The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-07-29

and afiixing the whole to the tail of my
horse-cart (where it is practicable to go
with cart), let the horse reel off twenty
or thirty rods, or, if the ground be per-
fectly level, even more. Then the boy
who has assisted me, by using the arms
of the reel, takes out the slack of the
wire, while / go along the line and pass
it over any stones, bushes, stumps and
the like, until it lies as straight as pos
sible snug to the line of stakes. then
staple, pausing when it is nearly
home " to signal the boy to tighten,
which he does by using all his force
upon the reel for second or two, when
/ finish driving the staple as firmly as
possible, and he relaxes his hold little
to rest. BY this means the wire is
tautened at every stake, and | have
been able to get it tighter with less
labor than in any other way.
l have seen that in Colorado they
take a similar way, either taking turn
around the bar, or, lacking a wheel, a
turn is taken around the hub. OF
course it is necessary to " chock" or
trig" the cart to prevent its running
back. There is such thing as getting
the wire too tight, as, being stretched
in rather warm weather, the severe
cold of winter may contract and break
it. Better get one of the grips or
clamps sold by hardware dealers, and
very useful in handling the ugly stuff
and occasionally tighten up wire
which may, from some cause, slacken a
little too much. Having stretched your
E,.of ,,,;rn 1,n vuha al ,f
fence, and cut it with cold chisel, TAX
ing care that the released end, in re-
bounding, does not embrace you, turn
your team and attach your wire to the
opposite side of your starting post, as, if
your strands be all attached to one side
of the post, the tendency will be, es-
pecially by the action of frost and wet,
to have your starting post turn little
by the continual strain, and thus slacken
your wire. / found this out by expert
ence and not forethought. Proceed in
like manner with each strand until you
are done, taking care to lap and double
staple your ends, and you will have a
good fence of three, four, or five strands.
| have made mine thus far of three
strands, stretching the lower one first,
eighteen inches from the ground, the
second one foot above the first, and the
third one foot above the second. This
brings my topmost wire three anda half
feet from the ground, and leaves six
inches for the top board or rail, if YOU
wish it.
A good way to build wire fence, at
least on ground that will not heave
badly, is to drive the stakes when the
ground is soft in the fall, and to stretch
the wire after it is frozen. A kind of
wire is used which is made of links,
which seems to be an improvement, and
can certainly be handled much more
easily. AS to cost, the material for
my one hundred four rods of lane fence
would have cost $50 or S75 at the mill
if of boards, and / don't know how
much labor to get it home and built.
My wire and staples for the same fence
cost S25; value of labor in putting up,
preparing stakes, ETC., Sc; total, S31.
Wire is six cents per pound, or even
less, now. One pound will build rod
one strand, it is said, but on long
stretches it will not quite hold out to do
this. Call it, for three strands, at pres
ent prices for wire and staples, twenty
CentS per rou LOT material, anu eac1
farmer can reckon what his stakes will
cost him. A sound stake as large
round as ones thigh is good one.
Perhaps larger one to start with, and
some smaller ones may be used. At
tach to forest trees when practicable. /
have seen iron posts or stakes adver-
tised in some western paper, and dare
say they will soon be as common, cheap
and durable as the wire itself.