Part 6 (1/2)

_Rendering_--”For the rough-weather sides of cob buildings I have found ceh surface, satisfactory, and far h cast For interior cob walls, laths are not necessary The old plastering was frequently laid on too thick Of late years I have used with excellent results granite silicon plaster for ceilings and walls This requires no hair, and is easily applied”

_The Cob Tradition_--”Cob- was, like eneration to generation and developed by them into an art, but apart froe mason and his labourers built as much with cob as they did with stone There are men still left in various parts of the county who have e if deed sailors and soldiers who are anxious to take up work on the land”

_Training of ex-Soldiers_--”In cob-building, as in reater help to the novice than any ae and experience that thesean expert in e in the development of the county scheme promoted by the Central Land association for the establishment of ex-Service men on the land They could try their 'prentice hands on walls, tool-sheds, cart linhays, etc, for their own use, and some no doubt would develop into expert builders capable of constructing walls for dwelling-houses from approved plans”

_1819 Conditions Returned_--”The depletion of our horown timber supply and the prohibitive cost of practically all building ht about the conditions that led our forefathers to utilise suitable material that lay nearest to hand, and unless some endeavour is made to follow their methods and profit by their exas for the necessary equip accommodation for the workers on the land”

[Headnote: A Champion of Cob]

There is probably no one who knows more about cob than does Mr

Fulford--certainly no one who has doneboth by precept and example

Cob is the traditional ht up on cob--he is familiar with both the ancient history and the , and in short, he ”knows”

When a revivalist has knowledge as well as enthusiasrounds of his faith are usually worth serious attention

II

_PISe DE TERRE_

-- I GENERAL

_What it is_--”Pise de terre” is merely the French for raoodis that its very obvious merits should have secured it such sled war-tiht forth by our present necessity, but a very ancient systeives an excellent account of Pise-building in his _Natural History_, and Monsieur Gorffon, who published a treatise on this method of construction in 1772, states that it was first introduced into France by the Ro extracts froinal will serve well as an introduction to the study of Pise-building:

_Capabilities_--”An account of aand durable houses, with no other es in the province of Lyons, though little known in the rest of France, or in any other part of Europe It appeared to be attended with so entlemen in this country who employ their leisure in the study of rural economy were induced to make a trial of its efficiency; and the result of their experiments has been of such a nature as to make thee and practice of so beneficial an art

”The possibility of raising the walls of houses two or even three stories high, with earth only, which will sustain floors loaded with the heaviest weights, and of building the largest manufactories in this manner, may astonish every one who has not been an eye-witness of such things”

_Of Pise and its Origin_--”Pise is a very si earth inhouses of any size or height”

_Locale_--”This art, though at present confined to the single province of the Lyonese in France, was known and practised at a very early period of antiquity The Abbe Rozier, in his _Journal de Physique_, says that he has discovered some traces of it (Pise) in Catalonia; so that Spain, like France, has a single province in which this ancienthas been preserved The art, however, well deserves to be introduced into eneral use The cheapness of theof time and labour which it admits of, must recommend it in all places and on all occasions, but the French author says that it will be found particularly useful in hilly countries, where carriage is difficult, and sos, which, as they must be made of considerable extent, are usually very expensive, without yielding any return”

[Headnote: Method of Building]

-- II METHOD OF BUILDING

There is an exhaustive article on Pise in Vol XXVII of _The Cyclopaedia or Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature_, published in 1819 The writer, Abraham Rees, DD, FRS, FLS, draws chiefly on French authorities and his directions are most detailed and precise