MOSS-HOUSES. 



397 



with their bottoms upwards, and filled-in with Roman cement and sea-shells. 

 The floor of the portico may be paved in any fanciful manner, with bricks, 

 or with small stones of various colours, from the nearest convenient locality, 

 or from the sea-beach. The rafters are 4 in. broad, and 5 in. deep ; and, to 

 secure them from wet, they may be first covered with a layer of slates, and 

 above that with a coat of heath or of reeds, 9 in. thick. If heath or reeds 

 cannot be conveniently procured, chips of wood, or of birch or hazel spray, 

 may be used ; and covered, or not, according to the taste of the party, with 

 plates of larch, birch, or oak bark, laid in the manner of slates, with the outer 

 surface upwards. If bark is not used as an outer covering, the materials may 

 be Kyanised. The wall of the cell is 9 in. thick, and consists of nine upright 

 posts, on the in^de of which are nailed horizontally (the upper edge standing 

 out about 1 in. from the post) fillets of wood | in. square, and 1 in. apart. 

 In the interstices between the strips, moss is rammed in with a wedge-shaped 

 piece of wood. The ceiling is formed in the same mannei', except that in the 

 centre there is a polygonal star, formed by moss of a different colour. On 

 the supposition that the general surface is clothed by the common ground 

 moss, the star may be formed of the same moss, dyed by steeping it in a 



