Fig. 181.—Mosaic Seats for Octagonal Summer-house.
It is usual to bind thatching down with at least two belts of buckles and runners. In the summer-house ([Fig. 172]) two double belts are shown. The buckles have some resemblance to ladies' hair-pins on a colossal scale. They are made of slips of withy, twisted and doubled in their middles and pointed at their ends; the runners are long straight slips of the same. These latter are laid across the thatch, and the buckles, being placed over them, are pushed tightly into it—their points being driven upwards, that wet may not be let into the roof by them. The short diagonal runners seen in the illustration crossing each other between the horizontal lines are used in ornamental thatching only, and are rather for appearance than for use. Lastly, the eaves are cut to shape, and trimmed with paring-knife and shears.
The roof looks most pretty and cosy within if lined with ling. The ling is fixed in a way somewhat akin to thatching. A layer is placed along the bottom opposite to the eaves, and secured by a strip of wood nailed from rafter to rafter; the layer next above hides this strip, and so the work is carried on to the apex, where a knot cut from an apple-tree trunk, a bunch of fir-cones fastened together, or some such matter, finishes the whole. In districts where ling is not to be had, gorse or furze in short pieces may serve instead, but stout gloves are required to handle it; or the ends of fir branches may do, if nothing better offers.
It is not always easy to decide on the best way of forming a floor. Boards may look out of place. A pitching of pebbles is more in character: it is dry and cleanly, and especially if some variety of colour is obtainable, and the stones are arranged in some geometrical design, it may add to the ornamental effect. Pebbles are not, however, pleasing to the feet of those who wear thin shoes. Gravel, where it is always dry, is apt to become dusty, and to disagree with ladies' dresses. If, however, gravel should be used, perhaps the best plan to prevent the rising of damp, and to obviate dust as far as possible, is to asphalt it: on the foundation of broken stones and a layer of coarse gravel to put a course of asphalt or of ordinary gas tar, and on this to sift enough fine washed gravel to hide it. Yet a wood pavement of small larch poles, cut into 5-or 6-in. billets, and pitched with some attention to geometrical arrangement, will make the most dry and comfortable of floors, and one which will not harmonise badly with any of the decorative work of our summer-house.
The octagonal house illustrated by Fig. 182 is made up of varnished rustic work. The saplings and twigs should be as straight and as regular as possible, and divested of their bark.
Fig. 182.—Octagonal Summer-house with Three Gables.
Fig. 183.—Vertical Section of Octagonal Summer-house through Side Casement.
Fig. 184.—Vertical Section of Octagonal Summer-house through Lower Part of Door and Sill.