M O It 
tnulding when Mr. Pyke was Ialt there ; and alfo for 
fome ornaments, as columns, good arched work, or ima¬ 
gery fet up in gardens, it is thus made. 
For the common buildings about Madras, where the 
rainy feafon holds not above three months in the year, 
and fometimes lefs, they ufually lay all the common brick¬ 
work in a loamy clay, and plafter it over on both Tides with 
this mortar, which is yet further to be improved. 
3. Having the mortar thus prepared, as above, feparate 
fome of it, and to every half-bufhel take the white of 
five or fix eggs, and four ounces of ghee, or ordinary un- 
falted butter, and a pint of butter-milk, beaten all well 
together: mix a little of the mortar with this, till all the 
ghee, whites of eggs, and butter-milk, be foaked up ; 
then foften the reft well with plain frelh water, and fo 
mix all together, and let it be ground, a trowel-full at a 
time, on a ftone with a ftone roller, in the fame manner 
that chocolate is ufually made.pr ground in England ; 
and let it ftand by in a trough for ufe. When you ufe 
it, in cafe it be too dry, moiften it with fome water, or 
the before-mentioned liquor. This is the fecond coat of 
plaftering. 
When the firft coat of plaftering is laid on, let it be 
well rubbed on with a hardening-trowel, or with a fmooth 
brick, and ftrewed with a gritty fand, moiftened, as occa- 
fion requires, with water, or the before-mentioned li¬ 
quor, and then well hardened on again; which, when 
half dry, take the laft-mentioned compofition for the fine 
plaftering; and, when it is almoft dry, lay on the whiten¬ 
ing varnifh; but, if the work fliould be quite dry, then 
the chinam-liquor muft be walked over the work with a 
brufh. 
The beft fort of whitening varnifh is thus made: Take 
one gallon of toddy, a pint of butter-milk, and as much 
fine chinam, or lime, as fhall be proper to colour it; add 
to it fome of the chinam-liquor, walking it gently over 
with it; and, when it is quite dried in, do the fame again. 
A plafter thus made is more durable than fome foft ftone, 
and holds the weather better in India than any of the 
bricks they make there. In fome of the fine chinam that 
is to endure the weather, and where it is likely to be fub- 
jeCt to much rain, they put gingerly oil [oleum fefami] 
inftead of ghee; and alfo in fome they boil the bark of 
the mango-tree, and other barks of aftringent natures, 
and aloes, which grow here in great plenty by the fea- 
fhore; but to all of the fine chinam, for outflde plaftering, 
they put butter-milk, w'hich is here called toyre. And 
for infide-work, they ufe glue made very thin and weak, 
inftead of fize, for white-walhing; and fometimes they 
add a little gum to it. 
As feveral of the ingredients here mentioned are not 
to be had in England, it may not be amifs to fubftitute 
fomething of the fame nature. As to all the aftringent 
barks, oak-bark may be as good as any. Inftead of aloes, 
cither turpentine, or the bark and branches of the floe- 
tree. Though turpentine be not fo ftrong, yet, if ufed 
an greater quantity, it may ferve to the fame purpofe. 
Inftead of myrabolans, juice of floes may be ufed ; inftead 
of jaggery, coarfe fugar, or molaffes, will do ; as to toddy, 
■which is a fort of palm-wine, the liquor from the birch- 
tree comes near to it. 
In China, and fome other parts, they temper their 
rnortar with blood of any forts of cattle; but the ingre¬ 
dients before mentioned are faid to be as binding, and 
do full as well, and do not make the mortar of fo dark a 
colour. The plaftering above defcribed, is thought in 
India vaftly to exceed any fort of ftucco-work, or plafter 
of Paris; and Mr. Pyke has feen a room done with this 
fort of terras-mortar, that has fully come up to the beft 
fort of wainfcot-work, in fmoothnefs and beauty. Phil. 
Tranf. 1732. 
When mortar is to come in contaCl with wood, the 
following particulars muft be attended to. Mortar made 
of lime from burnt chalk is much more deftruCtive to 
S;sflber than ftone-lime, or that burnt from lime-ftone. 
T A K. 31 
Chalk-lime attracts moillure; and, communicating It to 
any timber which it touches, occafions its decay. Sea- 
fand is alfo prejudicial, if made into mortar, from a fimilar 
quality of attracting moifture from the atmofphere: this 
may in fome degree be corrected by walking the fand well 
in frelh water, where good fand cannot be procured. 
Good mortar, where any is required to be in contaCt with, 
timber, may be made from a mixture of ftone-lime frelh 
burnt, and river-land, to which a very fmall quantity of 
common brown or yellow iron-ochre fliould be added* 
and well incorporated therewith. Tranf . of the Soc. of Arts„ 
vol. xxi. 1802. 
On the other hand, it may be readily conceived that x 
mortar, or cement, made of peculiar ingredients, might 
be invented, which not only would not injure the timber 
to which it might be applied, but which might tend to 
preferve it from dileafe, or to cure it when difeafed. And 
accordingly we find that Mr. Jofeph Bramah, of Pimlico, 
has lately taken out a patent for applying the Mineral or 
Earth, called Parker’s Cement, or Roman Cement, to> 
Timber of all Defcriptions, fo as to prevent and cure the 
Dry-rot. The patent fpecifies that “ Parker’s cement, 
or Roman cement, if applied to timber of all defcriptions, 
as to the timbers of buildings, fttips, and other places 
where timber is ufed, infeCtcd with the rot commonly 
called the dry-rot, will completely put a ftop to the in¬ 
fection to which it fhall be fo applied, and will prevent 
its recurrence. The mode of application for this purpole 
is to mix the Parker’s cement, in a pure and frefli ftate, 
with water, fo as to form a compofition of the confiftency 
of white-wafti, or lime-wafti; to fcrape the timbers in- 
feCted as perfectly clean as poflible, and then coat it with 
the mixture of the cement; and it will prevent the timber 
from being liable or fubjeCt to the dry-rot.” Repertory of 
Arts, 1815. 
M. Felibien obferves, that the ancient mafons were fo 
very fcrupulous in the procefs of mixing and blending 
their mortar, that the Greeks kept ten men conftantly 
employed, for a long fpace of time, to each bafon ; this 
rendered the mortar of fuch prodigious hardnefs, that 
Vitruvius tells us the pieces of plafter falling off from 
old walls ferved to make tables. The fame Felibien adds, 
it is a maxim among old mafons to their labourers, that 
they fhould dilute with the fweat of their brow, i. e. 
labour it a long time, inftead of drowning it with water 
to have done the fooner. 
But, in modern times, a mill has been contrived (by 
Mr. Supple), for the purpofe of faving labour in the 
making up of mortar, as well as doing the bufinefs more 
effectually and at a trifling expenfe. It may alfo be 
ufeful in working clay, See. The mode of doing it is 
thus defcribed by the inventor: “ A pit is dug in the 
ground, which is bricked at the bottom and fides, into 
which the operator puts the lime. He has the command 
of a fmall ftream of w.tter, which is conveyed at pleafur© 
into the pit, and in a few days the lime is fufhciently 
flaked ; he then puts the lime and fand, or gravel, into 
the mill, which not only mixes both together, but incor¬ 
porates them in a very effectual manner; and, as the lime 
is fulficiently moift when taken out of the pit, no more 
water is required for the mortar. If for prefent ufe, 
the quantity he makes at a time is fix bufhels, as he finds, 
when more is put in, it is apt to ftrain the cogs, if not 
made very ftrong. If the mortar is made with fand alone, 
the fpace between the cogs need not be made fo wide as 
three inches. He has a lecond ftiaft, with clofer cogs, 
in order to give the mortar another working; the fpace 
between thele cogs is but two inches ; but it does not 
anfwer well till after the firft fhaft has been ufed, nor is 
it neceffary, unlefs for very nice work.” He adds, that he 
“ made 200 barrels of lime into mortar laft fummer, and 
has now the like quantity of lime in the pit for the 
fame purpofe. He made fix barrels of mortar in a day 
with eafe; a boy of feven years old drives the horfe, anS 
the meft indifferent one is good enough for the purpofe. 
