334

ON INCLOSING LAND

of gates,—his obliging communication on the subject follows,with the plan which accompanied it.

“ I have likewise sent you a sketch of the gates I use onmy estate. I believe I mentioned or showed you them whenat Closeburn. You may recollect that the sneck and irongoing through the stone at the heel of the gate is all castmetal, which takes away from the temptation of robbing theiron from the gate, a thing that I have experienced when ofwrought metal. The feather at the pin through the stone atthe heel, enables one to raise the gate when it has fallen alittle. Though the mechanism of a gate is simple, it has beenlittle attended to in Scotland , even in the more improvedparts of it.”

It appears from.NO. 48, 9th December 1811, of the Far-mer’s Magazine, that iron gates are constructed in Ayrshire,the forms of which are exhibited in a plate, page 488. It isadded, that these gates can be made fully as light as those ofwood, and may soon be manufactured to any extent; butthe names of the makers and rate of price are not specified.

SECT. IX.

OF STYLES AND WICKETS.

Styi.es are passages contrived in fences, by means of steps,composed of wood or stone, in order to allow the passage ofpersons on foot, excluding sheep, horses or cattle. Some longstones or pieces of timber, are placed in a stone-wall, project-ing at one end, like steps in a stair, by which the passengerascends to the top, and descends again on the other side by