STONE AND SOD FENCES.
HOW A STONE WALL SHOULD BE BUILT.
[Illustration: Fig. 18.—WELL LAID WALL.]
To build a stone wall, some skill is required. The foundation should be
dug out a foot deep, and the earth thrown upon each side, which serves
to turn water from the wall. Large stones are bedded in the trench,
and long stones placed crosswise upon them. As many whole stones as
possible should be used in this place. The stones are then arranged as
shown in the engraving, breaking joints, and distributing the weight
equally. Any small spaces should be filled with chips broken off in
dressing the larger stones, so as to make them fit snugly. As it is a
work that will last a century, it is worth doing well.
BUILDING A STONE FENCE.
[Illustration: Fig. 19.—LAYING UP A STONE FENCE.]
A permanent stone fence should be built from 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.
[Illustration: 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.
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 21.—STONE WALL REINFORCED.]
A COMPOSITE FENCE.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: Fig. 23.—SOD CUTTER.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 24.—THE SOD CUT.]