Iron Roofing. 1 75 



Presenting a large surface with little or no 

 proportionate weight, iron roofing-sheets, and in- 

 deed, entire roofs of this material are frequently 

 carried away by the wind. To guard against this 

 contingency, large stones or logs of timber are 

 generally laid on them ; but even this is often an 

 insufficient precaution. Mr. Tytler, a successful 

 Ceylon planter of very long standing, thus describes 

 his difficulties from this cause. " If," says he, 

 " the sheets were fastened down at both ends, the 

 simple expansion and contraction of the iron very- 

 soon drew out the nails and rivets, and the sheets 

 became loose. The manager of the estate became 

 annoyed beyond endurance by the wind blowing 

 off his store-roof, and in desperation he screwed 

 them to the rafters. The result was, that one blowy 

 night the rafters and all were lifted off." 



"John Gordon, the pulper maker," he goes on 

 to say, " conceived the idea of rivetting slips of iron 

 to one end of each sheet of iron, into which he 

 slipped the end of the over-lapping sheet, nailing 

 the other end to the rafter or reeper. One end 

 (the lower one) being free, slid up and down 

 within the slip according as the iron contracted or 

 expanded, and thus he kept the iron firm and 

 secure. Recently, on an emergency, I had to cover 

 a store with iron. I could find none of Gordon's 

 iron, but only plain sheets. I mentioned the 



