FENCES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6152, 13 November 1880, Page 6

FENCES.

(Canterbury Times.)

There are very few branches of farm work in which hand appliances have not been displaced by implements and machinery driven by steam or horse-power. Importers and local maters have been always keenly alive to the wants of the country, and farmers have not been slow to avail themselves of every modern invention brought within their reach by which the work of cultivation may be rendered less expensive. But with all the progress which we haVe seen of late years, the tedious and expensive work of hedge trimming continues to be done almost entirely by hand, that is in cores in which it is not neglected altogether. Some of our Colonial agricultural implement makers have, for a long time past, exerted themselves to produce a hedge-trimming machine, and it is reasonable to suppose that the time is not far distant when the oldfashioned gorse-hook will, like sickles and flails, be classed among the obsolete appliances of farming. At each successive exhibition of the different Agricultural Associations it becomes evident that the inventions for hedge-trimming are gradually approaching that stage of efficiency at which they will give good return for the farmers’ money, and take their place among the indispensable aids to production. In a country of goTse hedges, such as this is, an appliance by which the fences may be kept trimmed at a small expense would be a 'great, help to good farming. Badly kept fences and otherwise good farming seldom go together. An overgrown gorse hedge is not only liable to break down the bank on which it stands, but it covers a lot of ground, and casts its seed a long distance on each side, so that eventually the work of grabbing is added to that of trimming. Even when the work has to be done by hand it is the best policy in the long run to keep the hedges well trimmed, but it is work which can be deferred, and in bad,times,the fences generally suffer. A gorse hedge is an impregnable barrier to stock of every kind, grows rapidly in the first place, and affords good shelter in the winter—three very important considerations in a new and timberless country. Yanous other substitutes in the way of live fences have been proposed, but none of which have been generally adopted. Quick hedges are good when once they are grown, the work of keeping them in order is small in comparison with that of gorse; but they grow too slowly, except on the richest of land, and require too much attention in their earlier stages to be of much use to ordinary farmers. Gorse hedges are, however, more suitable for small and mediantsized farms than for large estates. In the former case the work can be kept together better, andjthe land being generally ploughed every two or three years, the gorse is prevented from spreading. Many large landowners are deterred from planting gorse on. account of the great expense involved, especially where the country is of a broken nature. On the plains a good hedge-trimming machine would remove the chief objection to gorse, however many miles of fencing therd might be upon a property; but when the land is hilly and intersected by watercourses it is the opinion of many thata well-erected wire fence is, upon the whole, more satisfactory! Gibe strength of a fence must be judged by its weakest part. When there are places which mnst, on account of the nature of the ground, be spanned by wire, the whole fence may as well be of the same material, leaving out the question of shelter. Ordinary wire fences, it is true, are too frail for cattle, but ■ the use of a barbed wire may render them very effectual, even for large stock. Wire fences occupy the smallest possible space, and require no trimming, but they want a good deal of attention in the way of repairs and restraining. In erecting fences of this IdndL it is a great mistake to be sparing of material in the first place. A light wire: fence is in

constant need of repairs, but if heavy wire and standards are used, with plenty of posts, they stand a lot of wear. The scarcity and dearness of timber in most parts of Canterbury and North Otago is a great obstacle in the way of substantial fencing, and must continue to be so until artificial plantations supply the want which Nature has left unprovided for. There are perhaps no more satisfactory fences than those erected in some districts of the North Island, consisting of totora posts and wire. Fences of this kind are. proof against cattle or sheep, and the timber is so durable that it does not want to bo renewed more than once in a generation.