In order to make the fence more effective for the field upon the side of which the wall is built, a low paling or wire-fence ought to be erected immediately behind the cope, and made to project over the top of the wall, as seen at g in the figure; it need not be more than 2 ft. high, and may be either made of wood or iron, as may be found most expedient. Many have a hedge planted upon the top where the paling is shown in the figure, which is indeed a great improvement where shelter is wanted upon a high part. This is, however, not generally necessary with sunk fences upon level ground, where they are not meant to be seen, but only upon slopes where the situation is exposed. Fig. 147 will explain the nature of the sunk fence with a hedge, as adapted for high sloping ground, where immediate shelter is found of the greatest importance.

Sunk fences of the latter description, as represented in Fig. 147, are excellently adapted for a high-lying part of the country, upon the slopes of rising and unequal ground. The wall a, which is 4 ft. high

with cope, may be very properly built of stones, without the addition of any lime, if thought necessary,-excepting the cope, which should in all cases be put on with lime; under such conditions the wall need not be more than 14 in. wide at bottom and 10 in. at top. But if the wall be built without lime, it will not be necessary to make any drain behind, as recommended in the previous case, seeing that the water can perfectly well escape without it. The hedge b should be planted about 16 in. back from the top of the wall. In order to protect the hedge while in its young state from cattle upon either side, it is necessary to have a two-barred paling, c, upon the ditch side of the hedge, and a three or four barred fence, d, upon the upper side. There is a large extent of these sunk fences in the northern districts of both Scotland and England, which answer the purpose excellently; few fences are better adapted for a hilly country, where the line of fence runs at right angles with the slope of the ground. In the first instance, there is shelter produced for stock by the wall

itself, which is yearly increased as the hedge grows; and ultimately, when the hedge has attained its full height, a clothed appearance is produced, which gives a very pleasing effect.

It may further be stated relative to the building of sunk-fence walls, that it adds much to their strength to have them secured by what are termed through-band stones, as shown in Fig. 146 at d, and in Fig. 147 at e. These through-band stones should be put on about two-thirds of the height of the wall, with at least one to every 6 ft. in length, and should consist of large flat stones about 3 in. thick, and of a length sufficient to reach from the front of the wall to at least 1 ft. into the solid earth behind, into which they should be firmly bedded, in order to prevent the weight of the bank, if it should give way above, from pressing forward the masonry. Another point to attend to in the building of sunk fences, which adds much to the strength of the whole, is, instead of building the front of the wall perpendicularly, to make it lie back about 3 in. at the top; or, as masons term it, "the top should be 3 in. backwards off the plumb." This is indicated by the dotted line in Fig. 146, which shows the true perpendicularity; whilst the wall itself stands 3 in. back from this line at top.

Building Dry-Stone Dykes.-An extensively used fence in the high inland districts of Scotland, Ireland, and the North of England is the dry-stone wall. From the nature of the country in those high districts, stones are plentiful, and of course easily and cheaply obtainable; from which circumstance it is a fence much. in use for all purposes. Stone walls or dykes have the effect of affording considerable shelter both to young plantations and to agricultural cropping as soon as they are erected for that purpose; and they are also of great importance in high countries, as giving immediate shelter to cattle in the adjoining fields, which is a great point in favour of their extensive use. This, of course, is not the case with a young hedge-fence, which requires from eight to ten years before it attains a sufficient height to produce any appreciable amount of shelter.

The dry-stone wall used to be built entirely without the addition of any lime or mortar to bind it, and consequently it was always apt to be broken down by any strong pressure, or by cattle coming in contact with it. But in later times great improvements have been effected in the building of walls by having the top or cope stones all put on and bedded in lime; this keeps the wall altogether in a more firm and compact state than when the old principle was adhered to of having no lime upon any part of the structure.

Dry-stone dykes are built of various heights, from 5 to 6 ft.; but the most approved height for general purposes may be said

to be 5 ft. over all. General directions as to the proper manner of executing the work of building dry-stone walls are contained in the following Specification and as they are of the most approved sort for work of this kind, such a form of agreement may no doubt prove useful to foresters and land-stewards in general, who may have occasion to arrange for and superintend such work.

MINUTE of AGREEMENT between A. B. on the one part, and T. P., residing at S on the other part, for erecting a March Fence between the Farm of and the Farm of O- -, upon the Estate of A—.

Y

First, The stone wall to be erected under the present agreement is on that part of the line of march beginning at the present shepherd's house, and from said shepherd's house to the extreme summit of the hill.

Second, The said wall shall be built according to the following specifications: The wall is to be 5 ft. 6 in. high. The foundation must be laid with large flat stones, which foundation must not be less than 34 in. over. The settingoff of building upon the same foundation must be 28 in., leaving a scarcement of 3 in. upon each side. At 30 in. in height, the wall to have a row of through-band stones, six at least to the rood of 18 ft. The wall to be built 48 in. of double, and the cope and coble to stand 18 in. the wall to stand 18 in. across. The coble-stones to project at least 2 in. over the doubles. The cope and coble to be properly bedded, built, and pointed with lime, which must be mixed with the regular and proper quantity of sand. The whole to be finished in a sufficient and workmanlike manner, to the satisfaction of A. B., who is appointed inspector of the work.

At top of doubles,

Third,―The said T. P. binds and obliges himself to execute the whole of the work, in terms of the above specifications, at the price of

per rood of 18 ft. lineal measure, and to complete the same before the first day of next, but with power to the inspector above named

to extend the time for building as he may see proper and right. Fourth,-The said T. P. further binds himself to uphold the said wall for three years from the time that the work is finished, and at the expiry of that period to deliver it over to the proprietor in a proper state, and to the satisfaction of the said inspector, or any qualified person who may be appointed by the proprietor.

Fifth,—The whole of the stones used in building the wall must be of good quality, and approved of by the inspector above named. And no crop of rock or wasting stones shall be used; and the contractor shall pay the tenants of Y▬▬▬▬▬ or 0———— for any damage they may sustain from quarrying or driving the stones through their fields or over their grass lands. Sixth,-The contractor, on receiving full payment of the price, shall either find

good security for implement of the contract, or leave in the hands of the proprietor the sum of sixpence per rood for the said period of three years. In witness whereof, these presents, written by A. B., are subscribed by the said A. B. at A—, the twenty-third day of May, in the year eighteen hundred and eighty, before these witnesses, W. M. and R. S.; and by the said T. P., at S-, upon the day last mentioned, before these witnesses, J. P. and A. H.

W. M., witness. }

R. S., witness.

J. P.,
A. H., witness.

witness.

A. B.

T. P.

Having given the above form of specification for the erecting of stone-walls, it would be superfluous to add more, as, guided by it, any intelligent man is qualified to take charge of such work. The building of this description of wall forms a business separate from that of a forester. No forester or land-steward can be expected to be an adept in building stone-walls himself; all that is required on his part is to know how the work ought to be conducted, and to be so far a practical judge of the matter as to detect what is wrong from what is right as the work proceeds. There is usually competition enough in most districts where such fences are in general use to ensure estimates being obtained to have the work executed at a fair

rate; and all that is required of the inspector is to know how the work should be done. In building stone-walls, however, the inspector should examine minutely, as the work goes on, if the same be well built together. That is to say, he must see that no open spaces be left in the body of the wall, which should in all cases be firmly packed with the smaller stones; and the best method to adopt, when anything seems suspicious about this matter, is to give the wall a shove with the foot about half height on the one side, and if opposite to this part where the wall is struck it come out a little, just in proportion to the push given, as may be observed by another person on the opposite side, the wall may be considered well packed; but if the stroke of the foot does not tell upon the opposite side, and cannot be observed by the eye, it is certain that the wall is hollow within,

there being no due solidity throughout so as to cause one stone to press upon another from side to side when the stroke is given. The inspector ought also to see that all the stones used are put or laid on their natural bed, and that every individual stone rests upon two lying under it, and never upon one.

The manner in which the building up of dry-stone dykes is proceeded with is easily intelligible from the accompanying illustration (Fig. 148), which exhibits the commencement of a dyke from where a gateway is to be formed. As depicted, the dyke is formed piece by piece within frames of the shape to be assumed by the dyke; and on undulating ground these frames are set up about half a rood or 15 yards apart.

Cost of Dykes.-The cost of erecting stone-walls of this sort differs in different parts of the country. It depends partly on the price of labour in the neighbourhood where the wall is to be erected, and partly upon the convenience of getting stones for the purpose. If stones are to be carted far from the line of fence, the expense becomes considerable; but when once the stones are laid down, the work should generally be done for about 6s. per rood of 6 yards, including the cope and coble well put on with lime. A wall 5 ft. 6 in. high, such as specified above, requires about twelve cart-loads of stones to the rood; and when the quarry is opened, and the nature of the stones observed, it will not be a difficult matter to calculate the quarrying, cartage, and building in any particular district.

In Stephens's Book of the Farm, 1893, Div. V. p. 231, the following remarks are made as to the cost of dykes :

“A double-faced 3 ft. 9 in. dyke requires 1 ton of stones for 1 square yard of its face, so that 36 tons of stone are required for 1 rood of 30 yards long.

"The expense of quarrying that quantity of stones may be about 10s. the rood; the carriage of them at a reasonable distance beyond 1 mile is also 10s.; and the building commonly undertaken, when the stones are good, at 10s. also ;-so that such a dyke costs 30s. the 30 yards, or 1s. for 1 yard in length, or £6, 9s. 6d. per cubic rood, or 3s. 7d. per cubic yard. The best way to contract for the erection of stone-dykes is by the rood of 36 cubic yards, when every temptation on the part of the builder to lessen the breadth, and make the heart of the dyke hollow, is removed."

The editor would merely note here that, if much of this unproductive expenditure cannot be avoided, Sylviculture in Britain must always remain heavily handicapped by the more rational and economical methods adopted with regard to Continental forests.

Dry-stone dykes are not nearly such picturesque objects in the landscape as Hawthorn hedges; but they are independent of climate, and therefore more suited to mountainous tracts where stones are usually plentiful. And when once the initial costs of erection are incurred, there should be no regular annual expenditure on maintenance and upkeep.