814 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[NOVEMBER, 
for the pupils to sit and recite in, or the one into 
which the outside door opens, may be for wash- 
rooms, wardrobe, etc. This would leave five 
rooms for the school. The furnishing of these 
of course depends upon the amount of money 
at disposal, and the character of the scholars. 
Fig. 
-GROUND PLAN. 
A convenient method, where desks are only 
needed for classes in writing, is to have one or 
more rooms only furnished with them, as shown 
at 3, fig. 2, while benches simply are used in 
other rooms, as at 2. The engravings represent 
one of the largest-sized school houses, capable 
of accommodating 400 to 450 pupils, 75 in each 
room, all under the eye of one teacher, assisted 
by monitors or under-teachers. By following 
the same plan, reducing the size proportionally, 
smaller schools may be accommodated, twen- 
ty in each room being a very proper number to 
be placed under the charge of one monitor. 
It will be observed that the teacher's stand 
receives light from all directions, and may be 
lighted from above, besides, in case of very 
large houses. The light falls from two direc- 
tions upon the backs of the pupils. The long 
blank walls are well arranged for blackboards. 
The space in the building is very economically 
occupied, everything being upon one floor. 
Ventilation of a very perfect character may be 
easily secured. The heating arrangements may 
be located in the cellar, and this would be by 
far the best way in all probability. A large 
school in the form of a Greek cross has just 
been constructed on this principle at Hampton, 
Va., under direction of Maj. Gen. Butler, aud the 
above is regarded as an improvement upon that. 
Hints on Thatching. 
Over a large portion of this country straw is 
regarded as of little value, but its value will be 
enhanced by the increasing use of it for paper 
of various kinds, and by the new hay presses 
which bundle it so compactly that it can be 
transported to Eastern markets nearly as w 7 ell 
as flour. In January we discussed the straw 
shelters in use at the West, and now at the 
season when straw is accumulating, give a few 
hints about thatching. In some countries 
thatching is a regular trade, but with care any 
one may do it. It makes a beautiful finish for 
rustic houses, porters' lodges, well-houses, bee- 
hive shelters, etc., and is besides the most excel- 
lent roofing for ice-houses — so the subject has 
interest for almost every one. For durability and 
imperviousness to water, and for warmth in win- 
ter and coolness in summer, a straw roof well put 
on is nearly all that can be desired. Its liability 
to take fire from sparks is by no means so great 
as would be supposed, especially after it has 
been laid a few months. — There are many ways 
of making a straw roof. The mud roofs of the 
log cabins at the South and West are not un- 
frequently thatched by laying light courses of 
straw and binding each with a la3'er of clay or 
sods upon the upper end, covered out of sight 
by the next course, and they look very w r ell. 
Eoof frames are prepared for thatch, much as 
for shingles, so far as the plates, purlines, raft- 
ers and ridge poles are concerned. Upon the 
rafters are lashed, with well tarred rope yarn, 
boughs of hazel or Scotch fir in England ; noth- 
ing could be better than our hemlock, and in 
lack of such boughs, long sedge or reeds laid 
horizontally would perhaps be equally good as 
a basis upon which to lay the straw. This is 
put in a heap, sprinkled and turned till it be- 
comes uniformly moist, theu drawn out in even 
handfuls, laid in armfuls and delivered to the 
man on the roof as he needs it. First, a single 
course is laid at one end, from eaves to ridge, the 
handfuls lying horizontally, huts out, and project- 
ing over a little as a cornice. When a length of 
about 3 feet is laid, the straw being put down in 
even handfuls, each handful pressed close and 
firmly against the preceding, a strip of hooping 
stuff, 1 inch wide, half round, is laid on about the 
middle of the straw. This is tied down firmly 
to a rafter at several points with tarred rope 
yarn. An assistant standing beneath thrusts a 
long wooden needle up through the straw, close 
to a rafter; the thatcher returns it, and the cord 
is tied below and cut off. When the end courses 
are finished, the horizontal courses are com- 
menced at the eaves, the thatcher placing his 
ladder on the roof so as to give himself a 
convenient reach. The straw is laid in hand- 
fuls as just described, with the buts down, 
where it covers the end course, it is not quite 
so thick as elsewhere. The binding strips 
are placed about i the distance from the up- 
per ends of the straw. The second course 
follows the first, lapping I- at least, and is bound 
down in the same way ; and so the thatcher pro- 
ceeds till the ridge-pole is reached, over which 
the upper course is allowed to project one half. 
Thus one side of the roof is done, breadth by 
breadth, and then the other side in the same 
way. When the second side is brought up to the 
ridge, the top course of the other side is bent 
down, and a course laid upon the ends. It is 
very important that the straw should be com- 
pressed as solidly as possible, when the strips 
are tied — hence the thatcher with a mallet, 
beats the course of straw down very solid by 
striking upon the strips, the . attendant being 
ready to tie at the point of greatest compression. 
There are several methods of finishing off the 
ridge ; the simplest, and perhaps the best, is to 
lay a course lapping equally on both sides and 
held by three binding strips on each side, fastened 
not by tieing in the usual way, but by pins made 
of the same half round stuff which forms the 
strips, notched in the middle so that they may 
be bent in a U form (like a lady's hair pin). The 
ends are sharpened and notched by single cuts 
of a knife or hatchet, so that when driven into 
the straw they will hold. These strips, it will 
be seen, are exposed, hence it is a thatcher's 
pride to have them small and neat so as to look 
workman-like. Finials or end-pieces made of 
straw bound tight and hard, of any appropriate 
shape, give a picturesque finish. The corners 
of the roof at the eaves, and wherever the 
wind lifts the thatch, may be pinned down in 
the same way as described for the top course. 
The roof when thus far done, is combed 
down by a tool made like a hay rake, with the 
head about 4 feet long, — one end being without 
teeth and forming a handle 18 inches long. 
Finally the eaves and ends are trimmed. This is 
done with a sharp hay-knife or a scythe blade 
set straight in a handle so that it can be used 
with a saw-like motion. The eaves are cut oft 
evenly at right angles to the slant of the roof. 
HO.BNLESS Cattle.— It is the practice of 
some farmers, to cut off the horns of heifer 
calves, and sear the wound with a hot iron, to 
make them fitter companions for sheep. The 
result is v that the horns either do not grow at 
all, or but very slightly and irregularly. We 
are informed also, that cows thus made horn- 
less, have repeatedly borne calves upon which 
no horns ever grew. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Tim Bunker on the Sanitary Commission 
and the War. 
Mr. Editor. — I was astonished to hear from 
your note of yesterday that there had been some 
considerable inquiry, if not more, about my not 
writing for the paper so much as common. I 
take the first leisure day I have had in four 
months to tell you all about it. You see, I al- 
ways had my hands full to keep up with my 
farming and writing, and attending to the duties 
of Justice of the Peace, before John went to 
the war. You see, the boy had got to be mighty 
handy about every thing, from yoking a steer, 
to mending a broken window or cleaning a 
clock. And when he turned soldier, every little 
thing that the hoy used to do, fell back into my 
hands, and come to pile this on top of court 
duties, and -war and politics, I have hardly had 
time to find out whether my soul was my own 
or not. I rather guess 'tis, however, at least 
enough of it to give you a bit of my mind on 
the topics at the head of this letter. 
You see, when I last wrote, I left off in the 
White House, a place that many a smart man, 
(and some that aren't so smart) has been crazy 
to get into, and never fetched. When I got 
home Jake Frink wanted to know if I had done 
his errand. I told him I thought I had done it 
up brown, and if he didn't believe it he might 
see just what I said in the papers. You see, he 
hasn't been into our house since. That is the 
way with some folks ; you may do your best 
to serve 'em, and they will treat you with the 
blackest ingratitude and neglect. — Somehow, it 
hasn't been particularly lonesome at our house, 
though Jake hasn't called as usual. I hadn't 
time in my last letter to tell you about the San- 
itary Commission business. You see, that was 
about half that took Mrs. Bunker to Washing- 
ington; the other half was John, for I must own 
she has considerable of a woman's weakness 
about her. She is such a prudent sort of a wom- 
an in her own househould that she can't bear to 
see a bit of anything wasted. Our dog was al- 
ways lean when we kept one, for all the scraps 
went into the swill-pail for the pigs. Finally 
she thought dogs didn't pay, and as I couldn't 
gainsay that opinion our dog turned up missing 
one night. As I noticed an uncommon bleating 
of sheep and skipping of lambs the next time I 
went to salt the flock, I kind of thought they 
had got the news and was holding a sort of 
Thanksgiving. The cats caught mice and fared 
better. Now, you see, Mrs. Bunker thought that 
her notions of economy and saving ought to be 
carried into all public matters. She said "gath- ' 
er up the fragments that nothing be lost," 
ought to be written as a frontispiece over the 
door of every public building and hospital in 
Washington, and everywhere else. Now there 
