TERRA-COTTA ROOFING-TILES. 61 



the same purpose. The roofing-tile is used for other pur- 

 poses besides that for which it was originally designed. In 

 flower-gardens the flat, round-ended tile is found very 

 serviceable in separating beds or border ing paths, the tiles 



. being partially buried in the 



x-^x x*v x^N X^Y ground vertically, forming 



H| IT a much better dividing line 



\ r*\ f\ f \ f than do strips of board, 



i_ . - " -----* u^ 



~T II Ji which soon decay. As a 



f\ [ \J \ / *- coping for brick walls the 



FIG. so. roof- shaped ridge-tile 



forms a good and picturesque top. The same form of 



ridge-tile placed in an inverted position may often be seen 



on the steep slopes of grass-covered railroad enbankments, 



as cheap and useful water-conductors. 



UNITED STATES. 



We have seen in the course of this paper that in all 

 parts of the world, outside of savage areas and under all 

 climaticconditions, people shelter themselves beneath roofs 

 covered with terra-cotta tiles. With this wide dispersion 

 of roofing-tiles, however, there still remains a territory ex- 

 tending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, embracing Canada 

 and the United States, which is virtually destitute of this 

 ancient form of roof-covering. It is a curious fact that a 

 material so cheap, durable and picturesque, and one so 

 widely distributed throughout the world, should not have 

 effected a lodgment in this country. It seems all the 

 more singular when it is considered that the early colonists 

 Spanish, Dutch, French, English, German all came 

 from tile-using countries. This curious condition of things 

 can only be accounted for by the fact that, at the outset, 

 wood was so much cheaper than any kind of baked clay 

 that it was used in the form of clapboards and shingles to 



