OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, il

nearly through; upon which I had the floor taken up, and found all the planks in the same situation, and the beams almost totally perished; upon which I consulted a very experienced architeét, who advised me to lay the next floor still higher than the former, and if possible to admit a cir- culation of air under the same, as the situation of the barn must be very subject to the damp rot. I relaid the floor with new beams and plank of the same thickness as the former; the.beams were fixed upon brick piliars, fourteen inches high, so that the floor lay twenty-eight inches hol- low; and under each door-sill was two grates, about one foot square each, that gave a current of air under the floor through the barn, and by the beams being laid upon sup- porters of brick, the whole floor was hollow except the nine inch pillars.

‘*‘The current of air was not through the middle of the floor, as the doors were more to one side than the other. In about two years the planks that were farthest from the passage of air fell down, all reduced to rotten wood, but about# of an inch at the upperside; upon taking up the floor, I found the beams nearly reduced to rotten wood, except those that lay near the current of air, which were very sound, as was also the plank. that lay over them in that situation.:

“¢ After these trials in the usual way of laying barn floors, I determined upon the following experiment:—to lay the next floor solid, im lime and sand mortar; upon which I removed every part of the former materials, and fixed fresh beams upon a spreading of mortar, at about six feet asunder, so as to suit the piecing of the planks to pin to; between each beam I filled the space with stones and thin mortar, that the whole was made solid with the upper sides of the beams; when this preparation was sufficiently dry, I culled the best of the remaining planks from each of the former floors, and before the workman laid down each plank, the space that I covered was spread with fine mortar, even upon the beams; then the plank was laid