82 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
€^t /tow’s UntE-Unnk. 
Agricultural Reading—Wire Fence. 
Eds. Cultivator —I became a subscriber for your pa¬ 
per one year ago, and as the time drew nigh when my 
subscription must be renewed, if I would take it the 
next year, I was led to reflect on the benefit it had been 
to me the past year. It did not, however, take much 
reflection to ascertain that I had never expended a dol¬ 
lar since I commenced farming, so much to my advan¬ 
tage and profit. The information I have acquired 
through the columns of the Cultivator, on but a single 
point, has been more than twenty dollars benefit to me, 
and from this you may naturally infer that I concluded 
to continue my subscription. 
Agricultural reading is especially useful to the farmer 
in two ways: First, it informs him of what he does not 
know, and of many things, too, that it is quite impor¬ 
tant he should be familiar with. Second, it reminds him 
of what he does already know, but much of which, 
through neglect, carelesssness, inattention, or other 
causes, he is liable to forget. 
The information which was of so much benefit to me, 
refered to above, was on the construction of wire fence. 
In consequence of the lateness of last spring, my fodder 
became quite exhausted, so that I found it necessary to 
divide an 18 acre field, that I might have a part of it 
for pasture, and the remainder for hay. For this pur¬ 
pose there had to be made a partition fence of about 52 
rods, which for a common stake or worm fence would 
require about 800 rails, besides the stakes. This to me, 
was quite a consideration, as the timber, which is of a 
very indifferent quality,stands where it is rocky and steep, 
and to add to the difficulty, I could find no one that was 
willing to undertake the job of making the rails under 
such circumstances. 
This was my situation when an article on the construc¬ 
tion of wire fence appeared in the pages of ‘ 1 The Cul¬ 
tivator” by one of your correspondents, (I believe A. 
B.,) in which that kind of fence was much commended, 
with instructions on the construction of it, .cost, &c. I 
was then just in the mood to fall in with something of the 
kind, in order to evade the expense and labor of a rail 
fence. I soon concluded to try the wire at all hazards. 
While some of my neighbors would dissuade me from it, 
others would laugh at the idea. They, however, did not 
feel the importance of having that field divided as I did, 
and so I went to work, and had the fence completed in a 
few days, and my horses and cattle putin to pasture, not 
by the way, without some misgivings, lest they might 
cross over the wires and save me the trouble of uiowing 
the other part of the field. But this did not prove to be 
the case. They were confined on that side of the fence 
where first put, till after harvest, when they were turned 
in on the other for some weeks. I then opened a gap at 
one end of the wire fence, so that the beasts could go on 
either side of it at pleasure. This gap I have shut, by 
times, and pastured which field I wished to, and although 
our horses are in the habit of rubbing down stake fen¬ 
ces, and getting out, and frequently did so the last sum¬ 
mer, though the fences were good, yet with the excep¬ 
tion of a few of the staples that fasten the wires being 
Feb. 
drawn out, the wire fence has sustained no other injury. 
This, however, is but the experience of one season in this 
kind of fence, and how long it will remain effectual, is 
yet to be told. I constructed the fence after the manner 
laid down by some of your correspondents—using wire 
No. 10, and fastening the strands to the posts by staples 
made of the wire. The posts should be large, and well 
set. A very expeditious way of marking the posts for 
the wires, is to have a strip of board the height of the 
posts above ground, with marks on it at the distances the 
wires are to be on the posts, and by standing it upright 
by the posts when set, they can be laid off with keel or 
chalk, by marking on the post opposite to every mark on 
the strip. In putting on the wire, after securing one end 
to the main posts at the end of the fence, let one person 
take the roll of wire and unwind it as he walks, while 
another following with staples and hammer in hand, 
should lay the wire to the marks on the posts, striking 
in the staples. In this way they proceed to the other 
end, when the wire should be drawn as tight by the hand 
as possible ,• then by attaching a strainer, which in ope¬ 
rating may be laid against the outer face of the end post, 
where it can be turned so as to strain a wire of even 100 
rods in length, so that its vibrations will compare intone 
to the cord of a well tuned violin. When the wire is 
sufficiently tight, before attempting to fasten the end at¬ 
tached to the strainer to the post, let all the staples be now 
driven up firmly on the wire, when the strainer may be 
detached, or so slackened as to be shifted around the post 
without any danger of the wire slipping. All that is then 
necessary to secure the wire after it is bent around three 
squares of the post, is to drive a few of the staples down 
on it. The wire should be only partly annealed, as oth¬ 
erwise it is so liable to be frequently bent as to be trou¬ 
blesome in putting up, and is not so substantial when on 
the fence. 
When the posts are set, and before putting on the wire, 
turn a furrow with the plow on each side, throwing it as 
close up to the posts as possible, and then by running 
another, and throwing it with a shovel between the other 
two, and in range with the posts, will make a ridge so 
high as to require one strand of wire less, and prevent 
the frost from reaching the bottom of the posts, and also 
put the fence in a better position for resisting any attempt 
by horses or cattle, to break through it. James H. Al¬ 
exander. Near Lewiston, Pa . 
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Harvesting Machines. 
Eds. Cultivator —Noticing a wish that some of your 
western correspondents would write you about harvest¬ 
ing machines, the following is submitted. There is now 
in the west about thirty different patents for harvesting 
and reaping machines. Some of them cut the grain 
close to the ground—others only cutting off the heads 
of the grain, with a few inches of straw. The first kind 
go, generally, under the head of reapers; the latter under 
the name of harvesters. Of the reapers, McCormick’s 
is the most generally used of any known to me; while 
of the latter, Esterly’s Harvester seems to take the lead. 
McCormick’s machine requires four horses to work it, 
one person to drive, one to rake off, and five persons to 
bind up the bundles. It cuts, in good grain, when well 
driven, about twelve acres a day, and if the grain stands 
