Harper's Outdoor Book for Boys

by Joseph H. Adams

The ends of the cross-reeds are to be bent around the end upright reeds as shown in Fig. 15, where they can be bound with string or tied with grass. The window openings in the side frames are made by cutting out a section of one or two uprights and turning the cross-reeds back and tying them. At the doorway two upright sticks are driven into the ground and a rail nailed across their upper ends.

To this wooden frame the front reeds may be attached, and the skeleton hut or house is then ready to be thatched with long, dry grass or dried cat-tail reeds. The thatching is done by interweaving long grasses or reeds between the cross-reeds in a vertical position as shown in Fig. 16. The thatching material should be from eighteen to twenty-four inches long so that it can be interwoven between three cross-reeds as shown in Fig. 17, where a few strands of grasses are placed in position to give an idea of how to weave the grass.

Timothy or straw can be used to good advantage for thatching material, and if it is employed it should be woven with the heads up and not too close together, as the air should get through the thatching to keep the occupants of the hut cool. Of course a house may be made larger or smaller than the one described, but the principle of good construction is the same. Never depend on the four sides to hold together without the corner-posts, as the first good wind that happened along would blow it flat, and perhaps beyond the possibility of repair.

The edges of each side are lashed fast to the corner-posts with grass or string, and when the roof is made it should be lashed fast to the top of the sides and front with long reeds or grass.

The roof is woven the same as the sides but is thatched closer; and about four inches of the roof should extend over the sides, front, and rear.

A Brush “Lean-to”

The general lines of a miniature barn are shown in the illustration of a brush “lean-to” (Fig. 18). This is constructed in nearly the same manner as the brush-house, and thatched with grass or reeds as shown in Figs. 16 and 17.