VOL. XXVIII.
INDIANAPOLIS. IND., JULY 22, 1893.
NO. 29.
Fences on the Farm.—No.1.'
BY DR. C. A. ROBINSON.
Usually in describing fences on the farm
there is little or no attention given to
fences around the lawn or the garden, and
only the fences around the fields are described or spoken of. Furthermore, it is
usually the ideal fence that is described.
In the articles which I shall write on
fences I shall endeavor to confine myself
exclusively to fences with which I am acquainted from actual observation and not
to barriers that are created by imagination.
True it is that there are many sections
where the' fence question cuts not such an
important figure as it formerly did since
fences are being abolished along many
highways in many counties. This can
only be done in sections where stock
breeding is practically abondoned for
grain farming, or where a certain portion
of the farm is fenced in as permanent
■quarters for live stock. This particular
portion of our subject in justice b«longs to
our next article, which will include general fencirg on the farm, and hence we
will speak of it in its proper connection
A
A_A  A
ana confine ourselves to the subject of
lawn, garden, poultry yard and farm yard
fences at present.
In order that I might be able to present
to the readers of the Farmer a concensus
of opinions of farmers on this question, I
went to the trouble of carefully noting the
kinds of fences found about the homes of
farmers on a drive of about 100 miles in
Shelby, Hancock, Marion, Morgan and
Johnson counties recently.
By way of digression I will just remark
that when any man desires to obtain the
actual truth regarding home improvements on farms he can certainly obtain
reliable information by going through the
country in a private conveyance and he
will be surprised to find how few farmers
have really tasteful and ornamental attractions about their homes.
Of course I saw a great variety of lawn
and yard fences; a much greater variety
than I am able to illustrate or even describe in a short article like this, many of
them being real tasteful and showinga willingness on the part of their owners to
beautify their premises as far as the
meager returns from the farm at this time
will justify. In many other instances
there seemed to be little or no effort at
adornment, the only object attainable
seeming to be to keep out the stock or to
keep in the stock. In all the drive I was
not a little surprised to find that the very
great majority seemed either satisfied with
very common fences around their homes
or were unable to erect better ones. I am
inclined strongly to the opinion that the
latter is the true situation.
However, of the many varieties of unpatented fences which ornament the
homes and plafs seen on the route, I have
feebly attempted to illustrate a few, the
obect being not to display artistic skill at
all, but to show a few of tbe more popular
styles which I met.
In Fig. 1 we have a fence which is found
quite frequently—the picket fence. This
style of fence with its variations seems to
be as popular as anything we saw.
Sometimes we find it in the pointed
picket aa indicated in tfce i-lus-twitlon.  in
fact we believe this to be the most popular style. One thing I could not fail to
notice in reference to the fence is the
change in the method of structure of the
newer specimens. The posts seem to be
set more firmly in the ground, the railing
and pickets seem to be lighter and the
height rarely exceeds four feet. The style
of picket is various, the pointed picket
and the square-ended picket dividing
honors about evenly. Then we found the
smoothly-dressed and neatly-pointed paling fence, but this was not nearly as frequently seen as the cheaper style of fence.
The prevailing opinion seems to be in
favor of posts about 4x5, set two feet in
the ground and extending about three and
a half feet above the ground. Instead of
mortising two inches into the side of the
post as was the old style, 1x3 stringers,
oak preferred, are often now found to be
nailed to the inner sides of the posts,
about six inches from the ground, and the
same sized stringers nailed to the top of
the posts and allowed to extend over one
inch to correspond with the one-inch strip
at the bottom of the post.
The width of the pickets seems to be
about two and one-half inches, the thickness about three quarters of an inch; the
space between them being three inches.
In erecting this fence some difficulty is
found in keeping the slats perfectly perpendicular, as, if the naked eye is depended upon, it often allows, .one end of.
the slat to get a little farther away for a
time, then to correct that error the other
end is drawn away just a little, the result
being that when the fence is completed
there will be an unsightly lot of pickets
nailed on every way. If the first picket is
set perfectly perpendicular the builder
will then find much assistance in the use
of a strip of the width he desires the
spaces between his pickets and about four
feet long. Across the upper portion of the
flat side of this strip, say six and a half or
seven inches from the top, nail a strip that
will extend beyond the edges of the adjacent picket on either side. Now set this
on the upper stringer, as shown in the
illustration, and you have a guide that
will never fail you. Care must be taken
to fasten the short strip across the long
one at perfect right angles, otherwise the
operator will find his fence getting out of
line as he travels along. This strip must
have a perfectly straight edge and be exactly the same width at both ends, in
which case there will be no trouble in
keeping the pickets straight all along the
line of the fence.
The question of fencing gardens, poultry
yards and outlots is a vexed one. At best
the garden fence is a costly one if reliable
at all, and sometimes we are puzzled over
the subject of- whether it ia cheaper to
fence the poultry out of the garden by
putting a chicken proof fence around it or
whether it be safer to make a special yard
for the chickens and surround it with a
fence over which they cannot fly.
These posts may be set 12 feet apart and
from one to the other nail a 1x10 inch
plank two inches above ground with a
short post in the middle of the plank to
nail it to. The high posts for this fence
need not be larger than 4x4 as it catches
very little wind. Now stretch the netting
evenly from post to post and fasten it here
with small staples. Also staple it to the
upper edge of the baseboard and you have
a fence that will turn any stock that there
is room for on a farm.
In Fig. 3 wd have an illustration of a
very neat fence if it is made of 4x4 posts,
the horizontal strips being 1x4 and the
cross strips 1x3. All the lumber for this
fence should be dressed and painted, and
there is no gain saying that it makes a
very comely farmyard ornament.
%KXQ gcpixxtmmt.
Limiting* Damages in Livestock Shipments.—In an action by a shipper against
a railroad company to recover the value
of hogs killed in transit, under a contract
releasing the company from liability for
loss from overloading, heat, suffocation,
fright, viciousness or fire, and from all
other damages incidental to railroad transportation which shall not be established
by positive evidence to have been caused
by the negligence of some officer or agent,
he is entitled to a recovery where it does
not appear from what cause the hogs died.
Johnson vs. Richmond & D. R. Co. Supreme Court of S. C.   17 S. E. R.   512.
3
Police Power in the Fencing of
Railroads.—Where a State statute as
construed by the courts of the State, gives
damages to a land owner for the expense
and inconvenience of watching cattle to
keep them from wandering upon a railroad track running through his land,
which the company has failed to fence.
Such statute is within the police power of
the State and is not subject to the inhibition of the fourteenth amendments to the
Federal Constitution, against depriving
any person of the equal protection of the
laws, even though by the general law of
All fences should be built with the great- the state penalties and damages are
est care, since I suppose no man ever built given only {or direct in juries sought to be
a fence who did not hope it wonld last for-1 prevented, and do not extend to consequential and possible resulting injuries.
Minneapolis <fc St. Louis R. Co. vs. Emmons, 13 Sup. Court Rep. 970.
evevrtBSrSIOTfeltseems'to "me that in putting up a fence we should do our best to
assist it in lasting forever. All posts- of
whatever timber they be should be well
seasoned before they are put into the
ground and a rather extended experience
proves to me that it pays to smear the bottoms of the posts with coal tar. Also I
never put a post in the ground any more
unless I tamp it with gravel. Of this I
shall speak further in the article on general farm fences.
Another fence which seems to have attracted some attention I have endeavored
to illustrate in Fig. 4.
_*=
On a farm it is clear to me that every insect a chicken destroys is so much gained
by the farmer, hence it is money in the
farmer's pocket to fence the gardens in
and to allow the poultry to run out. For
this purpose we notice a good deal of
ordinary wire netting being used as shown
in Fig. 2.
Posts for this fence may be made seven
feet long and set two feet in the ground,
allowing five feet to extend above ground,
This is a light fence but, if we may judge
by the enthusiastic statements of its defenders, is very strong and durable. The
posts for this fence may be of the same
size as those used in the fence just described. I think, however, that tho majority of persons using this fence will be
found to advocate posts seven or eight feet
apart, with 1x3 oak stringers 14 or 16 feet
long and nailed to the outside of the posts
both at the top and the bottom. Some
have advocated to the writer that they do
not decay so quickly at the ends of the
stringers if fastened on in this manner as
they do when a mortise is made in the
post or when one stringer is nailed on the
top of the post.
The slats in this fence are made of common lath, are given such a slant as will
make the completed fence three and a half
feet high when four-foot laths are used.
In order to begin this fence properly it is
necessary that a strip one inch square be
nailed on the ends of the stringers. This
furnishes a place to which the ends of the
first laths, which of necessity are short
may be nailed. If put up with care and
the tops are all saw ed off horizontally even
this makes a fence which is at once strong
and light. It is put up with wire nails
which if nailed at ail the crosses and
clinched, make it very strong.
Liability for Expense of County
Fences.—Where the statutes providing
that counties affected by the stock law in
one of them shall jointly build and keep
in repair fences on or near the county
line to prevent stock straying from one
county, in which the law is not in force,
into the other in which it is, means that
each county shall bear half the expense;
and the fact that the county in which the
law is established has made a provision in
part for the expense is no reason for the
refusal of the other to do so. The code
provisions relative to the stock law are not
in conflict with the constitutional provisions as to qualified electors, registering
electors, or the election ordinance adopted
by the convention; it being in the power
of the legislature to pass a stock law for
one or more counties without submiting
it to the vote of the people.
Board of Supervisors of Le Flore County
vs. State. Supreme Court of Mississippi.
13 Southern Reporter.   904.
How I Raised a Crop of Wheat.
Editobs Indiaka .iimi
Two years ago I had 40 acres of ground
plowed and sowed in oats. After the oats
was harvested and taken off the field, we
burned the stubble off all except a strip on
one side of the field, of perhaps ten acres,
where the oats had been sown thinner
tban on the rest of tbe field. Some weeds
had come up and the stubble on tbat part
of the field we could not burn off very
well, and consequently we plowed that
part of the field and put out the wheat in
the usual way, by harrowing and rolling
before drilling. The part of the field (say
30 acres) where the stubble burned off
nicely we harrowed with spring tooth
harrow once, then cross harrowed once.
Without any more work the whole field
was drilled in wheat; time and seed similar.   Now for the result.
Whilst the whole field was good, making
25 bu. to the acre, yet the part not
plowed came up quicker and more uniform, did not grow so tall but stood up
best, ripened a little earlier, yield equally
as good or better, and the quality a little
better than the part of the field that had
been plowed. The land was not remarkably fertile as it had been cultivated for
many years without any special fertilizers.
The soil is dark prairie land. A. H.
Clinton Co,