Chapter XX

TREE HUTS AND BRUSH-HOUSES

The most delightful season in the woods, throughout the northern and middle parts of the United States, is during the summer months, and in the South right up to Christmas; while in other parts of the country, through southern Texas and California, the woods are attractive all through the year.

Brush-houses, sylvan retreats, and tree huts of various kinds are made by boys all over the country, and some very unique and original ones are often constructed from simple and inexpensive materials. Everything from the back-yard “lean-to” and the tent of sheets to the tree huts that are inaccessible when the rope-ladder is drawn up may be made by boys who are at all handy with tools, and a well-built tree hut is an ideal place in which to spend one’s vacation days.

The following ideas and suggestions may be of service, and they have all been tested in practical experience.

A Low Twin-tree Hut

A very serviceable twin-tree hut is shown in Fig. 1, and it can easily be constructed, at a small cost, from ordinary boards and timbers. If it is built high up in the trees it is doubly secure from invasion, for the ladder can be drawn up when the owners are at home and it will be a difficult matter for outsiders to enter.

To properly build this hut select a location between two trees six to eight feet apart. The trees should have comparatively straight trunks at least fifteen inches in diameter, and no cavities at the base nor indications of decay.

With an axe clear off the brush and small branches for twenty feet up from the ground at the inside of the trunks, or where the hut is to be located. From a lumber-yard obtain four or five pieces of spruce or other timber two inches thick, eight inches wide, and sixteen feet long. Saw off and nail two of these pieces to the trunks of the trees eight feet above the ground, first cutting away some of the bark and wood of the trunk to afford a flat surface for the timbers to lie against on each side. Six-inch steel-wire nails will be required for these anchorages, and under the timbers and lying flat against the tree-trunks bracket-blocks two-by-eight inches and fifteen inches long are securely spiked to lend additional support to the cross-timbers.

Cut two timbers six feet long and two others the length of the distance between tree-trunks. In the six-foot pieces cut notches at the under side as shown in Fig. 2 C C. Into these the ends of bracket-timbers D D will fit. Cut the ends of the timbers forming the square frame so that they will dovetail as shown in Fig. 3. Spike the six-foot timbers to the tree-trunks so that they will rest on the first two timbers that were nailed to the trees, and from the two-by-eight-inch wood cut four brackets D D, and spike them fast under each cross-timber so each tree will appear as shown in Fig. 2. Place the remaining two timbers in position so that the ends will fit into those fastened to the trees, and nail them fast as shown in Fig. 4.

In Fig. 5 the first timbers can be seen spiked to the tree-trunks, where they are supported by the fifteen-inch blocks nailed fast below them. The cross-timbers are shown at A A, and the last ones, forming the frame that are let into dove-tailed joints at the ends, are shown at B B. Cut two more timbers E E, and lay them across the supporting timbers, nailed to the tree, so they will fit inside the front and back timbers B B, where they are to be well secured with long nails. The floor frame will then be complete.

From two-by-three-inch spruce construct a frame seven feet high at the front, six feet at the back, and spike the side timbers F F, forming the top, to the inside of the tree-trunks as shown in Fig. 5. The bottom of the uprights are to be mounted on the corners of the floor frame as shown in Fig. 4, where four long nails will hold them securely in place.

Cut two timbers and arrange them in an upright position at the front thirty inches apart, where the door will come, then half-way between the floor and top of the framework run a timber all around except between the door timbers. This will add a strengthening rib to which the sheathing boards can be nailed, and will also make one more anchorage to the tree-trunks. The side-rails should be spiked to the tree-trunks in a corresponding manner to that of the top or roof-strips. From a lumber-yard obtain some four, six, or ten inch matched boards, planed on both sides, and use them for the floor and sheathing.

The roof may be made from the same kind of boards, and over them a thickness or two of tarred paper is to be laid and fastened down at the edges and seams with small metal washers and nails that can be had where the paper is purchased. This will make the roof water-tight, for a season at least; and if it is given one or two coats of paint it will preserve the paper so that it may last for several years.

Two or three windows twenty-four inches square may be placed in the back and sides of the hut above the middle rib; and a door of boards held together with battens, as shown in the illustration, is to be made and hung with long, stout strap-hinges. A knob lock or a hasp and padlock will keep the door closed when the hut is unoccupied. When in use a wooden button will hold the door shut from the inside.

A ladder of hickory poles and cross-sticks should be made twenty inches wide and provided with loops at the top that will fit over large nails driven in the door-sill, so as to keep it from slipping when it bends under the weight of a boy.

Where the rungs join the side-rails of the ladder the union is made by lashing the cross-sticks fast with tarred rigging or stout cotton line. If a flexible ladder is preferred ropes may be used in place of the side-rails to which the rungs are lashed fast. When the owners are at home the ladder can be drawn up and hung on nails driven in the front edge of the roof. If a rope-ladder is used it can be drawn in and rolled up.

Inside of the hut, at either end, a seat eighteen inches wide should be built in about sixteen inches up from the floor. These seats can be used as bunks if desired. Some narrow shelving should be arranged over the windows and fastened there with brackets, on which small things may be kept.

A small table may be made from some ends of the sheathing boards and two-by-three-inch spruce sticks; and boxes may be used for seats, or small benches can easily be knocked together as shown in Fig. 6 A. Under the table a ledge twelve inches wide is to be attached to the lower cross-rails that connect the legs as shown at Fig. 6 B.

A wall-nest may be made from a shoe-case in which four or five shelves are arranged as shown in Fig. 6 C. A door made from the box-cover is attached with hinges, and a catch or hasp will keep it closed.

A High Twin-tree Hut

Twelve or fifteen feet above the ground, and built in between the trunks of two stout trees, a high tree hut is shown in Fig. 7. Larger and more substantial trees must be selected to build this hut in than the ones for the low hut, and as a rope-ladder will probably be used a landing-deck or piazza should be built at the front of the hut.

While this hut is built between two trees it is also built against them, as the trunk of each tree can be partially enclosed in the hut. The under cross-timbers that support the floor frame are to be attached to the trees the same as described for the low tree hut, and on these the other timbers are laid and fastened as shown in Fig. 8. The main timbers extend beyond the outside of the trunks, and the supporting and floor timbers enclose each trunk. At the front the frame is carried forward two feet more than at the back, allowing this much for the width of the deck. The uprights are arranged somewhat differently also, as they are bound at the top to scantlings that butt into the trunks. Fig. 8 A A.

Instead of a flat roof like the low hut, this one is to have a pitched roof, the supporting timbers of which are attached to the ridge-poles B B, which are fastened to the tree-trunks in the same manner as the under cross-timbers. This construction is clearly shown in Fig. 8, where the location of each upright and cross-piece is indicated.

A rail is run along the front and one end of the deck, and is fastened at the top of four uprights of two-by-three-inch spruce, the lower ends of which are securely nailed to the front stringers as the illustration shows.

In place of the supporting brackets D D that are let into the timber C at Fig. 2, longer brackets or props are caught under the floor timbers and braced at the lower end against the trunks, where an additional anchorage or support is made by a stout block which is securely spiked to the trunk underneath each bracket end as shown in Fig. 8 C C. The frame is then enclosed as described for the low hut, and windows and a door are mounted as shown.

A long, stiff ladder may be used to climb up, but a more interesting ladder can be made of rope and hickory rungs. By means of a thin rope attached to the bottom rung the ladder can be hauled up to the deck so that it is out of the reach of other boys; and being fastened at the top, no one can remove it or pull it away as they could a stiff ladder.

A rope-ladder is made of stout clothes-line and hickory rungs lashed together securely with strong line as shown in Fig. 9. The rungs are of straight hickory with or without the bark on, one inch and a quarter thick and twenty-four inches long. Near the end of each rung a notch is cut on both sides for the rope to lie in, as shown at the upper end of Fig. 9, and each union is to be very securely bound with the line so as to prevent slipping.

The ladder is hung on stout wooden pegs driven into the deck through holes one inch and a half in diameter. An extra rope is to be carried from the top rung up over the pegs and down again, where a wrap is taken over one or two rungs; then it is lashed fast to the other ropes with the stout line as shown in Fig. 10.

Bunks and furniture can be made for the interior, and any other convenient accessories to the comfort and pleasure of the boy owners may be added as need arises.

A Single-tree Hut

In the spreading branches of a large oak-tree a very snug roost can be made high above the ground as shown in Fig. 11 (frontispiece).

This single-tree hut is twenty-five feet above the ground, and below it is a landing from which the rope-ladder is dropped. From this landing to the piazza or deck of the hut a stiff ladder is made fast both at top and bottom, and an opening in the floor of the deck will allow room to climb up on the deck.

As very few trees are alike it would be difficult to give a plan for the floor timbers among the out-spreading branches; but from the plans shown for the twin-tree hut some idea of the construction can be had for single-tree huts.

The main tree-trunk will, of course, have to project up through the hut, and the location in the tree should be selected so that out-spreading branches will form a support to the lower edges of the floor frame as may be seen in Fig. 12, the plan of a low tree hut.

A peaked, a mansard, or a flat roof can be placed on the hut, depending on the main trunk to give it support; and if the space in the tree will permit, a deck across the front and both sides will be found useful. The floor timbers should be well braced to the main trunk of the tree with long and short bracket-pieces or props. These will help greatly in making the hut steady in the tree, and where the lower ends are attached to the trunk large spikes should be well driven in. Cleats or blocks can be nailed fast under the ends also, as they will help to support and strengthen the anchorage.

Water and food can be kept cool by suspending them in a shady place. Water in a porous jug or earthen pitcher will keep very cold if hung in the tree branches where the air can freely circulate around it. Keep fire away from the tree huts, and do not light any matches nor burn candles, for if once a fire is started nothing will save your hut. It is too high to reach with a bucket, and, located as it is, a perfect draught will fan a small flame into a raging fire in no time.

A Low Single-tree Hut

It is not always best to build a hut in high trees, nor is it possible to do so in every case, because there may not be any high, large trees at hand strong enough to support a hut. For younger boys a low tree hut is preferable, so that if a possible misstep should result in a fall it would be less harmful than from a high tree. An apple or maple tree often affords a good support for a low tree hut, and if the trunk is substantially heavy a house similar to the one shown in Fig. 12 (page 358) can easily be constructed. The tree should be large enough to bear the weight of the house without straining it, particularly in a storm or high wind.

The general construction of the frame is shown in Fig. 12. The frame should be of two-by-three-inch spruce and the flooring beams can be of two-by-four-inch spruce or other timber. One or two windows and a door may be arranged in the hut, and tar-paper tacked on the roof will make it water-proof.

Access to the hut can be had by means of a ladder made from two-by-three-inch spruce rails with hickory rungs, or two-by-one-inch hard-wood sticks securely nailed to the rails.

A Brush-house

In nearly every part of the country where there is low ground one may generally find a high growth of plant life having a long stalk, with the greatest number of leaves at or near the top. Artichokes, cat-tail reeds, wild sunflower, and the stronger species of flag have stalks and reeds sufficiently strong from which to make the sides and roof of a hut or small house such as Fig. 13 depicts.

This growth is often ten feet high, and will have a straight and uniform reed at least seven or eight feet up from the ground before the thick top foliage reduces it in size. This last should be cut away and the smaller under branches and leaves trimmed off, leaving a comparatively straight shaft from six to eight feet long. This will be limber enough to be woven basket-fashion, and quite stiff enough to hold the thatching of meadow-grass or cat-tail reeds.

To build a brush-house like the one shown in the illustration, four sticks are to be set in the ground about six feet apart, forming a square. These should be eight feet long and sunk two feet into the ground, the upper ends being bound together with rails two inches wide and an inch thick.

A pitch can be given to the roof by cutting off the rear posts six inches and leaving six inches more of the front posts out of the ground, thereby allowing a pitch of one foot to the six-toot length of roof. This slant is not necessary, however, and the roof may be flat if it is easier to make.

From the reeds a basket framework with eight-inch meshes is to be woven, as the boys are doing in Fig. 14. Three of these frames are to be made for the sides and rear of the hut, and at the front, above the doorway, a smaller one is to be made to cover the space between the front posts.

The ends of the cross-reeds are to be bent around the end upright reeds as shown in Fig. 15, where they can be bound with string or tied with grass. The window openings in the side frames are made by cutting out a section of one or two uprights and turning the cross-reeds back and tying them. At the doorway two upright sticks are driven into the ground and a rail nailed across their upper ends.

To this wooden frame the front reeds may be attached, and the skeleton hut or house is then ready to be thatched with long, dry grass or dried cat-tail reeds. The thatching is done by interweaving long grasses or reeds between the cross-reeds in a vertical position as shown in Fig. 16. The thatching material should be from eighteen to twenty-four inches long so that it can be interwoven between three cross-reeds as shown in Fig. 17, where a few strands of grasses are placed in position to give an idea of how to weave the grass.

Timothy or straw can be used to good advantage for thatching material, and if it is employed it should be woven with the heads up and not too close together, as the air should get through the thatching to keep the occupants of the hut cool. Of course a house may be made larger or smaller than the one described, but the principle of good construction is the same. Never depend on the four sides to hold together without the corner-posts, as the first good wind that happened along would blow it flat, and perhaps beyond the possibility of repair.

The edges of each side are lashed fast to the corner-posts with grass or string, and when the roof is made it should be lashed fast to the top of the sides and front with long reeds or grass.

The roof is woven the same as the sides but is thatched closer; and about four inches of the roof should extend over the sides, front, and rear.

A Brush “Lean-to”

The general lines of a miniature barn are shown in the illustration of a brush “lean-to” (Fig. 18). This is constructed in nearly the same manner as the brush-house, and thatched with grass or reeds as shown in Figs. 16 and 17.

The corner-posts are three feet high, the ridge-pole seven feet and six inches above the ground, and the hut may be from five to eight feet square or made oblong, as a matter of choice.

A frame of scantling should be made for this lean-to the same as if a wooden structure were to be built, and it must be nailed together well to stand the strain of the wind blowing hard against it. In general construction the frame should appear like Fig. 19; and to the sticks the edges of the thatched framework of reeds is to be lashed fast with grass, either before or after the thatching is done.

A brush-house or any hut built on or near the ground is not so cool to stay in as one in the trees, but it is, of course, much easier to construct, as the boy builders do not have to move about so carefully when at work, and their materials can be picked up quickly.

Brush huts and houses can be built on the plains where trees are scarce, but in a country rich in woods and forests the boys prefer the tree huts, not only for their cool location, but on account of the romance involved in the climbing up to an inaccessible eyrie.