four to five feet high, two feet wide at the base and one foot at the top, if the kind of stones available allow this construction. If a higher fence is desired, the width should be correspondingly increased. The surface of the soil along the line of the fence should be made smooth and as nearly level as possible. The hight will depend upon the situation, the animals, the smoothness of the wall (whether sheep can get foot-holds to climb over), and the character of the ground along each side. If the earth foundation be rounded up previously, sloping off to an open depression or gully, less hight will be needed. Such an elevation will furnish a dry base not heaved by frost like a wet one. Without this, or a drain alongside or under the wall, to keep the soil always dry, the base must be sunk deeply enough to be proof against heavy frosts, which will tilt and loosen the best laid wall on wet soil. The foundation stones should be the largest; smaller stones packed between them are necessary to firmness. The mistake is sometimes made of placing all the larger stones on the outside of the wall, filling the center with small ones. Long bind-stones placed at frequent intervals through the wall add greatly to its strength. The top of the fence is most secure when covered with larger close-fitting, flat stones. The engraving shows a wooden frame and cords used as a guide in building a substantial stone fence. Two men can work together with mutual advantage on opposite sides of the stone wall.
TRUCK FOR MOVING STONES.
Fig. 20.—Truck For Stone.
The small truck (figure 20) is not expensive, and may be made to save a great amount of hard lifting in building a stone wall. It is a low barrow, the side bars forming the handles like a wheel-barrow. It rests upon four low iron wheels. A broad plank, or two narrow ones, are laid with one end against the wall and the other resting on the ground. A groove is cut at the upper end for the wheels to rest in. The stone is loaded on the truck, moved to the place, and pushed up the plank until the wheels fall into the groove; when, by lifting on the handles, the stone is unloaded.
REINFORCING A STONE WALL.
Fig. 21.—Stone Wall Reinforced.
A stone wall which affords ample protection against sheep and hogs, may be quite insufficient for horses and cattle. The deficiency is cheaply supplied in the manner indicated by the illustration, figure 21. Round poles or rails are used, and if the work is properly performed, the fence is very effective.
A COMPOSITE FENCE.
Fig. 22.—Composite Fence.
The fence illustrated at figure 22 is quite common in some parts of New England. A ridge is thrown up by back-furrowing with a plow, and both that and the ditches finished by hand with a shovel. Light posts are easily driven through the soft earth, and a board fence, only three boards high, made in the usual manner. Then the stones, as they are picked up in the field, are hauled to the fence and thrown upon the ridge. This clears the field, strengthens the ridge, prevents the growth of weeds, and assists in packing the earth firmly around the bottom of the posts.
A PRAIRIE SOD FENCE.
Fig. 23.—Sod Cutter.
Fig. 24.—The Sod Cut.
A sod fence, beside its other value, is a double barrier against the prairie fires which are so sweeping and destructive to new settlers, if unobstructed, for a wide strip is cleared of sods, the fence standing in the middle of it. A very convenient implement for cutting the sod is shown at figure 23. It is made of planks and scantling, the method of construction being clearly shown. The cutting disks are four wheel-coulters from common breaking plows, all attached to an iron shaft sixteen inches apart. They are set to cut three or four inches deep. This is run three times along the line of the fence, making nine cuts, the cutters being held down by a man riding on the rear of the apparatus. Then with a breaking plow one furrow is turned directly in the line of the fence, completely inverting the sod, the team turned to the right, and a second or back-furrow is inverted on top of the first. Additional furrows are cut, diminishing in width to five or six inches on the outer side, as shown in the diagram, figure 24. After the two inner sods are turned, the rest are carried by hand, wheel-barrow or a truck, (figure 20), and laid on the sod wall, care being used to “break joints” and to taper gradually to the top. If a more substantial fence is wanted, a strip thirty-two inches wide may be left as a part for the fence, the first two furrows inverted upon the uncut portion, so that their edges just touch. The sod fence is then continued to the summit just twice as thick as it would be by the process just described. After the fence is laid, a deep furrow should be run on each side, throwing the earth against the base of the fence. A very effective and cheap fence is made by laying up a sod “dyke,” as above described, three feet high, then driving light stakes along the summit, and stringing two strands of barbed wire to them.
CHAPTER III.
BOARD FENCES.
BUILDING BOARD FENCES.
Fig. 25.—Properly Constructed Board Fence.
In building a board fence, always start right, and it will be little trouble to continue in the same way. Much of the board fencing erected is put together very carelessly, and the result is a very insecure protection to the field or crops. A fence-post should be set two and a half or three feet in the ground, and the earth should be packed around it as firmly as possible. For packing the soil there is nothing better than a piece of oak, about three inches square on the lower end, and about six feet long, rounded off on the upper part to fit the hands easily. Properly used, this instrument will pack the soil around a post as it was before the hole was dug. In putting on fence boards, most builders use two nails on the ends of each board, and one in the middle. Each board should have at least three nails at the ends, and two in the middle, and these nails should never be less than ten-pennys. Smaller nails will hold the boards in place for awhile, but when they begin to warp, the nails are drawn out or loosened, and the boards drop off. This will rarely be the case where large nails are used, and a much stiffer fence is secured. Many fence builders do not cut off the tops of the posts evenly, but this should always be done, not only for the improvement that it makes in the looks of the fence; but also for the reason that there should always be a cap put on, and to do this, the posts must be evened. The joints should always be “broken,” as is shown