GATES. There are few more important con veniences about a farm, and certainly compara tively few farms that are as well supplied as they should be with free swinging gates, that will remain open without sagging. The cause of the sagging is from the settling of the post, or from its being drawn over out of the perpendicular line hy the weight of the gate. This obviated, the construction of the gate is merely a question of taste and of the time or money to be expended. To prevent sagging, the posts should be large, set deep on a flat stone, and braced underground in the direction of the strain. The earth must be rammed hard, little by little, around the post. When great strain is expected, as in very heavy, long gates, a trench should he dug from the post at the heel to that at the latch end of the gate, and the two posts connected by scantling mor tised into each post, six inches from the bottom, and again six inches from the top. Thus both posts are firmly united, and all sagging is pre vented. If a gate is hung exactly perpendicular, it will turn freely in any direction and remain at rest whenever it is stopped. It is extremely difficult, however, to so nicely adjust a gate that it shall always remain exactly true. Hence, various devices have been adopted to prevent sagging or getting out of line. A gate to be
self-shutting must be hung with an inclination. If the turning point of the upper hinge is one and a half to two inches nearer the gate than the lower hinges, the gate will fall shut if not opened more than three-quarters of the semi-circle it describes in being fully opened. Thus if the hinges are three feet apart, and two inches out of plumb, a gate twelve feet long will rise at the latch end, eight inches in opening, thus working over ordinary drifts in a snowy country. When the fixtures may be had, all things considered, slide gates are inost handy. The swing and slide gate is easy to handle and easy to make, so far as light gates are concerned. Patents were granted in 1862 upon this device, senselessly, if not crim inally so, since this idea has been used in the West for forty years or more. The idea is sim ply to set the posts, upon which the gate slides or turns, diagonally; connect the posts with pins where the top and bottom slat rests; the gate may be pushed back part of the way, and then swung round as desired. Any farmer who is handy with tools, may, by paying attention to the hints given, construct rough gates for the farm. When ornament is desired, any good carpenter should be competent to perform the work.