1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



491 



Resolved — That the Memoir on Pise work be trans- 

 mitted to the Editor of the Saathern Agriculturist, with 

 the request that he print it in his journal; and the Ed- 

 itor of the Telescope be requested to reprint it from the 

 same. 



To the Standing Committee of the South Carolina Society for 

 the Advancement of Learning and the Diffusion of Know- 

 ledge. 



Gentlemen — The great zeal exhibited at the last 

 meeting of our society augurs well lor its ultimate 

 success in the furtherance of its objects, and the 

 readiness with which gentlemen are subscribing 

 for a fund lor the purpose of erecting a suitable 

 building tor the accommodation of the society, is a 

 sure guarantee of the determination to persevere in 

 so laudable an establishment. It has lor its ob- 

 ject the advancement of learning and of useful 

 knowledge, based on the best established scientific 

 principles. It would be vain to attempt to show 

 the great benefits which our country is likely to 

 derive from a zealous pursuit of the objects in view. 

 These must be incalculable, and we shall not be 

 disappointed, let our expectations be ever so great; 

 so that they are only within the bounds of practi- 

 cability, if any thing approaching to the ardor now 

 witnessed be persevered in. 



As it seems that the first and principal object 

 desired to be effected, is the erection of a suitable 

 building lor the accommodation of the society, I 

 beg leave to be permitted to make a few observa- 

 tions that will tend to render this, our first act, as 

 eminently useful as its nature admits. So far as it 

 is possible, every step of such a society should be 

 attended by a benefit rendered to the public. 

 We expect, of course, that a building tor such 

 a society will be constructed according to the 

 best models of architecture within our reach, 

 and to join to the suitable convenience of its object , 

 a specimen of pure and classical taste. Economy 

 is one of the great requisites of great usefulness; 

 lor without it, it could not serve as a model and a 

 lesson to the private citizen which he could pru- 

 dently follow. I conceive it the duty of such a so- 

 ciety, as this, not only to lead the taste and fash- 

 ion in all that is elegant and useful; but also in the 

 most economical methods of attaining these valu- 

 able objects. 



There is a mode of constructing houses of va- 

 rious sorts, and also walls of enclosure practiced 

 in various parts of Europe, particularly the south- 

 ern parts of it, and also in South America, which, 

 if it were exhibited to our citizens lor their imita- 

 tion, would most probably be attended with the 

 most extended benefits, both in town and country. 

 This, in parts of the country where rail timber is 

 either scarce or of bad quality, would supersede 

 our rude, inefficient and insecure common rail 

 fence, by a substance durable, cheap, and found, 

 with very few exceptions, every where, where a 

 fence or a house may be wanted. This substance 

 is earth neither too clayey or too sandy, beaten 

 down by a rammer between two planks till it is of 

 a sufficient degree of hardness, which it very rea- 

 dily acquires. This mode of construction is called 

 Pise. There is not, perhaps, in the world, a 

 place more favorably circumstanced for this kind 

 of work than our town of Columbia. The red 

 earth which is found here every where after dig- 

 ging a loot, or even less, is the best possible for ir. 

 Any kind of earth, however, will do, c ;o that it be 

 not a pure clay or a pure sand, and that it con- 



tains no vegetable or other putrescent substance. 

 The usual test for it, is to take a handful and press 

 it, and if it sticks together retaining the impression 

 of the fingers, it is good. It is better to have 

 much more sand than clay; for clay renders it lia- 

 ble to crack in drying. It may be full of gravel, 

 pebbles, or small lraginents of stone. It requires 

 I no addition of any thing, even water, nor any 

 other preparation than the digging of it, and the 

 carrying it where wanted. I beg, gentlemen, you 

 will not mistake this Pise with what is called 

 "mud houses or walls." No, it is very different 

 j and very superior, yielding only in strength and 

 durability to the very best work of stone or brick, 

 done with the best skill and the best lime-mor- 

 j tar. 



This mode of building is not a new, untried 



j thing, the practicability and benefits of which 



j may be fermenting in the brains of some visiona- 



| ry man. No, it has been transmitted from gene- 



I ration to generation, from thetimeof the Romans, 



j into the principal parts of the southern provinces 



of France, and also in Spain; from which last 



country it has been transported and rendered most 



j extensively useful in South America. It is the 



I subject of a very full article, in a work of great 



| authority, the "C'ours Complet (Psfgriculture" by 



| the Abbe Rosier, assisted by some of the most 



scientific men in Europe. I have seen, in the vi- 



I cinity ol Lyons, houses and churches which are 



said to be between two and three hundred years 



old, which had been contracted of Pise. Indeed, 



i many of the richest inhabitants of that city have 



I their country houses, palaces we might almost call 



them, erected with Pise. You can also, any of 



you, gentlemen, have an ocular demonstration of 



the practicability of the thing, by riding with me 



to my place in our sand-hills, where I put up very 



hastily and unskilfully about four years ago, a 



small building, sufficient, however, to show the 



capabilities of this mode of building. 



I do not propose that the principal edifice for the 

 accommodation of the society be constructed in 

 Pise work; for, although I believe that it is capa- 

 ble of forming structures equal in beauty and du- 

 rability with the materials usually used here, we 

 have not yet workmen sufficiently skilful and ex- 

 perienced lor such a purpose. I only intend to 

 recommend the erection of out buildings and 

 walls of enclosure for the present. These being 

 erected in a conspicuous place, such as you will 

 undoubtedly select, will be models for imitation 

 from which the public will derive incalculable be- 

 nefits. 



Such are the facilities offered by this mode of 

 construction, for fencing- walls, in Columbia, for in- 

 stance, that the materials can be taken from the 

 street to make an enclosure about six feet high, 

 and thereby improve the street by giving it the 

 usual form of being raised in the middle, forming 

 drains on each side for the flowing ofl of rain wa- 

 ter, &c. This thing must necessarily be economi- 

 cal and cheap; for the materials are usually found 

 on the spot, requiring no hauling, and so easily 

 executed that common laborers, under the euper- 

 intendance of a tolerably intelligent man, are 

 equal to it. The only expense attached to it is a 

 thick wash of sand and lime put on the wall with 

 a broom, (and my experience shows that this 

 operation may be delayed for years without injury) 

 and a coping of suitable materials. Stone is, of 



