PISE DE TERRE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1 SIR,—In Devon there still exist large numbers of houses and farm-buildings with mud walls, termed " cob." It is a very old method -of cheap construction, so old, indeed, that our " oldest inhabitant " (eighty-four) never saw mud walls made. I enclose a description copied from J. C. Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Collage, Farm, and Villa Architecture, 1842 (originally 1833), which I hope will be of interest, though parts of it are not very complimentary to the system. About here the foundations are always of rough stone, the outer and inner eides of cottage walls are always plastered and whitewashed, and the roofs of thatch. You can plainly see the straw in the cob, and the plaster and whitewash seem effectually to keep out the wet and prevent the bad effect of frost. The floors are of cobbles or cement, and the houses are dry and warm. The common lime plaster used might, of course, be improved upon by cementing, stuccoing, or any of the methods of roughcasting, according to modern practice. The author above mentioned gives in his chap. iii. many methods of protecting, colouring, and ornament- ing outside walls of cottages, and also of thatching same, which arc well worthy of perusal in connexion with pis6, do terre work. The book is at your service should you care to consult it.-- I am, Sir, &e., J. C. CraPmAN. Cadewell, near Torquay, South Devon.
Article 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. . . . The earth nearest at hand is used, and the more loamy the more suitable it is considered for the purpose. The walls are made two feet thick, and are raised upon a foundation of stonework. The higher tho 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 is 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 making them ; for, if hurried, the walls will surely be crippled ; that is, they will swag, or swerve from the perpendicular. . . . In Devon- shire, the builders of cob walls 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."
Article 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. . . . 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 roof and a good foundation.
. . . -Instead of brick 'Jogging for partitions, cob is used for filling in the framework, which is previously lathed with stout slit oak or hazel."
Article 842.—" Italie 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 rode state of society, where every man is his own builder, and where mechanical skill, and good tools for working timber and atone, aro 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 probable 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 tweed and butcher's meet, one of them who- should determine to subsist merely on oatmeal or potatoes would save money."—Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Cottags. Farm,. and- Villa Architecture, 1842 (original 1833).
[It should be remembered that pisb de terre differs very greatly from cob owing to the fact that it is rammed earth. It is not mud concrete reinforced by straw, but earth compressed by hard blows. It has much greater stability than cob.—Eu. Spectator.]
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