1 74 
CHILDREN'S GARDENS 
VI 
summer-house, and the most simple kind for 
children to attempt is one made of posts of 
wood wattled together. The house could be 
only big enough to hold spades, rakes, and 
hoes, and—if you possess such a treasure—a 
wheelbarrow, or it might be so high as to 
enable a child to stand upright inside. The 
way to begin is to get four good stout poles 
for the four corners, then put between them 
thinner posts of wood, and afterwards get long 
pieces of willow or osier and twist them from 
one big post to the next, in and out of the 
thinner posts, in the same way as wicker or 
osier baskets and hampers are made. Osiers 
can be bought in bundles in most parts of 
England for a few pence. This work requires 
no big nails or sawing up of wood, and yet is 
very durable. The roof is the most difficult 
part, but it can be made fairly rain-proof with 
pieces of stick and wattle like the walls, and 
straw or, preferably, heather woven in. It 
can be wattled on the ground in one piece to 
make a hat roof, or two pieces to make a 
pitched roof. It can then be put up and bound 
on to the walls with osiers. The addition of 
some sort of thatch, such as straw or heather, 
stuck into the osiers will make it more water¬ 
tight. 
When everything is covered with snow,Jt is 
