11 4 On the Erection of Farm Houses and Offices. 



to support them, and they are seldom of a durable quality. ^Pantiles 

 are lighter covering, more durable, and altogether better that flat tiles. 

 Particular care and attention should be paid to laying, or, as it is lo- 

 cally called, " hanging' pantiles. Those tiles are usually either bed- 

 ded upon mortar, laid on lath or beel, or they are hung on loose, and 

 sometimes painted afterwards in the inside. In the first case, the roof 

 becomes a harbour for rats, mice and sparrows ; and in the second, they 

 are liable to admit wet, and to be blown off by high winds. In laying 

 pantiles, on the best principle, one man works on the outside, and 

 another in the inside of the roof. The outside man keeps a choice 

 of tiles handy to him upon the roof ; having fitted a tile, he mortars 

 the top of the tile previously laid in the row ; he fills the roll of the 

 tile in his hand with mortar, and presses it down in the place to which 

 it had been fitted ; he then draws his trowel under the edges of the 

 tile to smooth the mortar. The inside man uses his trowel at the same 

 time ; he has a board of mortar at hand, and points the joints of the 

 tiles close up, pressing the mortar against the man's trowel on the 

 outside ; and this whole mass, tiles and mortar, then becomes closely 

 cemented together, forming a complete barrier to wind, wet, snow 

 and vermin. Bricklayers are always desirous of doing the outside 

 work in the first instance, and reserving the inside for bad weather. 

 They never should be allowed to do so, because fresh mortar will 

 not adhere to dry on the roof of a house. Pantiles should be well 

 seasoned in water when laid on roofs in dry weather. Foreign fir, 

 home-grown larch, willow, and poplar, make good pantile lath. 



Seasoning Timber. Oaks, and other tanning barked trees, peeled 

 in spring, should be immediately put into water, arid remain there, at 

 least six.weeks, for the purpose of extracting the sap, and preventing the 

 timber from rending or splitting. When timbers are large, and un- 

 wieldy, they may be cut into scantlings before they are put into wa- 

 ter. Ash, elm, beech and other deciduous trees, not having tanning 

 barks, should, if possible, be felled before Christmas, and never after 

 January. Those timbers should also be watered after they are cut 

 into scantlings, in the same manner as oak. The rot worm is not 

 liable to attack watered timber. When larch bark is stripped for tan- 

 ning the trees should be watered the same as oak, and for the same 

 reasons. Larch bark is about half the value of oak bark for tanning 

 purposes. Home-grown evergreen fir trees, intended for building pur- 

 poses, may be felled at any time of the year, provided they are re- 

 moved quickly to the saw pit, cut into the required scantlings, and 

 set up in the drying peaks. If those trees lay only a short time on 

 the ground, either before, or after being sawn, they contract mil- 

 dew. The silver fir is the most valuable for building purposes, and 

 grows well upon chalky subsoil, where other varieties of the fir tribe 

 generally fail. Carpenters do not approve of silver fir, because it is 

 hard to work. These objections should be a recommendation to the 

 proprietor. 



