84 On the Art of Building in Pisò.[Aug.

the bucket upſide down when a few days have dried the'inclofed earth. It will fall out; and the perfe&neſs of its edges, and (if any time intervene betore building) their duration, if kept under cover, is a ſufficient warranty of the ſucceſs of the pro=- jeâRed work.\

On beating a ſmall portion of earth in this manner, and weighing it immediately, the reſult was 397 lbs. In forty-five days it was completely dry, as it loſt no weight after that. The evaporated moiſture was only one-ſeventh of the 392 lbs. Hence we ſee the difference from the vulgar mud-walling of England, where the evaporation of the vaſt quantity of water therein uſed, leaves an infinite number of pores and cavities open to the attacks of the ſubſequent moiſture of the weather. Thref courſes of pisè-walling may be ſafely executed in one day in a caſe of haſte. No vegetable or animal ſubſtance, ſuch as chop- ped ſtraw, or cow hair, muſt be admitted: that would ſubtract from the durability of the wall. The previous operation on the earth is exaly that of mixing, fifting,&c. for brick-making 5 but-it js uſed much drier. The labourer who gives the-earth to the workman fs able to prepare it as faſt as it 1s wanted.:

It is uſual to cover pisè buildings with rough-caft; the only precaution is to wait till they are thoroughly dry, perhaps ſix months. If the pisè has been performed in the ſpring; the íol- lowing autumn is the time for this job.» The ſcaffold 1s ſoon run up in the holes left open, as in Fig. 6. The wall is then indented with the proper tosl, and rough-caſting goes on 2s uſual. Somctimes theſe houſes are ftuccoed and coloured with ochre,&c. In this fate it is impoſible to diſtinguiſh them from fone.

The‘elder Pliny(in his vaſt colle&ion of human knowledge and human follies, entitled, his Natural Hiſtory) deſcribes this mode of building, in B. 34: ch, 14. Tts duration much depends on the perfe&t defence of the top frem the weather: Suffice it to ſay, that many title-deeds aſcertain the duration of dwelling houſes as far as 150,” even- to 1b5 years. Indeed, as the ma- terial is of an eternal nature, thé building muſt be ſo too, un- teſs moiſture is ſuftered to ſwell it, and conſequently to throw it down.:

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————————————————— ON CYDER ORCHARDS,&c. To the Editor of the Commercial and Agricultur al Magazine.

MR. EDITOR»

T is now, I believe,‘univerſally allowed, that this iſland, under its preſent culture, cannot feed itſelf. I do not mean, however, to inſinuate, nor will I allow, that this inſufficiency arifes. from 2 want of knowledge or ſkill in the cultivators of our’