Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/441

 MODEL DESIGNS FOR FARMERIES. 417 who, if they knew how easily walls of this description could be built, would often avail themselves of them for various agricultural purposes. We shall therefore here describe the Devonshire practice, as furnished us by the Rev. W. T. E, who has himself built several houses of two stories with cob walls, in the mamier which he details in the follow- ing paragraph ; and who, moreover, informs us that he was born in a cob-wall parsonage, built in the reign of Elizabeth, if not a tew years earlier, which was only taken down last year (18:31) to be rebuilt. 839. Cob Walls, as they are called, are composed of earth and straw mixed up with water like mortar, and well beaten and trodden together. Chappie, in his Survetj of Devon, 1785, derives cob from the British word chwap (ictus), or from the Greek KOTTTos (contusiis), becausc the earth and straw ought to be well beaten or pounded together. The earth nearest at hand is generally used, and the more loamy the more suitable it is considered for the purpose. These walls are made two feet thick, and are raised upon a foundation of stonework. The higher the stonework is carried the better, as it elevates the cobwork from the moisture of the ground. After a wall is raised to a certain height, it is allowed some weeks to settle, before more is laid on. The first rise, as it is called, is about four feet ; the next not so high ; and so every succeeding rise is diminished in height as the work advances. The solidity of cob walls depends much upon their not being hurried in the process of inaking them ; for, if hurried, the walls will surely be crippled ; that is, they will swag, or swerve from the perpendicular. It is usual to pare down the sides of each successive rise before another is added to it. The instrument used for this purpose is like a baker's peel (a kind of wooden shovel for taking the bread out of the oven), but the cob-parer is made of iron. The lintels of the doors and windows, and of the cupboards or other recesses, are put in as the work advances, (allowance being made for their settling), bedding them on cross pieces, and the walls being carried up solid. The respective openings are cut out after the work is well settled. In Devonshire, the builders of cob- wall houses like to begin their work when the birds begin to build their nests, in order that there may be time to cover in the shell of the building before winter. The outer walls are plastered the following spring. Should the work be overtaken by winter before the roof is on, it is usual to put a temporary covering of thatch upon the walls, to protect them from the frost. 840. In forming cob walls, one man stands on the work to receive the cob, which is pitched up to him by a man below ; the man on the work arranging it and treading it down. Each workman generally uses a common pitchfork, though sometimes a three- pronged fork is employed. Cob houses are considered remarkably warm and healthy ; and they are generally covered with thatch. The durability of cob is said to depend upon its having " a good hat and a good pair of shoes ;" that is, a good roof and a good foundation. The Devonshire thatching is very superior to that in most other parts of England. It is done with combed wheat straw, called reed, consisting of the stifij imbruised, and broken stalks, which have been carefully separated from the fodder straw by the thresher, and bound up in large sheaves called nitches. In this way the thatcher is enabled to finish his work much more neatly than in other counties where no reed is made. Instead of brick nogging for partitions, cob is used for filling in the frame- work, which is previously lathed with stout slit oak or hazel. This sort of work is called rab and dab. 841. Cob walls thatched are very common for garden boundaries. The trees ai-e trained against them by being pinned with maple hooks ; but such walls in the course of time become full of holes, and afford a hiding-place for insects ; they, therefore, frequently require a fresh coating of plaster. 842. In estimating the merits of cob walls, it must not be forgotten, that, when pulled down, the materials are good for nothing but as manure ; whereas the materials of brick, stone, and sometimes even of timber walls may be used in rebuilding. It also deserves to be remarked, that earth or mud walls are not in use in any district of Britain which is in an advanced state of improvement ; they appear to be chiefly suitable to a rude state of society, where every inan is his own builder, and where mechanical skill, and good tools for working in timber and stone, are scarce. However, though they cannot be recommended for general adoption where brick and stone walls are common, yet the very circumstance of their being neglected, or not known, in such places, renders it pro- bable that a great economy would be produced by their occasional use ; on the same principle that, in a country where the common labourers live on bread and butcher's meat, one of them who should determine to subsist merely on oatmeal or potatoes would save money. 843. For covering the Roofs of Farm Buildings, the cheapest material will generally be the straw raised on the farm, which, when laid on thick, and with a steep slope, lasts many years. The spray of trees previously well seasoned, hoop chips, and the chips from other articles made of coppice wood, form more durable materials for thatching with than Y