Rolled metal fence rail

In a picket fence of the type having at least two parallel spaced-apart and horizontal extending rails supported by spaced vertical posts and having a plurality of spaced vertical pickets connected to the rails, the improvement wherein at least one of the horizontally extending rails consists of a metal sheet which has been rolled to enclose an upside down U-shaped channel, the sheet being rolled to form eight interconnecting walls comprising a top horizontal wall having first and second side edges, a first vertical outer side wall connected to said top wall along the first side edge thereof and terminating at a third edge spaced downwardly and parallel to the first edge, a second vertical outer side wall extending vertically downward from the second side edge of the top wall and terminating in a fourth side edge spaced below and parallel to the second side edge, the fourth side edge also being parallel to the third side edge and being in essentially the same horizontal plane, a pair of horizontal outer bottom walls connected to the third and fourth side edges respectively and extending inwardly towards each other and in the same horizontal plane and terminating in fifth and sixth side edges respectively, said fifth and sixth side edges being parallel to each other and being in the same horizontal plane as said third and fourth side edges, a pair of vertical inner side walls extending upwardly from said fifth and sixth side edges respectively, one of said inner side walls terminating at a seventh upper edge spaced above the sixth upper edge and constituting one end of the metal sheet, the other inner side wall extending upwardly from the fifth edge to an eighth edge spaced parallel with the seventh edge but slightly above the same, a horizontal inner bottom wall extending horizontally from said eighth edge over the seventh edge where the inner bottom wall forms a ninth edge, a vertical tab extending vertically downwardly from the ninth edge so as to overlap said one inner side wall, each vertical picket being defined as having a thickness measured in a direction transverse to that of said rail and a width measured in a direction longitudinally of said rail, said inner side walls being spaced apart a distance equal to the thickness of said picket whereby, when said picket extends into said rail said inner side walls bear against the sides of said picket, an opening in the top wall of said nil for said each picket, said opening being rectangular and being slightly larger than a cross sectional area of said picket, said inner bottom wall having an opening which measured in a transverse direction is equal to the thickness of said picket and when measured in a longitudinal direction is longer than the width of said picket and longer than the width of the opening in the top wall so that said picket can cant when the rail varies in position with respect to the longitudinal direction said each picket being provided with a pair of aligned apertures which are oriented in a longitudinal direction with respect to the rail, the apertures being positioned between the top wall the inner bottom wall of each said rail, and a retaining rod passing through the apertures of said each picket and extending wall.