THE VALUE OF THATCHED ROOFS.
[To rer Eorroa or rue .Srsouroan Sin,—We have a very picturesque old waggon lodge some twenty feet by forty feet, built of oak throughout with heather-thatched roof, standing at all angles in the grounds of our old fifteenth-century house. My man and I (we do all our own building except thatching) are greatly perturbed as to bow we can save the dear old building. Every rafter, plate, and cross-piece, well silvered, is quite sound, saved by the thatch. The uprights alone are rotting between " wind and water," which gives to the building the appearance of some old-age pensioner on a festive Christmas night. I have often wondered how much the old oak owes to the " thatch," as against the "tile," for its beautiful silvering. Alan! In this district it is easier and, I believe, lees expensive to tile than to thatch.—I am, Sir, &o, Homo.
P.S.—Your correspondent Mr. Mark Kennaway writes of "one hundred and twenty-three thatchers in Devon." Roof or barn thatching is a very different handicraft from stank thatching. The term " thatcher " conveys little.
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