1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



173 



have any such aid, that my ignorance renders me 

 unable to adduce it. But be all this as it may, I 

 will now proceed to state the results of some expe- 

 rimsnts \vit!i mud walls for houses and lencos, 

 and then exjjlain the mode of const nici ion, so that 

 an intelligent public may judge ii" there be really 

 any thinij valuable in this mode ol" biulding, and 

 that those who choose to practice il, may have the 

 iiiw simple rules rcijuired to guide them. 



The liu-m-yurd wall mentioned above in the ex- 

 tract trom Gen. Cocke's letter, forms three sides ol' 

 the enclosure of a barn yard upon the Bremo es- 

 tate. It was put up about the year 1S20 or 1821, 

 is based upon a rouiih stone Ibundation without 

 mortar, or upon what is called dry masonry — the 

 foundation wall being about 20 inches wide, and 

 rising 6 inches above the surfiice of the earlh. 

 The wall is about 7 ieet high, and covered with 

 common pine slabs nailed ui)on a rough frame in 

 the form of a root". This wall is perhaps more 

 pertect than it was when first put up, having be- 

 come harder with the la|)se of time. I have never 

 known a mud wall built without a stone or brick 

 foundation, but I am decidedly of opinion, that one 

 would stand well without any such expensive aid, 

 if built upon a tolerably dry locality, nor do I think 

 the wood capping or covering by any means es- 

 sential to that degree of preservation which sim- 

 Fle utility (and not appearance,) would require, 

 state these opinions, however, raiher to shew my 

 conviction of the durability of this kind of wall, 

 than from anv desire to have them acted upon. 

 In truth, I have in this instance given my opinion 

 when I had only intended to state facts. I hope 

 they will not be confounded. Gen. Cocke has 

 also a stable and a quarter at Bremo with mud 

 walls, which have been standing several years, 

 and are found to answer every expectation. He 

 has also enck)sed a lot and house in the village of 

 Charlottesville with a mud wall, which has been 

 standing eight or ten years without injury. 



Upon my lour plantations in the county of 

 Brunswick, there are r'pwards of thirty mud 

 houses, (each double 19 by 30 feet, with a stone 

 chimney in the middle,) li^)r negro quarters, be- 

 sides overseer's houses of larger size. These 

 houses are however all plastered on the outside 

 with lime mortar. The first of them were built 

 about eight years ago, the others successively 

 added until they were all completed about the year 

 1832. None ol" these houses have since required 

 any repair — the walls promising to stand as long 

 as the roofs are kept upon ihem. They consti- 

 tute, I venture to say, the handsomest improve- 

 ment in the way of (arm houses, to be found in the 

 State of Virginia, and cost the estate not the out- 

 lay of one cent, except for the trifling article of 

 nails, and have been found to reduce, for several 

 years past, the doctors bills to a most felicitous 

 caput mortuum. In building these houses, a good 

 6tone mason belonijing to the estate constructed 

 the chimneys and foundations ol" s/one, an abun- 

 dance of which was found at hand; and with his 

 aid and under his direction, the ordinary planta- 

 tion hands put up the walls, a coarse negro car- 

 penter executing the wood work. Sheer truth and 

 justice, however, require me to state, that all these 

 improvements were made under the eye and su- 

 perintendence of the very intelligent and enter- 

 prising steward of the estate, Mr. Richard D. Pow- 

 ell, according to instructious given him. 



A suitable soil is a prerequisite to the use of mud 

 walls; any suil, however, will do for this purpose 

 which will make pise, or brick. A pure clay will 

 do, but this is not so good, being liable to crack in 

 in drying. A soil of clay and sand in pro|)or- 

 tions of one of the ibrmer to two of the latter, is I 

 think the best. But lest some imaginary difficul- 

 ties might arise here in the minds of some as to 

 the necessary qualiiies of ilie soil to be used, I will 

 slate it as my belief, resulting from experience, that 

 almost any soil will answer well which will make 

 a good stiff' mud, such as is every where known to 

 be used by ne<rroes in daubing or chinking li.eir 

 houses, and which may be (bund upon most plan- 

 tations in ninety-nine places out of a hundred. 



When a mud wall is lo be built, n foundation of 

 dry masonry or brick must be previously |)repared 

 by any rough mason, rising six inches above the 

 top of ihe ground, and as<leep below as the nature 

 of the soil may require. The Ibundation wall will 

 usually be 20 inches thick. At a distance of three 

 feet from the outside base of the foundation wall, 

 draw a line parallel to the wall, and throughout 

 its length; lay off six feet from this line and draw 

 another, parallel to it upon the ground. The space 

 included between these two lines is to be spaded 

 up to the depth of 9 inches; and then, after a good 

 rain, or after adding water, hauled if necessary for 

 the purpose, the earth must be worked up into a 

 stiff mortar or mud, by treading it with oxen. 

 This done — which indeed may be considered well 

 done when the mud would be thought half pre- 

 pared even for coarse bricks — the three men who 

 are required in the operation, each with a spade 

 makes a layer, a spade full thick, of the mud upon 

 the berm, or margii! next the wall. As soon as 

 this is done, one of the men with an arm full of 

 sound wheat straw, begins at one entl of the layer 

 and spreads the straw before him upon the mud, 

 walking upon it as he passes along, and having it 

 just thick enough to prevent the mud sticking to 

 hi; feet as he passes on. A second layer of mud 

 is next piled upon the straw, then a layer of straw, 

 then mud, &c. until the mud first prepared is laid 

 in a pile upon the berm, with the straw distributed 

 through its mass in the manner just described. 

 The next operation is to commence the wall. For 

 this purpose, two men are provided each with the 

 common manure fork of iron with three prongs, 

 and a handle of (bur or five feet. One of these 

 men stands upon the pile of mud, the other upon 

 the wall — the first with his fork places the mud 

 upon the wall in reach of the man there, who with 

 his fork takes it up and throws it strongly into its 

 place. This process is continued until the wall is 

 raised about three feet, and extended some three 

 or four feet in length, when another man with a 

 common spade, ground to an edge, cuts off the 

 mud which overhangs the foundation wall, making 

 the corners of the wall square and plumb, and the 

 sides plane. Should it be desired to give the wall 

 a smooth surface, a second trimming with the 

 spade would be advisable after it has had time to 

 (iry a day or two, when it would be found to trim 

 much more evenly; and the man who trims should 

 be ffuided by a plumb and straight edge. 



The first course of the wall being thus finished, 

 it must be left a few days to dry, and become hard 

 enough to hear the superstructure. In the mean 

 time, the mud may be prepared in the same place 

 and as before, and the process thus continued until 



