360 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
heave with the frost, and from its situation exposed 
to the north-west winds. Good chesnut posts were 
well put into the ground, about 12 feet apart—some 
of them braced. Four wires were stretched along 
these posts, tightened, and fastened with staples 
made from the same kind of wire. This fence, when 
first put up, appeared well and strong - but it was 
a failure. The posts were loosened and heaved with 
the frosts; the wind from the south would incline 
some of the posts oneway, and the north-west wind, 
in its fury, would incline some another way. The 
wire became bent, and in two years the fence was 
removed—it had failed. 
The next fence was made along both sides of a 
public highway, running east and west, where the 
snow was liable to be drifted in. Along this road, 
ran cattle, horses, sheep, hogs, &c. With post and 
board fence, they were often, after a storm, getting 
in from the road. On the south side is a meadow, 
on the north a meadow and two gardens, close to 
the fence. 
I have been thus particular, for along this road 
a wire fence has been made that has now stood over 
two years—neither winds nor frosts affect it; no 
snow drifts in the road ; no cattle or horses or hogs 
or sheep pass through it, though grass, corn, pota¬ 
toes, cabbages, beets, &.C., are growing in full sight, 
almost to their very noses, and nothing but the 
thin and almost invisible wire presenting, as it 
were, an unseen, but as yet impassible barrier. 
This fence and others I now make as follows: 
Chestnut posts about eight inches thick, not less 
than nine feet long, are put into the ground not 
less than five feet deep, and from 150 to 300 feet 
apart. Great care is taken to have these posts be¬ 
yond the reach of frost. The posts at the corner of 
the lots, are very firmly braced. Then a board 
(or plank, or timber, or pole,) is laid along between 
these posts, and small chestnut posts or strips 
about two and a half feet long, sharpened at 
each end, are driven into the ground at each 
end of the boards, so that two boards can be 
nailed to it; and a short post, or strip, is also dri¬ 
ven near the centre of the board. The board is 
then nailed on to the strip, care being taken that the 
top of the strip will be a little lower than the top 
edge of the board when the board is nailed to the 
strips. Four inches above this board, a quarter 
inch hole is bored through the post; five inches above 
this another hole is bored, seven inches above this 
another, eight inches above another, and ten inches 
above this another—(this for a five wire fence.) 
The wires are now passed through these holes and 
fastened with staples. In tightening the wire, the 
weight of the wires is taken off’, by rendering them 
through staples slightly driven into uprights, setup 
about every 50 feet for that purpose. Care is taken 
so to tighten the wire, that in adding the pickets, 
hereinafter mentioned, the wires will, when the fence 
is finished, be sufficiently taut. Pickets four feet 
long and one inch square, are now, about every four 
feet, nailed with two nails to the board, (or plank, 
&e.or passed through two staples, driven into the 
board, (or plank, &c.) The pickets are not neces¬ 
sarily driven into the ground but stand upon 
it. Care is taken to have the wires the same 
distance apart on each picket, as they are at the 
posts. This is done by placing a picket near the 
post, and fastening the wires to this picket by large 
staples, so large that this picket can slide along the 
wires as you place the other pickets, and fasten them 
to the board and wires. The wires are fastened to 
the pickets by small staples either driven home or 
so driven that the wires can render through them. 
Nov. 
Another fence is made as follows:—Five horizon¬ 
tal wires, nine inches apart; pickets four feet apart 
—no board or plank, &e., at the bottom. This 
fence is fastened like a suspension bridge, at the 
two ends, and oscillates from one to three feet, ac¬ 
cording as the permanent fastenings are apart. 
The pickets in some of the stretches, as the ground is 
uneven, will not touch it—the wires suspending the 
pickets from the ground. Stones, as wanted, are 
buried under some of the pickets; strips of iron or 
wire being wound round them. A piece of wire is 
then wound round each piece of horizontal wire, 
close along side of the picket, beneath which a stone 
is buried. The fence is thus brought down so that 
the pickets all touch the ground, and these wires 
being then fastened to the stones, the fence will be 
held in its place, strongly and well, by this unseen 
fastening. In some cases I hold down the fence by 
means of the boards or planks nailed at each end, 
to each other, by strips of boards about two feet 
long nailed along the ends. I have a fence like this 
running along a common, and no cattle or sheep, 
&e., have broken through it. Instead of wooden 
pickets, iron ones can be used to keep the wires sep¬ 
arate and in place. 
The following points should be preserved in a 
wire fence: 
1 st. The fence like a suspension bridge, must be 
firmly fastened at both ends, and firmly fastened 
nowhere else. 
2 d. The fence must be so constructed, that when 
cows, horses, hogs, &c., come in contact with it, it 
will be so loose that their contact will not be apt to 
bend the wire, and the oscillations of the fence will 
frighten them from it; yet so firmly fastened that 
the fence will return to its position when the dis¬ 
turbing cause is removed. 
3d. You must have upright supports at proper dis¬ 
tances to keep the wires apart, which supports must 
not he too firmly fastened. 
4th. A wire fence should be so constructed that it 
will keep in and out what you intend to keep in and 
out; yet so constructed that men can climb over it 
and small boys through it, without bending the 
wires. 
The holes that are bored in the large posts, are 
never plugged up with wood. Two men, at seven¬ 
ty-five cents each, exclusive of board, will put up 
600 feet of this fence in one day. The cost of wire 
fence is as follows: Say cost of 12 feet or 1 panel— 
No. 9 wire at 5| ots. per lb. is 5 of a cent per foot; 
12 feet will cost,. $0 20 
1 board 0 8 
3 pickets 0 3 
12 nails 0 1 
I post cut up . 0 7 
Staples 0 3 
$0 42 
The gate I use is as follows:—A frame with a 
horizontal or diagonal bar across it. Holes are 
bored two inches apart through the three bars of the 
gate, large enough to receive the wires. The wires 
are placed vertical, and are cut of such a length that 
each wire runs from the bottom of the gate up 
through the top bar. curves about two inches above 
the top bar, returns down through one of the holes, 
and projects through the bottom bar from one to two 
inches. The stuff used for a gate twelve feet long, 
is 3 by 4; the stuff used for one of four feet, is 2 by 3. 
The cost of making the first mentioned gate, irre¬ 
spective of materials, is fifty cents; that of the other 
is twenty-five cents. Benjamin Nott. Bock Hill, 
Bethlehem , Sep. 20, 1850. 
