36 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



durable, when it kas about one-third pitch, than if it is built flatter. 

 "When a roof, covered with wooden shingles, has one-half pitch, 

 the shingles may be completely worn out before that roof will 

 leak. And another consideration of great importance is, in 

 countries like this, where snow falls deep, the roofs of buildings 

 should have not less than one-third pitch, because the steeper the 

 roof is, the less liable a body of snow is to lodge on it ; and a 

 body of snow that would thrust the plates apart, or injure the 

 roof, if it had but a fourth pitch, would not remain on a steep 

 roof. When heated air from any of the rooms below the roof 

 melts the snow on the roof in cold weather, the water thus formed 

 will run down to the eaves, and freeze before it falls into the 

 eaves-troughs ; and if there is much snow on the roof, and the roof 

 has less than one-third pitch, ice will continue to form at the 

 eaves, until it becomes so thick that the water will flow back 

 under the shingles, and fall down on the walls in the upper 

 rooms. This is of very common occurrence in this region, and 

 many costly walls in elegant dwellings have been seriously 

 damaged in this way. 



16. The remedy is, steeper roofs, with the eaves projecting 

 beyond the sides of the building, not less than two feet, measur 

 ing horizontally. If the roof projects two feet or more, and is 

 rather steep, there will not be as much water and ice ; and should 

 it freeze at the eaves, there will not be enough on the roof to 

 cause the water to flow back under the shingles above the plates. 



17. The beginner should be careful to see that when a house 

 or any other building is framed, some means is devised to pre 

 vent the middle of the building from spreading. Jobbers are not 

 particular on this point, and many times the plates at the middle of 

 the building will be thrust apart several inches, to the great injury 

 of the building. Sometimes a scantling bolted from near the foot 

 of one rafter to the other, called a cottar, on each of the rafters, 

 will be sufficient. In large buildings, if the roof is not supported 

 by purline plates and posts, the foot of the rafters should be 

 secured by means of a truss, or a tie and king-post and struts. 

 Sometimes this may be most effectually prevented, as in a hay 



