"The author, George A. Martin, knows his subject, not only fence building but the farm and its requirements. He knows the stock: the unconfinable pig, the dexterous cow. He knows his materials, especially wood. I count twenty-one species of tree in the text, each especially suited for a particular application. He knows the value of work well done, done to last, and he aims to give value himself, in authorship as in the building of simple necessary...

In Peru in 1714, Franciscan Brother Juniper inquires into the lives of five travelers who died when a bridge collapsed, in an attempt to prove that this was not an accident but part of God's plan.

Half the interest in old covered bridges lies not in the spans themselves, but in the tales-some legendary, some historical-that cluster about them.