BookV. mixed operations by manual XABOR. 461 



to perform it in a proper manner. Before this business is begun, it is necessary that 

 the materials of whatever kind they may be, should undergo some preparation. With 

 articles of the straw kind the usual method is this : the substances after being well 

 moistened with water, are drawn out in hand:^ful perfectly straight and even, into re- 

 gular lengths, and the short straw separated from them, leaving them placed in con- 

 venient bundles to be carried to the thatcher by the person who has the serving of him. 



2949. The application of thatch to stacks of hay or corn, is performed by different 

 methods, according to the nature of the materials employed. Where long straw is made 

 use of, the operator or workman usually begins at the eaves or bottom of the roof, de- 

 positing it in handsful in regular breadths till he reaches the top, the different handsful 

 being so placed endways as to overlap each other, the upper ends being constantly 

 pushed a little into the bottom parts of the sheaves. In this manner he gradually 

 proceeds breadth after breadth till the whole of the roof is covered, which is usually 

 done to the thickness of about four or five inches- And in order to retain the thatch in 

 its place, short sharp pointed sticks are sometimes thrust in, in a slanting direction upwards, 

 and sometimes small sticks sharpened at the ends are bent and thrust in along the top 

 parts and sides. But as the water is apt to follow the course of the sticks, it is a bet- 

 ter practice to make use of ropes of twisted straw for this purpose. In some cases 

 these are applied only round the bottom parts of the roof and the sides ; while in others, 

 which is a much better and more secure method, they are applied in such ^23 

 a manner over the whole stacks as to form a sort of net or lozenge-work 

 of nine or twelve inches in width in the meshes (Jig. 413.), the ends 

 being well fastened either to the sides of the stack under the eaves, or to 

 a rope carried round in that situation on purpose to fasten them to. This 

 method of tying on the thatch should always be had recourse to where 

 the stackyards are greatly exposed to the effects of wind, as without such 

 precautions much injury and loss may frequently be sustained by the 

 farmer. It is in common use in Northumberland and northwards. 



2950. In the application of stubble as a thatch for ricks it is mostly put on by sticking 

 one of its ends into the roof of the stack in a regular and exact manner, so as that it may 

 stand very close and thick ; when the other, with such loose straws as may occur, is to 

 be cut over or pared off with the thatching knife, or a very sharp tool for the purpose, so 

 as to form a neat and impenetrable thatch, having the appearance of a 414 

 newly thatched house roof (fg' 414.); the whole being well secured i 



in its place by short pegs made for the purpose, somewhat in the same /r^^\^^ 

 way as in the other stacks. // \ I ^^ 



2951. The time of commencing the thatching of hay and corn stacks /f / I \\^l 

 should be delayed until they have fully settled, as under the contrary \ ,, j^ ^ ^^n 

 circumstance it is sure to rise into ridges afterwards, and by that means ^\'^^W'/7^^ 

 admit the water to pass down into them, and of course do much in- j^^^^S^ 

 jury to the corn or hay. ^^.vwa^Jfss^^ 



2952. In the thatching of the roofs of houses or other buildings with any of the sorts of 

 straw, the same rules are in some respects to be followed, only the materials are to be 

 laid on to a considerable thickness and be more firmly secured. They are applied in 

 regular narrow slips, or what in some districts are termed gangSy from the eaves of the 

 building to the ridges, the ladder being moved forward as the work proceeds. The 

 thatch is secured by short sharpened sticks thrust in where necessary. And bended 

 sticks sharpened at each end are likewise sometimes made use of near the ridges, being 

 thrust in at each end. In finishing the work, the thatcher employs an iron-toothed 

 rake, with which the whole is raked over from the top to the bottom, so as to render it 

 completely smooth and even, and take away all the short straws. 



2953. The method of thatching ^lith reed, according to Marshall, who seems to have 

 paid much attention to the subject, in his account of The Rural Economy of Norfolk, is 

 this : " No laths being made use of, in laying it a little of the longest and stoutest of 

 the reed is scattered irregularly across the naked spars, as a foundation to lay the main 

 Coat upon : this partial gauze-like covering is called the ^fleaking.^ " 



2954. On this ftcaking the main covering is laid, and fastened down to the spars by means of long rods 

 provincially, " AUta/ys," laid across the middle of the reed, and tied to the spars with rope yarn, or 

 with " bramble bondu," which formerly were much in use, but which are now nearly laid aside, especially 

 for new roofs. 



2955. Heed is not laid on in longitudinal courses, in the manner that straw thatch is usually put on, nor 

 is the whole caves set at once. The workman begins at the lower corner of the roof, on his right hand 

 for instance, and keeps an irregular diagonal line or face, until he reach the uj)per corner to his left, a nar- 

 row eaves-board being nailed across the feet of the spars, and some fieaking scattered on ; the thatcher 

 begins to " set his eaves," by laying a coat of reed, eight or ten inches thick, with the heads resting upon 

 the fieaking, and the butts upon the eaves-board. He then lays on his sway (a rod rather thicker than 

 a large withy), about six or eight inches from the lower points of the reeds; whilst his assistant, on the 

 inside, runs a needle, threaded with rope yarn, close to the spar; and in this case, close to the upper 

 edge of the eaves-board. The thatcher draws it through on one side of the swav, and enters it again 

 on the contrary side, botli of the sway and of the spar : the assistant draws it through, unthreads it, 

 and with the two ends of the yarn, makes a knot round the siwr, thereby drawing the sway, and 



