518 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part IL 



as to form a neat and impenetrable thatch, having the appearance of a newly thatched 

 ^IQ ^ house- roof (Jig. 516.) ; the whole being well secured in its place by 



short pegs made for the purpose, somewhat in the same way as in the 

 other stacks. 



3188. 7Vie time of commencing the thatching of hny and corn stacks in 

 England is generally delayed until they have fully settled, as under 

 the contrary circumstance it is sure to rise into ridges afterwards, and 

 by that means admit the water to pass down into them, and of course 

 do much injury to the corn or hay. In Scotland, the stacks are 

 covered with all convenient speed after being built, and a great deal of loss is sometimes 

 sustained, when they are left uncovered even for a few days. When the stack subsides, 

 it is only necessary to tighten the ropes, or, in some instances, a part of the ropes are left 

 to be applied, when this subsidence takes place. 



3189. In thatching the roofs of houses or other buildings with any of the sorts of straw, 

 the same rules are in some respects to be followed, only the materials are to be laid on to a 

 considerable thickness, and be more firmly secured. They are applied in regular narrow 

 slips, or what in some districts are termed gangs or courses, from the eaves of the building 

 to the ridges, the ladder being moved forward as the work proceeds. The thatch is 

 secured by short sharpened sticks thrust in where necessary ; and bended sticks sharpened 

 at each end are sometimes made use of near the ridges, being thrust in at each end. In 

 finisliing the work, the thatcher employs an iron-toothed rake, with which the whole 

 is raked over from the top to the bottom, so as to render it completely smooth and even, 

 and take away all the short straws. 



3190. The method of thatching with reed, according to Marshall, who seems to have 

 paid much attention to the subject, in his account of The Rural Economy of Norfolk, is 

 .fiis : " No laths being made use of, in laying it a little of the longest and stoutest of 

 the reed is scattered irregularly across the naked spars, as a foundation to lay the main 

 coat upon : this partial gauze-like covering is called the fenking. 



3191. On this fleahing the main covering is laid, and fastened down to the spars by means of long rods 

 (provincially, sways) laid across the middle of tiie reed, and tied to the spars with rope yarn, or with 

 bramble bonds, which formerly were much in use, but which are now nearly laid aside, especially for 

 new roofs. 



3192. Reed is not laid on in longitudinal courses, in the manner that straw thatch is usually put on, nor 

 are the whole eaves set at once. The workman begins at the lower corner of the roof, on his right hand, 

 for instance, and keeps an irregular diagonal line or face, until he reach the upper corner to his left, a nar- 

 row eaves-board being nailed across the feet of the spars, and some fleaking scattered on ; the thatcher 

 begins to ' set his eaves,' by laying a coat of reed, eight or ten inches thick, with the heads resting upon 

 the fleaking, and the butts upon the eaves-board. He then lays on his sway (a rod rather thicker than 

 a large withy), about six or eight inches from the lower points" of the reeds ; whilst his assistant, on the 

 inside, runs a needle, threaded with rope yarn, close to the spar ; and in this case, close to the upper 

 edge of the eaves-board. The thatcher draws it through on one side of the sway, and enters it again 

 on the contrary side, both of the sway and of the spar : the assistant draws it through, unthreads it, 

 and with the two ends of the yarn makes a knot round the spar, thereby drawing the sway, and con- 

 sequently the reed, right down to the roof; whilst the thatcher above, beating the sway and pressing it 

 down, assists in making the work the firmer. The assistant having made good the knot below, he pro- 

 ceeds with another length of thread to the next spar, and so on till the sway be bound down the whole 

 length ; namely, eight or ten feet This being done, ' another stratum of reed is laid on upon the first, 

 so as to make the entire coat eighteen or twenty inches thick at the butts j and another sway laid along, 

 and bound down, about twelve inches above the first.' 



3193. The eaves are adjusted and formed, not square with the spars, but nearly horizontal ; nor are they 

 formed by cutting; but by 'driving' them with a * legget,' a tool made of a board eight or nine inches 

 square, with a handle two feet long, fixed upon the back of it, obliquely, in the manner of the tool used 

 by gardeners in beating turf The face of the legget is set with large-headed nails, to render it rough, and 

 make it lay hold of the butts of the reeds. 'J'hen another layer of reed is laid on, and bound down by 

 another sway, somewhat shorter than the last, and placed eighteen or twenty inches above it; and above 

 this another, and another, continuing to shorten the sways until they be brought off to nothing, and 

 a triangular corner of thatching formed. After this, the sways are used their whole length, whatever it 

 happens to be, until the workman arrives at the finishing corner. By proceeding in this irregular manner, 

 seams between the courses are prevented, and unnecessary shifting of ladders avoided. 



3194. The face of the roof is formed and adjusted like the eaves, by driving the reed with the legget ; 

 which operation, if performed by a good workman, not only gives the roof a beautiful polished surface, but 

 at the same time fastens the reed, which being thickest towards the butts, becomes like a tapering pin, the 

 tighter the farther it is driven. 



3195. Finishing the ridge of the roof. In the case of reed running from four to six or eight feet long, the 

 heads meet at the ridge of the roof, whilst the butts are still at a distance from each other. For this rea- 

 son, as well as for that of the wear being less towards the ridge, the shortest (which is generally the worst) 

 reed is saved for the upper part of the roof But even supposing the uppermost courses to be only four 

 feet long, and that the heads (belonging to the two sides) be interwoven in some degree with each other, 

 the butts will still remain six or seven feet asunder; and the ridge of the roof consequently be left in 

 a great measure exposed to the weather. In order to remedy this inconvenience, and to give a finish to 

 the ridges, a cap (provincially, a roof) of straw is set on in a masterly, but in an expensive, manner. In 

 this operation, the workman begins, it is observed, by bringing the roof to an angle, with straw laid 

 lengthwise upon the ridge, in the manner in which a rick is topped up ; and to render it firm, to keep it in 

 its place, and to prevent the wind from blowing it off or ruffling it, he pegs it down slightly with ' double 

 broaches;' namely, cleft twigs, two feet long and as thick as the finger, sharpened at both ends, bent 

 double, and perhaps barbed by partial chops on the sides, to make them hold in the better after 

 being thrust down. This done, the workman lays a coat of straight straw, six or eight inches thick 

 across the ridge, beginning on either side at the uppermost butts of the reed, and finishing with straight 

 handfnls evenly across the top of the ridge. Having laid a length of about four feet in this manner, 

 he proceeds to fasten it firmly down, so as to render it proof against wind and rain. This is done by 

 laying a ' brochen ligger'' (a quarter-cleft rod as thick as the finger, and four feet in length) along the 

 middle of the ridge, pegging it down at every four inches with a double broach, which is thrust down with 



