India in 1887 as seen by Robert Wallace / [Robert Wallace].

  • Robert Wallace
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: India in 1887 as seen by Robert Wallace / [Robert Wallace]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    215/550 (page 129)
    (see 113 his path: even healthy cattle are securely fenced by a single barbed wire, placed on T-steel standards Fig.) about 3 feet high,1 if they are not “ hounded ” against it. Cattle do not attempt to jump over a single wire, and only very few learn to crawl under it. The hump would practically prevent this, as it is only animals with unusually low shoulders that suc- ceed in passing under a properly erected wire at home. Any of the common species of aloe2 used for fencing in India, if associated with a “ single-wire ” fence, would make a most effectual barrier against smaller animals as well as against cattle. The Hissar Farm, with an area of 63 square miles, where over 7000 head of cattle are kept, could be sufficiently fenced by a capital expenditure of £600 ; yet rather than incur this out- lay, the boundaries are left unguarded. Each serious out- 1 Mr A. Thompson, Dumfries, estimates the cost per mile of the material for a suitable fence at ^io. “The standards to be T-steel, i X 1 X j (stays 1 Xh ^atl> placed 12 yards apart, and one galvanized steel, four-point, barbed wire 3 feet above ground, straining pillars if square, with self-fixing bases and earth plates, and winding brackets placed 500 yards apart. ” The weight would be iS cwts., and the cost of erection in this country £2, 10s. both per mile. Caiiiage to India and additional cost of erection would be covered by an additional sum of 50 per cent, added to the home price. 2 The two most common fencing aloes-but also valuable for the fibre they yiehl aie (r.) The American Aloe, Agave americana, Linn. It is most widely distributed. It has a strong growth, and is of a bluish-green colour. (2.) Adam’s Needle, Yucca gloriosa, Linn. The latter I found most abundant in Madras. Its habit of growth tending to form a bare stem necessitates its being periodically earthed up when grown as an ordinary fence. This property adapts it admirably for a loose or unstable bank or railway cutting. It binds P a. Standard in position in the fence. b. Cross section of the steel bar forming the upright. c. Section of the twisted steel wire, showing barb fastenings.