10O 
AMERICAN AGKRIC ULTURIST 
[March, 
Building Ribless Boats. 
A method of building boats, by which ribs 
are dispensed with, has recently been brought 
into use for coast, lake, and river craft. These 
boats are light, swift, strong, and cheap. They 
have been found to be remarkably good sea 
boats, and to stand rough weather without 
shipping water. By this method of building, 
fishermen and others, who use boats, can con¬ 
struct their own at their leisure, and in many 
cases become indepen¬ 
dent of the skill of the 
professional boat build¬ 
er. The materials need¬ 
ed are clear pine boards, 
one inch thick, a keel of 
oak or elm, a stem and 
stern-post of the same 
timber, and some gal¬ 
vanized iron nails. For 
small boats, the boards 
and keel should be the 
whole length of the boat 
intended to be built, 
for boats over 16 feet in 
length, splices may be 
made without injuring 
the strength; if they are 
properly put together. 
The materials having- 
been procured, a frame 
or a set of tressels are 
made, and the keel is 
fitted to them in the 
usual manner, by the 
means of cleats on each 
side, and wedges. The 
stem and stern-post are 
then fitted to the keel in 
the usual manner, the 
joints being made water¬ 
tight by means of lay¬ 
ers of freshly tarred brown paper laid between 
the pieces, or by the use of a coating of thick 
white lead and oil. Previously to being fitted 
together, the sides of the keel, stem, and stern- 
post are deeply grooved to receive the first 
strip of planking. The boards are then ripped 
into strips one inch, or an inch and a half wide, 
according to the desired strength of the boat. 
For rough work, such as fishing with nets, or 
dredging, an inch and a half would be a proper 
width for the strips. The ripping may be done 
with one of the hand circular sawing machines, 
or at a saw-mill, with great rapidity. The first 
strip is then nailed to the keel, a coating of tar 
or white lead having first been given to the 
groove in the keel already prepared for it. The 
broad side of the strip is laid next to the keel. 
A set of molds, corresponding to the lines or 
form of the boat, are cut out of inch boards, 
and tacked to the keel in the manner shown 
in the engraving, with the help of cleats upon 
each side. Then one strip after another is 
nailed to each preceding one, and the shell of 
the boat is built up of these strips. Each strip 
i3 trimmed down at the ends in a proper man¬ 
ner, with a draw knife, or a plane, and as each 
one is nailed to the preceding one, some of 
the tar or white lead is brushed over it, to 
make the joint tight and close. A sufficient 
number of nails is used to hold the strips firmly 
together, and the heads are driven down level 
with the surface of each strip The work pro¬ 
ceeds in this manner, forming the strips as each 
is fitted, bending them to the shape of the molds, 
and nailing one alternately upon each side, so 
that the molds are not displaced by the spring 
of the timber. When the sides of the boat are 
completed, the fender and gunwales are fitted, 
and bolted to them to strengthen them, and 
cleats are bolted inside for the seats to rest 
upon. The molds are now removed, and the 
boat consists of a solid shell an inch and a half 
thick, with not a nail visible excepting on the 
top strip, and conforming exactly in shape to 
the model. To give extra strength, short 
pieces of the strips are nailed diagonally across 
the inside, from side to side, and across the 
keel. In this manner a great deal of additional 
stiffness and strength is given to the boat. A 
boat of this kind is easily repaired when injured, 
by cutting out the broken part, and inserting 
pieces of the strips. For a larger boat, which 
requires a deck, the strips are wider and thicker, 
ora diagonal lining may be put into it; knees 
are bolted to the sides, and the beams to the 
knees, the deck being laid upon the beams. The 
method is applicable to boats of all sizes, and 
for all purposes, and its cheapness and conve¬ 
nience are rapidly bringing it into favor. If 
the material is ready for use, two men can fin¬ 
ish a large boat in two weeks, and a small one 
in one week. These boats being very light and 
buoyant,considerable ballast will be necessary to 
make them steady enough in case sails are used. 
The Paint Root— Its Effects on Pigs. 
Those who study the native plants of the 
northern states, know as an exceedingly rare 
and local on e, Lacknanthes tindoria ; the first 
or generic name means woolly floioer, and the 
second, or specific name, tindoria, has reference 
to its dyeing or coloring properties. In some 
works “ Bed-root ” is given as the common name 
of this plant, but as this same name is, in vari¬ 
ous parts of the country, applied to at least 
three other plants, it is preferable to accept 
that by which this is known in the southern 
states, vdiere it is most abundant, and call it 
Paint-root. The engraving gives an idea of the 
general appearance of the plant; the stem, 
which here is cut for convenience, is, in favor¬ 
able localities, two to three feet high; the 
leaves, about half as long as the stem, are nax- 
row, the lower ones clasping one another like 
those of an Iris; the flowers are in a dense 
cluster at the top of the stem, and being woolly 
without, and of a dingy yellow color within, 
cannot be called showy. While the minute 
structure of the flowers is of interest to the bot¬ 
anist, we will not describe them further than to 
say that they are six-parted, and have three 
stamens and a single style. The plant belongs 
to the Blood-wort family, ( Hcemodoraceaz ), of 
which we have but few examples in this coun¬ 
try, and among familiar 
plants it is most closely 
related to the Amaryllis 
family, to which the 
Jonquils, Narcissuses, 
and others of our spring- 
garden flowers belong. 
The Paint-root con¬ 
tains an orange-colored 
juice in its stems, and 
especially in its fibrous 
roots, which are red, 
and are said to yield a 
dye similar to that of 
madder, but we can 
not find that they have 
ever been largely used 
for this purpose. This 
plant is- very abundant 
in the southern states, 
from Florida north¬ 
ward, in sandy swamps 
near the coast, and is 
common in the pine bar¬ 
rens of New Jersey. 
Many years ago, while 
with a party of botanists 
exploring a little known 
portion of Rhode Is¬ 
land, where within a re¬ 
stricted area the plants 
are more like those of 
North Carolina than those of New England, 
the late Prof. Bailey of West Point, who was 
one of the party, fairly shouted with surprise 
wdien this plant was met with; he said he 
should not have been more astonished had he 
met with a Palmetto growing wild in that local¬ 
ity, which is not far from Kingston, R. I., and 
so far as is known, its northern limit. 
We have described and figured this plant, 
not solely because it is of botanical interest, but 
for the l-eason that, insignificant though it may 
appear, it has an important bearing upon the 
agriculture of many of the southern states. 
Those who have traveled much in the Atlantic 
southern states, from Virginia to Florida, are 
aware that black pigs are much more common 
than white ones; the reason given for this 
preference for black pigs has been that they do 
better under a hot climate than white ones, the 
same as negroes are better suited to such con¬ 
ditions than white people. While it appears 
that the skin of black pigs is less affected by 
the intense heat of the sun than that of white 
ones, this is by no means the only reason, or 
the main one, why dark colored swine are more 
common throughout the southern Atlantic 
states than the light ones. So far as this por¬ 
tion of the country is concerned, it turns out 
that the plant in question, the Paint-root, is at 
the bottom of the great preponderance of black 
over white pigs, as the white ones, if allowed 
free access to the Paint-root, are soon killed off, 
while the black ones can eat it with impunity 
and even fatten upon it. Darwin, in that most 
remarkable book, “ Plants and Animals Under 
Domestication,” quotes this case to show that 
BUILDING A BIBLESS BOAT. 
