THE YOUNG 
not one of Eobinson Crusoe's patent. 
That description of article demands too 
mucli labor. 
In many of tlie older countries a man 
leases the rush harvest of a river. The 
greater rush {Scirpus laciistris) is of suffi- 
cient economic value to be worth pur- 
chasing the right to cut when mature. 
Its principal use is by coopers, who place 
one between each stave of a barrel to 
caulk it, so to speak. It is also used for 
mats, baskets, thatching, etc. Well— our 
boat was mainly built for "rushing;" 
and, while it held a good load, its draught 
was so little that it could be pulled over 
the shallowest of shallows. 
To proceed. Choose two sound boards, 
free from knots, or what the carpenters 
call "shakes," I" thick, or thereabouts, 
1' 6", or 1' 8" wide, and 12' in length. 
These will form the sides of the proposed 
boat. 
(We may here state that in all sketches 
and descriptions the sign ' indicates feet, 
and " inches.) 
First joint one edge of each boai;d 
straight with the jack or trying plane. 
Then, by the aid of a broad-pointed car- 
penter's pencil, mark on both sides of 
each board the shape to be given at bow 
and stern, as at a and b, Fig. 1 (page 300). 
The curvature of the former should be- 
gin at about 3' 6" from the end of the 
board, and rounding gently upwards, 
should leave a depth of wood of about 9 " 
or 10" at the bow, as shown in the illus- 
tration. For the stern an angle of about 
15° with the bottom edge of the board will 
do (b, Fig. 1), beginning at about 2' 6" 
from the end of the board and slanting 
upwards to leave a depth of 10 " at b. In- 
stead of marking off both boards, it can 
be done with one only, and when this has 
been brought to the required shape it 
may be laid on the other and marked 
round with the pencil, or still better with 
the point of a sharp awl. The plane may 
be employed to remove the wood to the 
required slope at b, but for the curve at 
A the draw-knife is the handiest tool, with 
a little care. 
The boards are now to be placed to- 
gether with their edges level, and the ex- 
act centre of their longest edges found 
SCIENTIST. 299 
and marked (c) on each board, and 5 
inches set off on either side of this mark 
at D and e. 
Where it is not practicable to get 
planks of sufficient width, two must be 
used for each side. In this case they 
must be grooved and tongued together. 
Two 9" boards for each side will give 
rather a shallower boat than the one 
which we have described, or two 11" 
boards, with about an inch planed oft ' 
each, will make a rather deeper one. 
Inch red pine would do well. 
For the next step take a piece of I" 
board 10" wide and 3' long. Let this be 
carefully squared at the ends, by the 
edges being first planed-up truly parallel, 
and the ends then marked off therefore 
by the aid of a square. This piece of 
board is to be securely nailed or screwed 
at each end to the edge of one of the long 
boards exactly above the spaces d e. 
Turn the pieces over bottom upwards, 
and nail another piece of board across 
the bottom precisely opposite the piece 
spoken of (Fig. 2). 
Next prepare the bow-piece (Fig. 3). 
This should be made of a good, hard, 
solid block of oak or other hard wood, 
thoroughly seasoned. This j)iece is shown 
by itself at Fig. 3, where a shows it aS 
viewed from above, and b is a view 
lengthwise. It is triangular in plan, the 
two longer sides 10", and the side which 
goes inside the boat 8". Its depth should 
be about 11", and it must slope off to a 
curve corresponding with the two boards. 
On each side from the inner end for a dis- 
tance of 5" the wood must be cut away 
for nearly 1" in depth, as shown, which 
will leave a kind of rabbet for the bow- 
ends of the two boards to abut against. 
The piece of oak may now be placed be- 
tween these ends, and they, when drawn 
close up in the recess of it, can be se- 
curely nailed thereto by large, strong 
nails. The affair will now present the 
appearance stiown at a, Fig. 4, viewed 
from above. Copper nails are best. 
The stern-board can be now got ready. 
This may be 2' long and 10" in width, and 
must be, like the bow, of sound well-sea- 
soned material (b, Fig. 4). It is to be 
placed between the boards at b (Fig. 1)» 
