t 263 ] ; 



JJ.i Method of constructing commodious Houses witfy 

 Earthen Walls, By Mr, Robert Salmon, of fVoburn*. 



Dear Sir, .Having for some years past practised at this 

 place the art of pise, or constructing walls with earth, and 

 having in consequence been several times both publicly 

 and privately called on to communicate my observations 

 thereon, I have been led to consider that the best mode of 

 generally communicating what I know on the subject would 

 be through the medium of the Society of Arts, &q. I have 

 accordingly, by the waggon, forwarded a case containing a 

 model of my frames and apparatus for performing the work, 

 with every particular in my power to give, for the infor- 

 mation of any persons inclined to build in that way, and 

 they will, I hope, be found worthy a place in the collection 

 of the Societv. 



To such as may be inclined to see specimens of this work, 

 and may not have an opportunity of going far distant from 

 London, I can recommend a house and other works built, 

 and some of them inhabited by my brother, Mr. William 

 Salmon, Builder, at Henley-Hill, near Barnet, Herts. 

 I have the honour to be, 

 The Society's and your most obedient servant, 



Woburn Park, Dec. 8th, 1808. Kc-BERT SALMON. 



To C. Taylor, M. D. Sec. 



Description of the Engraving of Mr. Salmon 9 s Method of 

 building Pise or Earthen Walls. 



Fig. 4. of* Plate VI. is a perspective view of the apparatus 

 or moulds, in which the earths are rammed to form a wall. 

 The mould consists of two long planks Ff, twelve foet long, 

 twenty inches broad, and one inch thick, each made in two 

 breadths ; they are strengthened by several pieces of wood 

 nailed across them. Holes are made through these pieces 

 of wood at top and bottom, to receive iron bolts, which 

 hold the two boards parallel to each other, fourteen or six- 

 teen inches asunder, which is the thickness of the wall in- 

 tended to be formed between them. The bolts have a large 

 head at one end, and a key passes through. the other, to 

 keep the planks together. When a wall is to be built, the 

 foundation is laid in. brickwork, which is carried about nine 



* From Transactions of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Mavvfac- 

 lures, and Commerce, vol. xxvii. — —The Society voted twenty guineas to 

 Mr. Salmon for this communication, and models of the apparatus arfe re- 

 served in their Repository tor public inspection. 



R 4 inches 



