584 LETTER II, TO [PART III. 



1041. There is another thing, which I beg 

 leave to recommend to your attention ; and that 

 is, the use of the Broom-Corn, Stalks as thatch. 

 The coverings of barns and other out-houses 

 with shingles makes them fiery hot in summer, 

 so that it is dangerous to be at work in making 

 mows near them in very hot weather. The heat 

 they cause in the upper parts of houses, though 

 there be a ceiling under them is intolerable. In 

 the very hot weather I always bring my bed 

 down to the ground-floor. Thatch is cool. 

 Cool in summer and warm in winter. Its in 

 conveniences are danger from fire and want of 

 durability. The former is no great deal greater 

 than that of shingles. The latter may be wholly 

 removed by the use of the Broom-Corn Stalks. 

 In England a good thatch of wheat-straw will 

 last twelve or fifteen years. If this straw be 

 reeded, as they do it in the counties of Dorset 

 and Devon, it will last thirty years ; and it is 

 very beautiful. The little town of CHARMOUTH, 

 which is all thatched, is one of the prettiest 

 places I ever saw. What beautiful thatching 

 might be made in this country, where the straw 

 is so sound and so clean ! A Dorsetshire 

 thatcher might, upon this very island, make 

 himself a decent fortune in a few years. They 

 do cover barns with straw here sometimes ; but 

 how one of our thatchers would laugh at the 



