534 



The Modern Cottage: Experiments in Tise. [Sept., 



coat of tallow lime-wash, and this has been found quite successful. 

 If a previous application of hot tar (as used on roads) is given, 

 the walls will have an almost impervious skin of quite surprising 

 hardness. 



It is interesting to note that in some of the Amesbury examples 

 the chimney-flues are formed by clay pipes embedded in the 

 surrounding pise. 



With regard to rammers and shuttering, there is, undoubtedly, 

 still scope for improvement, and it may be hoped that soon 

 ingenuity and experience will jointly produce a complete pise- 

 building plant perfectly adapted to suit all the many conditions 

 involved. Some of the outfits recently made have been unduly 

 elaborate and expensive, and, pending the introduction of a more 

 suitable article, the Ministry has acted wisely in adhering to a 

 simple " all-wood " construction that might well be made by any 

 village wheelwright. This is modelled on the same principle as 

 the gear described by Pliny, and is not greatly dissimilar from 

 that used in Spain down to this day. In that country, the writer 

 found it the common practice to mix a proportion of lime with 

 the earth, the percentage varying from 10 to 33. The resultant 

 vails, both new and old. attain an extraordinary hardness and 

 are scarcely distinguishable from cement-concrete. This may 

 well happen in the case of the chalk and earth pise at Amesbury. 



In addition to genuine pise, cob-work and chalk-concrete have 

 also been given a fair trial at Amesbury, but it is doubtful whether 

 cob building can be profitably revived under present labour condi- 

 tions, unless in exceptional situations. At Amesbury the cost 

 was discouraging, but the chalk and cement method is distinctly 

 promising. 



To gauge properly the success of various building systems 

 employed, and also the scheme as a whole, will require continued 

 observation of the buildings for ten years, and a consideration of 

 the facts which the building accounts and the estates' repair and 

 maintenance records for the intervening decade will reveal. A 

 visit to Amesbury 10 years hence should be exceedingly instruc- 

 tive, and might well lead to a revision of some of the present 

 opinions held. 



Even now, however, much has been learnt by those who have 

 superintended the building operations, and also by those who 

 have been able to visit Amesbury. Whatever the results, the 

 Ministry's Amesbury experiment has undoubtedly a special and 

 abiding interest to ail connected with rural housing, or concerned 

 in improving the amenities of rural England. 



