LIGHT PICKET FENCES.
fence with thin picketsFig. 50.—Panel Of Picket Fence.
Fig. 50.—Panel Of Picket Fence.
Fig. 50.—Panel Of Picket Fence.
partially built frameFig. 51.—Frame For Making Fence.
Fig. 51.—Frame For Making Fence.
Fig. 51.—Frame For Making Fence.
For enclosing poultry yards, garden and grounds, a cheap fence with pickets of lath often serves a good purpose. If not very durable, the cost of repair or renewal is light.Figure 50shows one of this kind, which is sufficiently high for the Asiatic and other heavy and quiet fowls. The panels are sixteen feet long, and are composed of two pieces of ordinary six-inch fencing, for top and bottom rails, with lath nailed across two and a half inches apart; the top ends of the lath extending ten inches above the upper edge of the top rail. Posts, three or four inches through at the top end, are large enough, and, after sharpening well, can be driven into the ground by first thrusting a crow-bar down and wrenching it back and forth. A post is necessary at the middle of each panel. Both rails of the panel should be well nailed to the posts. These panels may be neatly and rapidly made in a frame, constructed for that purpose. This frame, shown infigure 51, consists simply of three cross-pieces of six by six, four feet long, uponwhich are spiked two planks one foot wide and three feet apart, from outside to outside. Four inches from the inner edge of each plank is nailed a straight strip of inch stuff, to keep the rails of the panel in place while the lath are being nailed on. Against the projecting ends of the cross-pieces, spike two by six posts twelve inches long; on the inside of these posts nail a piece of six-inch fencing, to serve as a stop, for the top ends of the laths to touch, when nailing them to the rails. These panels can be made in the shop or on the barn floor at odd times, and piled away for future use. Nail a wide bottom board around on the inside of the enclosure after the fence is in position.
lath fenceFig. 52.
Fig. 52.
Fig. 52.
fence with horizontal lathsFig. 53.
Fig. 53.
Fig. 53.
Figures 52and53show lath fences high enough for all kinds of poultry. The posts infigure 52are eight feet apart. A horizontal bar is nailed to the posts six inches above the ground, a second one eighteen inches, and a third four and a half feet. To two lower strips nail laths that have been cut to half length, first driving the lower part of the laths two inches into the ground.One advantage of this fence is, that the two strips near the bottom, being so close together, sustain pressure from dogs or outside intruders better than any other fence constructed of lath, and dispenses with a foot-wide board, so generally used.
The cheapest lath fence is made with the posts four feet apart, first sawing them in two lengthwise at a sawmill, and nailing the lath directly to the posts without the use of strips. The two upper laths have short vertical pieces fastened to them with cleat nails, and present points to prevent fowls alighting on the fence. Such a fence (figure 53) will cost, for four feet, one-half post, three cents; twenty laths, eight cents; and the nails, three cents, per running foot, six feet high, or one-half cent per square foot.