£f$ new Method of slating. 



plates should Was the value of these slates duly estimated, howsoever 

 fuarrte* 1 thC P^ ente0l,s an( * inexhaustible at their quarries, they might 

 there, by means of various patterns, saws, drills, rasps, and 

 other proper machinery, while moist and soft, be formed 

 into differeutly sized parallelograms, with the greatest faci- 

 lity, accuracy, and dispatch ; and every slate being made 

 thereby to retain the utmost regular size its rough dimen- 

 sions would admit of, much unnecessary waste would be 

 avoided, and being afterwards regularly classed and deno- 

 minated by the number of inches in their lengths and 

 breadths respectively, (as nine fifteens, ten eighteens, &c. 

 instead of the burlesque terms of ladies, countesses, and 

 duchesses) they might with much less expense be conveyed 

 to their respective destinations; and when, whatever the class 

 preferred, they would be also much more conveniently and 

 effectively applied, than if of various shapes and sizes; Mill- 

 stones, grindstones, and indeed all others, if raised at a dis- 

 tance from their respective destinations, are prudently di- 

 vested of all superfluous matter and weight at their quarries; 

 and, but for its claim to exemption from all that is rational, 

 there is no cause why the same economy may not be used in 

 the removal of slate. 

 Thatching From considerations of the great scarcity, and high price 



L"ded IS " of timber in general, end consequent necessity for our re- 



garding the most frugal use of that article ; also, the im- 

 mense waste of that ground-work of all our wealth and sup- 

 port, manure^for our lands, that has, through all ages, front 

 time immemorial prevailed in the use of thatch; and finally, 

 from the certain and very great danger of the latter being 

 destroyed by fire ; the obvious absurdity of using it at all, 

 wherever a better material may be obtained, one might na*» 

 turally suppose would evince the propriety of an almost uni- 

 versal recourse to light thin slates, as a most eligible mate- 

 rial for roofing in general, 

 banger of fires I recollect no less than six fires having taken place in my 

 instanced. native village, from its cottages having been covered with 

 thatch. One of them was occasioned by sparks from a 

 forge; another by those from an oven; and three, if not 

 four, were generally supposed to have proceeded from the 

 hands of incendiaries. It is observable, that during the 



whole 



