1832  (1955)  [Fences are made with poles called longers, 14 to 15 feet long, eight in number, placed one above another in a diagonal form, and secured at the angles . . . by stakes driven into the ground . . . the topmost pole or longer, stouter than the others, rests in the crutch made by these stakes .. . when [they] angle.]
1842  The other mode [of fence building] is to set up a strong stick every eight or ten feet, and then to nail three or four longer ones of less diameter to them; this is called a longer fence, and the poles of spruce are called 'longers.'
1925  (1936)  As he crossed the pasture field before the spruce wood he came upon Neil Gordon building a longer fence.