TERRA-COTTA ROOFING-TILES. 65 



western states and territories where forests are scarce or 

 altogether absent, yet having an abundant supply of coal 

 suitable for the baking of tiles, and the best clays in the 

 world. With the rapid destruction of our forests and the 

 consequent increase in the price of wood, shingles and 

 clapboards, the tile-making industry should spring up in 

 many parts of the country. 



A few brief notes, concerning the making of tiles, are 

 here appended to call attention to the simple appliances 

 and the rude character of the labor employed in the man- 

 ufacture, in the hopes of encouraging the industry. If we 

 have brick-kilns everywhere we should be able to sustain 

 tileries also. 



Edward Dobson's Hand-book on Bricks and Tiles in 

 Weale's series, gives illustrations of the various machines 

 used in the making of flat and pan tiles. From this we 

 learn that in Staffordshire a workman may produce 1,300 

 to 1,500 flat tiles in a day. In G wilt's Encyclopedia of 

 Architecture, it is stated that "clay from which tiles are 

 made will make good bricks the converse does not hold 

 good, it requires tough clay to make tiles, on account of 

 the thinness of the tiles. Much care is required in baking ; 

 if the fire be too slack, they will not burn sufficiently hard, 

 and if too violent they glaze and suffer in form." 



It is observed also that glazed tiles are not so much af- 

 fected by frost. In Europe, as in Japan, old tiles are 

 considered better than new ones. We learn from the same 

 authority that an ancient custom was to bed tiles in hay 

 or moss. When the roof is full pitch, this suffices without 

 mortar; with less pitch, mortar is used to point the tiles 

 in order to keep out snow or rain in a high wind. We 

 have seen that in Japan and Korea, and probably in China, 

 also, mud or clay is used in which to bed the tile, and in 

 these as well as in all other countries mortar is used in 



ESSEX INST. BULLETIN, VOL. XXIV 9 



