Yesterday's common
sense ideas to help you maintain and enjoy your country home,
garden, landscape and property.
From The
American Agriculturist, 1875
In a heavy fall of snow, a sufficient quantity will collect upon a
weak roof to break it down or force the rafters to spread and
distort the shape of the building. Much damage occurs every winter
by neglecting to clear roofs of snow immediately after a storm. A
barn roof is not often accessible, nor is it safe or agreeable to
stand upon the roof of a shed and shovel snow while a north-easter
is blowing. We suggest the following plan of doing this work in a
more comfortable fashion. A board 12 inches wide and 6 feet or
less in length, is fastened to a long rope in the manner shown in
the illustration. One end of the rope is thrown over the barn roof
and held by a person on the rear side, who draws the board up on
the roof until it reaches the peak. The person in front then draws
the board down and scrapes the snow down with it. The board is
then drawn up again, the person in front guiding it to the proper
place with his end of the rope. The one in the rear steps along
each time the board is drawn up a distance equal to its length, so
as to bring the scraper in the proper position each time. To
facilitate the drawing of the board up the roof, a short rope is
temporarily fastened to its upper edge and to the long rope, by
which it is made to lie flat as it is drawn up. The roofs should
be cleared as soon as possible after each fall of snow.
