| Show fences and deming A tor eor respondent correspondent of the cultivator and i country en jUmas on the subject t ot of fences after referring to an article in the new en Es land ritt fiti farmer mer mey from the pen of the editor recommending a new farm fence invented by C IL smith of haverhill new hampshire says this thia matter of fencing is not only one of great importance but of almost incalculable expense and the improvements of a century have hardly effected any changes for the better in our fences all over the countr country with the exception of wire fences which have been tried and found not to answer any useful purpose we see bee the same kinds in use which were in use a century ago rail fences post and board fences with the posts in the ground or tipping about from the effects of frost virginia or 01 zigzag fences requiring an outlay y fr lumber and a breadth of land that no farmer can afford are as common now as they ever were probably not less than seven eighths of our fences are made of wooden materials and antl the average durability of board and rail fences is said not to exceed ten years the fences of pennsylvania cost one hundred bundred million dollars and their annual cost is ten millions this state loses the cultivation of acres of her best soil by crooked fences upon all our iov low lov lands bordering on our streams of water the fences are liable to be swept away in a single night by every flood that passes over them the winds bock block up our roads in winter wih with snow snowdrifts drifts and the fences hold hoid them there wall fences cover from 40 to sixty feet ot of land to the rod an and L neither the they nor post fences will standon stand on heaving soi soils T a the editor of fhe the F farmer arnier says in his opinion smiths fence if kept whitewash whitewashed will last vast au at least 50 years which is a merit that no other fence tence made ot at jooa wood can claim without doubt it com combines bines blues nearly all the requisites ff cf a straight firm arm and durable fence covering but little land and particularly adapted to heaving soils upon which they will stand as well as the zigzag zig za zag one kind is built in sections of about one rod each and so arra arranged ned that a man can let it down to the ground while it is held heid fast to the stone foun dalon or it can be easily removed to a place of safety if in danger of being trodden upon by cattle an hours notice of 0 a coming flood will enable a man to put half a mile ot of it out of the reach of danger dangers or when used as aa a road fence so that it will not cause the accumulation mu lation of snow snowdrift drifts will it not be well for our farmers to give these fences a trial I 1 |
