and the other end of the stick rests upon the 
ground, and is there made firm by the weight of 
a large stone. Another frame, or small stakes, 
may be temporarily erected at the point which 
forms the commencement of the wall, till the 
first length of it is finished, after which the wall 
itself will serve the purpose of the temporary 
frame. A building line is then stretched on the 
outsides of the frame, on each side of the wall. 
wo builders, one on each side of the wall, will 
perform the work much better than one can do 
by himself. One man cannot carry up both 
faces of the wall simultaneously. He must first 
| dothe one and then the other, which prevents 
him building so firmly as when both are built up 
together. If boulder-stones are used for the 
foundation, they must be placed firmly on their 
base on the ground, by wedging them with the 
hardest stones. They must not yield in the 
least to the tramp of the feet upon them. They 
| should be placed at a little distance from one an- 
| other, one in the alternate face of the wall, in 
| order that a firm piece of building may be erect- 
ed between them. If they have a square face, the 
appearance of the wall is improved by present- 
ing it to the outside, though the mere appearance 
of the wall is of less importance than the placing 
of a flat surface upwards for the support of the 
superincumbent building. It is highly commend- 
able to cause these large stones, or indeed any 
| form of stone in the foundation, to project three 
inches at least beyond each face, so that the wall 
_ will stand upon a base of two and one-half feet 
in breadth. Thus placed, these base stones are 
said to form a.“ toe” to the wall, which certainly 
imparts a very firm footing to it. 
Most sandstones, even of the hardest kinds, 
absorb water very readily, and, if saturated by 
rain before frosty weather, the frost takes effect 
on them, and often splits and injures many of 
them. But if they are placed in an inclined po- 
sition on each side of the wall, the rain will not 
be able to find access into its interior, and must 
drip down its face to the ground. This inclina- 
tion should be downwards towards the outside of 
the wall, and it is formed by laying the exterior 
edge of the stone upon the same edge of the one 
immediately below it, and elevating its interior 
edge a little, and keeping it in that position 
with a flat stone placed under it as a wedge. 
After the spaces between large stones, when they 
| are used, are built up, and brought nearly to a 
level, or, after the wall is built about half-way 
up with ordinary stones, when they alone are 
_ used, it is desirable, if the nature of the materials 
_ used admit of it, to lay large flat stones across the 
| whole breadth of the wall, or nearly so, as bind- 
_ers to the building below, and upon which the 
upper part of the wall may be more securely 
placed. These stones are called ‘thorough bands.’ 
These bands are very serviceable to the wall in 
cases of violent concussions against it, which 
—— 
notch or nail rests on the upper rail of the frame, 
| 
| 
605 
might drive off the coping, and the upper part of 
the building, but which in such cases might not 
affect it to the foundation. The wall is then 
built up, with the stones in the above inclined 
position, upon the band to the height of three 
feet, which is the ordinary height of the build- 
ing for a common stone fence. Some thin stones 
will be necessary to be laid on the top, to make 
the building level for the reception of the cover, 
which should now be placed not only over the 
whole breadth of the wall, but projecting about 
two inches on each side of it. This cover should 
be made of stones selected from the rest for their | 
flatness, strength, and apparent durability. It 
is not necessary that all the covers should be of 
the same thickness, for the coping can be formed 
of lower stones over the thickest covers. These 
covering stones secure effectually the top of the 
wall, and prevent much of the rain that, with- 
out them, would descend into the inside of the 
wall. Even if the coping should be thrown 
off at any time, the wall itself will be preserved 
if the covers remain unhurt. 
The coping may be formed of all those stones 
which had been rejected in the building, provid- 
ed they are not too small. Mere waste shivers 
are unfit for any part of a wall, but they may be 
used in draining. Strong angular stones which 
can stand close and firm together, form good 
coping. Round stones are very objectionable, as 
they are ever rolling off, and the small stones 
which it is necessary to use as wedges in keep- 
ing them steady, are easily displaced. The best 
coping is made of flat stones placed on edge. ‘The 
edge on which they stand on the cover should 
not be of a round form, as with that form they 
will easily lose their balance. It should rather 
be curved upwards like an arch, so as the cope 
may stand on two extreme points only. 
of the wall. After a number of cope-stones are 
placed firmly together, and perpendicularly be- 
side each other, thin hard stones should be driven 
in the openest spaces between them as wedges, 
so as to render the whole coping one connected 
row of stone. 
The finished wall presents a breadth in end of 
23 feet at the base, and 15 inches immediately 
below the cover. The cover may be from 2 to 
3 inches in thickness. The cope will stand nearly 
a foot in height, so that the height of the whole 
wall will not exceed 4 feet 3inches. Such a wall 
is called a five quarter one,—its body measuring 
36 inches, which are four quarters of a yard of 9 
inches each; and the cover and cope, which 
stand 1 foot 3 inches, are considered equal in la- 
bour to the building of another quarter of 9 inches. 
This is the ordinary height of dry stone field 
fences, and it will be found to form an efficient 
fence for the confinement of the ordinary kinds 
of live stock. 
It is | 
advisable to place the broadest cope-stones over | 
the joints of the covers, in order to obstruct the | 
passage of the rain through them into the heart | 
