Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-09-26

.~VS
Thatched roofs are now becoming
very prominent among decorative
garden features of the Pennsylvania
country seats and surrounding we'll
kept farm homes, and it is ques-
ton whether the Pennsylvania Ger
man ancestors are responsible for in
stilling in the hearts Of their descend
ants, love for the quaint building
methods of the Fatherland or
whether 1t is a mere following of
the popular fad for introducing Jap
anese gardens on extensive estates.
Certain 1t is that much Of the roof
ing of summer houses and other gar
den retreats'is decidedly. Dutch in
design, being characteristic Of the
picturesque thatching that attracts
the attention Of the traveller in the
vicinity of Rotterdam and throughout
the country districts of Holland,
while other quaint roofs of thatch
are distinctly Japanese in design.
On the Mercer estate, at Doyles-
town, some of the finest types of
thatching are found throughout the
garden decorations, and especially in
the pheasant yard, where the gayly
plumed fowls have charming houses.
walled with bark and rooted with
thatch. The long, low shelters for
the pheasants extending along the
end of the yard are finished with
thick, warm thatch extending to the
ground, on the northern exposure,
with the sunny southern exposure
left open.
For the thatching various mate
rials are employed. For the COM
monest work straw is used, better
kinds of thatch are made Of long
meadow grass, and there Is tough
kind of reed used for this purpose,
and also certain species Of rush.
The roof requires no special prepara-
tion to receive the thatch, save that
the rafters and framework shall be
close enough together to receive it.
The thatch is formed in suitable
masses, combed with the fingers and
otherwise arranged so that all the
straws point in the same direction.
These masses are then secured and
bound down to the roof by long poles,
which are afterward removed. While
the thatch is bound down in this way
it is beaten into place by wooden
mallet. The thatch is then trimmed
into shape by pair of long-handled
shears. This is only the barest out
line of the process of thatching, and
the methods differ slightly, according
as to whether the Dutch or the Jap
anese thatches are copied. When
roof is finished 1t presents clean,
trim and symmetrical appearance,
which seems surprising when the ma
ture of the material is considered.
The caves are trimmed off square or
slightly rounded, and are often very
thick, being sometimes two feet or
more In thickness. This does not
indicate, however, that the thatch is
of the same thickness throughout.
The thatch seen In these various ways
is thus seen in sections, and some-
times by way of contrast there will
be successive layers of light and dark
thatch.
While a good deal of skill and pa
thence are required to thatch roof
evenly and properly, vastly more skill
will be required to finish the ridge.
which is often very intricate in its
structure, especially when Japanese
methods are followed. In some types
taken from the Japanese plans ver-
tical ridge poles are seen with their
ends freely projecting beyond the
gable, and wrought in gentle up
ward curve, and this style is effective
in giving light and buoyant appear
ance to what might otherwise appear
heavy and commonplace.
A roof is sometimes seen which
shows the end of a round ridge pole
projecting through the thatch at the
gable peak, and at this point a fiat
spur of wood springs up from the
ridge, to which is attached at right
angles a structure made of plank and
painted black, which projects two feet
or more beyond the gable. This ap-
pears to be a survival of an exterior
ridge pole, popular In the early days
of Japanese architecture.
Ridges composed of tile are also
popular In the novel forms of thatch