COTTAGE WALLS. 47 



The cost of the thatched roof of a double cottage, fifty by 

 fifteen feet, is estimated at one hundred and forty dollars, 

 of which about forty dollars is for straw, forty dollars for 

 thatcher s work, and the remainder for the frame, lath, &c. 



The walls of labourers cottages are of stone, or brick 

 and timber, or of clay. 



In making the latter, which are very common, the clay, 

 having been well forked over and cleaned of stones, is 

 sprinkled with water, and has short straw mixed with it, and 

 is then trodden with horses and worked over until it becomes 

 a plastic mass. The more it is trodden the better. A founda 

 tion of stone is first made ; one man forms the prepared clay 

 into balls, or lumps as large as bricks, and passes these to 

 another, who lays and packs them well and firmly together, 

 dressing off smooth and straight with a trowel. After the 

 height desired for the wall is attained, it is commonly plastered 

 over inside and out with a thin coat of more carefully pre 

 pared clay, and whitewashed. This makes an excellent non 

 conducting wall, equal, in every respect, except in permanence, 

 and almost in that, to stone or brick. Very respectable 

 houses, as villas and parsonages, are sometimes built in this 

 way. It costs about 30 cts. a square yard. 



I once or twice saw the walls of cottages made of or 

 covered with thatch, and have no doubt, as long as vermin 

 were kept out of them, that they were, as was asserted, ex 

 ceedingly comfortable. These were gentlemen s country 

 boxes, not labourers cottages! 



On reaching Hereford, a city of 10,000 inhabitants, we 

 were met by a gentleman to whom word had been sent by 

 some of the &quot; Brethren&quot; at Ludlow, who begged us all to 

 come to his house, and, upon reaching it, we found rooms pre- 



