1852. 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
213 
Stretching Wire Fence. 
We have, for more than ten years, experimented with 
wire fences. Some of the experiments were failures, and 
a few were successful. A difference of opinion exists as 
to their real value; and like everything else which has not 
been fully submitted to the test of experience, this differ¬ 
ence will continue for some years to come, till extensive 
actual trial shall decide the point for all. Our object 
is not, at present, to discuss this matter, but merely to 
explain the best modes of stretching the wires, as on this 
depends essentially the success of the fence, and many 
have found much difficulty in this respect. 
The general practice 
now is, to set and brace 
firmly, two large posts, 
some hundreds of feet 
asunder, be tween 
which the wires are 
tightly drawn, the 
smaller intermediate 
posts serving only to 
keep tkem in their 
proper position. The 
first thing, therefore, 
is to secure one end of 
each wire to the first 
post. This we have 
found most easily and 
perfectly effected, as 
follows*. Bore holes 
through the posts at 
the several heights re¬ 
quired for the wire, 
and in the direction 
they are to pass, these 
holes being about twice 
the diameter of the wire. 
Next procure a strong wood¬ 
en rod, about an inch or an 
inch and a half in diameter, 
with a length equal to the 
height of the fence. Pass 
each end of the wire through 
the post, and then bend the 
end into a loop, like that 
shown in Fig. 1. Next pass 
the rod through each loop, 
and bringing it up vertically 
to the side of the post, let the 
wires be forcibly drawn against 
it. In this way each end 
passes round the rod, and then 
returns through the post, Fig. 
2. It will thus sustain any 
required degree of tension. 
The other ends are to be 
Fig. 3. 
through holes in the 
other large post, of just suffi¬ 
cient size to admit their pas¬ 
sage, and a few of the inter¬ 
mediate posts placed between, 
to which the wires are to be 
Fig 5. 
loosely stapled, and then the main process commences, 
of stretching them. This may be effected in two differ¬ 
ent ways, which we shall proceed to describe. 
The most simple and cheap mode is, first, to saw off 
from a round stick, 8 or 4 inches in diameter, small pie¬ 
ces or rollers, about 7 or 8inches long; and then by saw¬ 
ing in an inch on each side, and splitting off with an axe, 
to form a tenon on each of these rollers. A hole is then 
bored with a gimlet into their sides, and one inch of the 
end of the wire, bent at right angles, is driven into this 
hole, to prevent the wire from slipping as the roller is 
turned—Fig. 3. The wooden wrench, Fig. 4., is then ap¬ 
plied to the roller, and turned till the wire is tightly 
drawn, when the board a, Fig. 5, is nailed to the roller 
to prevent its moving Each is thus successively treated, 
till all the wires of the fence are sufficiently tightened. 
A more perfect and 
substantial method is 
shown in Fig. 6, (the 
brace being omitted,) 
where two posts are pla¬ 
ced about two inches 
apart, and two-inch au¬ 
gur holes bored through 
both, to receive the rol¬ 
lers for the wires. These 
rollers are made of pie¬ 
ces two inches square, 
(a) dressed round, with 
a small portion left 
square at one end.— 
These are inserted into 
the augur holes, the 
wires attached to them 
by gimlet holes, and they 
are turned by means of 
firmly stretched. Then, while the wrench is still attached 
to them, each is successively driven in with an axe, till 
the square corners prevent them from turning. The wires 
may be easily, and atanj 7- time, slackened or made tight, 
by driving these pin rollers back again, and applying the 
wrench. The expansion and contraction, between the 
severest cold of winter, and the greatest heat of summer, 
is about one inch in a hundred feet.' 
One great cause of failure in wire fences, ir poor wire. 
We have found that a smart animal could not break the 
best No. 7 telegraph annealed wire, while one three times 
as large, of poorer materials, was snapped like burnt flax, 
by a bullock dashing against it. 
Hen-roosts in connection with Horse-stables.— 
The practice of allowing fowls to roost in the same apart- 
ment with horses, though followed by some farmers, 
out to be discountenanced. Albert Todd, of Smith- 
field, R. I., states in the Rural New-Yorker, that he had 
a horse become covered with “ hen-lice” from fowls 
roosting near the stall. The animal was seriously injured 
before the cause of the trouble was ascertained. He 
rubbed out his main and tail, and was continually biting 
himself, to obtain relief from the irritation which the 
vermin produced. The lice may be killed by tobacco 
water, sulphur, or oil. 
Fig. 6. 
the wrench d, till the wires are 
