318 



FARM BUILDINGS IN SOUTH AFRICA 



by drawing it over a haymaker's rake or specially made comb. This gets rid of 

 short, loose, and twisted grass. A comb may be made for the purpose by boring 

 holes through a 1-inch thick piece of wood, and driving 6 -inch wire nails 

 through these holes, which should be just large enough to allow the nails to be 

 driven through them without splitting the wood. This comb can be fixed 

 rigidly at a suitable height, and the bundles drawn across it. Each bundle 

 should be " butted " by dumping it down on a fiat surface, to bring all the butt 

 ends of the grass in line with each other. The bundle is then bound with string. 

 The bundles should be uniform in size. 



In thatched roofs the rafters are generally from 2 ft. to 2 ft. 6 ins. apart, 

 and are crossed by lf-in. by lf-in. thatching laths with corners rounded off. 

 Or, for the latter purpose, round, rough poles about 1^-in. diameter may be 

 used. The thatching laths or poles [are spaced 12 inches apart from centre to 

 centre (see Fig. 220), and to them the bundles of grass are tied or laced with 

 tarred string, about ^-in. thick. 



Method.— Three men are required, viz., an upper thatcher, an under thatcher, 

 and a man to pass the bundles up to the upper thatcher. For sewing or 

 stitching the bundles to the thatching laths, a straight wooden needle about 12 

 inches long is required. Thatching is commenced at the eaves, the bundles 



Pig. 221. 



being laid very close together and sewn on row by row till the ridge is reached. 

 As already mentioned, tarred string is employed for this purpose, and each row 

 of grass should cover the twine of the bundles of the next lower row (see 

 Fig. 221). The under thatcher fastens the twine to the thatching lath at the 

 commencement, passes the needle through the thatch to the upper thatcher, who 



