Webster's practical forestry : $b A popular handbook on the rearing and growth of trees for profit or ornamentWebster, Angus D.
Science
Webster's practical forestry : $b A popular handbook on the rearing and growth of trees for profit or ornament
Webster, Angus D.
Forests and forestry -- Great Britain; Trees -- Great Britain
=Turf Dykes.=—These were formerly much used in moorland and outlying
districts, where stones are not abundant, and where, from the nature of
the soil and situation, hedges would not succeed. They are, at best,
troublesome fences to keep in repair, and require some adjunct either
in the way of wires atop, or, failing this, they must be planted with
gorse or other suitable shrubs. One advantage is the great amount of
shelter they afford to the young plants, while they are, comparatively
speaking, cheap of erection. There are several methods of building turf
dykes, the best being to cut or pare the turf 3 in. in thickness in
one or more lengths to suit the width of the dyke, and of a convenient
breadth: these are laid cross-wise one above the other. Both sides
of the dyke should be built at once, giving the necessary batter as
the work proceeds, and the grassy surface of the turf placed to the
outside. The dyke is usually made 3 ft. in height, 3 ft. wide, and
drawn gradually in to 12 in. at top. A two-rail fence surmounts the
dyke, bringing the total height to 4½ ft. or 5 ft. Sometimes a ditch is
cut alongside the dyke 3 ft. wide, about 2½ ft. deep, and 9 in. wide at
bottom, so as to prevent the farm stock getting at and damaging it, the
soil removed being used in forming the fence. By sowing gorse and broom
seeds on top of the dyke an excellent shelter fence is obtained.
=Wood Fences.=—These are common on almost every estate throughout the
country, especially such as are well wooded, and, owing to the low
prices obtainable for home-grown timber, it is well that such should be
employed as widely as possible. Wooden fences are also much preferred
by many owners of property to those erected either of stone or iron on
account of their rustic appearance.
Wooden fences are, therefore, sure to be largely employed when the
appearance of the property and not too-exacting financial results are
points of importance.
There are many forms of wooden fences adopted, these varying chiefly
according to the particular use to which they are applied. The
following descriptions are of such kinds as are generally in use for
woods and plantations.
Here it might be well to mention in passing that only matured and
seasoned timber should be used in fencing, the cost of erection,
whether the timber be good or inferior, being the same, and every one
knows which will last the longer.
A good strong fence is erected as follows:—Posts, 5 ft. 9 in. long, 4
in. broad, and 2½ in. thick; bars or rails, 9 ft. long, by 3½ in. by
1½ in. Four holes are mortised into the posts for the reception of the
bars, the ends of which are so formed as to overlap each other tightly.
The fence is usually 4 ft. high, and so as to strengthen the horizontal
bars a stake is driven into the ground midway between the larger posts,
and to this the rails are securely nailed. In some cases the posts are
not to be mortised, so that the bars require to be attached by nails.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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