother farmers who adopt the principle of 
concentration, to reconsider this matter. I have 
a strong impression the current is running in 
the wrong direction, and that, on the contrary, 
we should be seeking the means of the most 
minute division and extreme distribution. 
“The facts to which I have referred, and 
which, to say the least of them, demand careful 
consideration, are that roots absorb their nour¬ 
ishment only at their terminal points; that these* 
extend in all directions; and as the plant in¬ 
creases above ground, so do the roots increase 
their ramifications beneath the surface, and de¬ 
mand a continual supply of food. I am aware- 
it will be replied, this process is in search of 
food, which will be unnecessary if this be sup¬ 
plied ready at hand. But is this consistent with 
their mode of feeding, and the conditions under 
which their nutrition is practically effected? It 
is well known they cannot feed on solids, and 
that they receive their nourishment only in a 
liquid or gaseous state; that this conversion is. 
very gradually effected through the agency of 
the atmosphere or water, and consequently that 
it is readily accomplished in proportion to the 
minute division of the manure subjected to those 
influences. 
“Again, just as the first delicate roots are 
emitted is not the time at which they require a 
concentrated supply of the richest food ; but 
their appetites and their powers of assimilation 
grow with their growth, and, as they increase,, 
they require a larger supply in all directions,, 
and that readily prepared by gradual solution 
and decomposition. Entertaining these views,. 
I was much pleased to see, some time ago, a 
prize offered by the Royal Agricultural Society 
for the best manure distributor as a step in the 
right direction; and I cannot but think the im¬ 
plement makers will be more usefully employed 
in contriving means for minute* division, and 
thorough and equal distribution of manures, tha-n 
for their concentration. It has been a frequent 
matter of discussion, whether it is the better 
plan to lay on the manure in the autumn, and 
