INTBODUCTION. XI 



All the wood to be sound, well-seasoned red deal, dressed, 

 and have a neat moulding on the under side of the rafters 

 and ridge-tree. All the timber employed should have two 

 good coats of lead paint before fixing. This done, commence 

 fixing the roof. Fix a seven-inch rafter first, then two four- 

 inch rafcers, then a seven, and so on to the other end, 

 placing them 18 inches asunder, jointing them at the top, 

 and letting them into the wall-plates at bottom to the depth 

 of half an inch. At the top they should enter the ridge- 

 tree not less than three-quarters of an inch. Lay all the 

 joints in white-lead paint and fasten them well, using screws 

 for that purpose. Four cross-tie beams of inch-wrought- 

 iron will be required to prevent the roof (wall-plates) from 

 jutting out at the foot, each 25 feet long, four screw-holes 

 at each end, let them into the wall-plates and screw them 

 fast, one at each end, the other about 33 feet apart. The 

 rafters should also have half-inch iron rods from large rafter 

 to ditto, with a screw-hole opposite the centre of each small 

 rafter. Fix these halfway up the rafters and screw them 

 fast; that will keep the several rafters in their proper line a 

 point of some consequence to the glazier. Glaze throughout 

 with Hartley's one-eighth-of-an-inch rough plate glass, the 

 squares 1 foot 6 inches wide by 2 feet long, nailing them 

 in with inch copper nails, and puttying the laps, which 

 need not be more than a quarter of an inch. Give two 

 coats of white-lead paint inside and outside, and then a coat 

 of varnish. Our architect work is now at an end, and we 

 are right glad, for we do not feel altogether at home. 

 Perhaps we shall be there presently. 



" Soil wherein Ferns are to be grown should be of a 

 porous nature, and that is not liable to become adhesive by 

 frequent and copious supplies of water. One-half turfy 



