From the reports made to the State Board, I arrive at the following conclusions:

That the cost of broad chestnut rails varies from eighteen dollars per hundred in Philadelphia county to three dollars per hundred in Fulton, Greene, and Huntingdon; that the cost of pointing the rails is much less variable than the price, per hundred, and varies from one dollar and seventy-five cents in Indiana and Juniata, to seventy-five cents per hundred in Cambria, Clarion, Fayette, Franklin and Greene.

That the cost of chestnut posts, in the rough, varies from twenty-two dollars per hundred in Philadelphia county, to but four dollars and fifty cents in Sullivan, and four dollars and seventy-five cents in Potter.

That the cost of hewing and mortising posts varies from twelve dollars and seventy-five cents in Juniata, to but four dollars in Bedford, the latter price, however, being manifestly too low to include the board and wages of a good hand at the work.

That locust posts, in the rough, vary in cost from forty dollars in Adams, to fifteen dollars and fifty cents in Cambria.

That the estimated cost, ready to put up, and including materials and labor, of a four-rail post-and-rail fence, varies from one dollar and twenty cents in Philadelphia county, to but thirty-five cents per panel in Fayette.

That the cost of worm fence rails varies from twelve dollars per hundred in Philadelphia, to but two dollars in Fulton - which we think below the actual value or cost.

That the total cost of a five-rail (with rider) worm fence ready put up and including materials is found to vary from seventy-five cents in Philadelphia, to twenty-six cents in Greene.

That the cost of sixteen-foot hemlock fence boards varies from thirty dollars in Adams, to but seven dollars in Clearfield.

That the cost of sixteen-foot pine fence boards varies from thirty-five dollars per thousand in Adams, to but ten dollars in Clarion, a variation of seven dollars per thousand being shown between the pine and hemlock in Lycoming county.

The chestnut posts suitable for a board fence cost seventeen dollars per hundred in Indiana, and but five dollars in Clearfield, Columbia, and Forest, and but four dollars in Crawford.

That locust posts, suitable for the same purpose, cost at the rate of thirty-five dollars in Adams, and but twelve dollars in Clearfield, Dauphin, and Lancaster; much of this difference is, howeyer, due to the difference of opinion which exists as to the size of posts for this purpose. Some of the answers which specified a driven post were excluded from the estimate.

That the cost of a four-rail board fence, including materials and ready to put up, varies from one dollar and forty-five cents in Allegheny, to forty-five cents in Westmoreland.

That the cost of a similar fence with five rails varies from one dollar and sixty cents in Allegheny, to but fifty-five cents in Potter and Westmoreland.

That posts for a wire fence vary in cost from fourteen dollars in Philadelphia, to four dollars in Clearfield and Crawford.

That the estimated cost of putting up a five-wire fence, materials not counted, varies from eight cents per rod in Bradford and Dauphin to thirty cents in Cambria.

From the reports furnished by our reporters, we take the following average of each item of information asked for:

In a paper recently read at one of the meetings of the Board, by Eastburn Reeder, member from Bucks county, he estimates the cost of making an ordinary four-rail post fence, (chestnut,) as follows: Post, twelve cents; rails, ten cents each, or forty cents; total cost of material, fifty two cents; labor of setting, twenty-four cents; total cost per panel of ten feet, seventy-six cents, as against our average over the whole State of sixty-three cents. In this estimate he gives the cost of hewing and mortising posts at eight cents, and pointing at two cents each, or respectively eight dollars and two dollars per hundred, as against our average of seven dollars and one dollar and five cents per hundred.

Mr. Reeder gives the following itemized estimate of the cost of a four-rail board fence per rod:

In making a comparison between the figures offered by Mr. Reeder and those which represent the average of the State, it should be remembered that his are from a county in which fencing timber and wages are much above the average of the State, and that his figures will be correspondingly above the State average of cost of fencing.

[The above is from a report made to the State Board by its Secretary. - Ed. G. M].