HIT'SUM, a t. of Prussia, in the province of Sleswick-Holstein, and 22 m. w. of the town of that name, is situated on the coast of the North sea, at the mouth of a small river. It was formerly strongly fortified, and possessed many ships. Pop. '75, 5,765, who manufacture leather and tobacco, and carry on distilleries and breweries, and some trade in wool and cattle.
HUT, in army affairs, is a wooden structure, more or less rough in its details, for the housing of troops. It is substituted very often for the tent, when the sojourn in a camp or cantonment is likely to be of consideration, as. for instance, through a winter—a hut, however rude, which is wind and water-tight, being as superior in comfort to a tent as the latter is to the open air. Huts may be made of almost any size, and are sometimes for one officer; at others, for as as 100 men, The principal hut encampments at present in the United Kingdom are at Aldershot, Shorncliffe, Colchester, and the Curragh of Kildare; in British North America, lint-camps are situated at intervals of a day's march on the route from New Brunswick to Quebec, and the troops who made that winter-march in 1861 to 1862 found their shelter truly welcome.
As the hut is as useful to the settler in a wild country as it is to a soldier, we give some of the particulars of their manufacture in different forms. Huts are of four sorts: 1. The log hut; 2. The framed hut; 3. The pise hut (of tempered clay).
The log hut is formed of rough logs or trunks of trees, laid crosswise in tiers to the required height, the angles being formed by a notch on each side of the log, about one third of its diameter in depth, and a few inches from the extremity. The space between the logs is then made water-tight and air-tight by a stuffing of clay, wattles, sallows, or small bundles of twigs. Within, the joints should lie lined with laths, or the whole interior may be boarded with inch-planks, if such are attainable. The roof should be supported by a scantling (see RooF), and may consist of overlapping boards, or boards laid flush and shingled, or laths and shingles, or even birch-bark alone. The door is usually ledged, and there are one or two windows, with •glazed sashes and shutters. These should be made by regular carpenters, and taken to the place of build ing ready for use. A hut thus formed makes a snug habitation, and will last for many years; exclusive of the sashes, two men can erect, in about a week, a hut of rough logs which shall be sufficiently large for their residence—that is, with an interior area of about 15 ft. by 10 feet.
When circumstances permit the logs are occasionally squared, which enables them to be fitted more accurately to each other, and adds, of course,.to the solidity and finish
of the whole structure, as well as to its durability. In this case the corner logs, instead of crossing each other, are joined by a dove-tail, or by cutting the end of each to an angle of 45°.
The framed hut has the advantage over the log hut of allowing more exactness of finish and from its lightness and portability being easily transported to any place where logs for hut-building might not be forthcoming. It consists of a strong framework of squared wood, properly fitted together, and covered with overlapping planks or weather boards. The pieces should be sawn to the proper size, fitted to each other, and num bered; then packed together in small compass for conveyance to the intended site, where the structure can soon be erected. No one piece need exceed 11 ft. in length, 6 in. in breadth, and 2 in. in depth. The uprights should not be more than from 15 in. to 18 in. apart, and should be firmly held by diagonal tie-rods. The first step is to care fully level the ground on which the hut is to stand, and if • a dwarf-wall of stone or brick, 8 or 10 in. high, can be built round, so much the better. On this ground or wall a rectangular frame of thick wood (say 6 in. by 3) must be laid 'as a basis for the frame work; on this latter the uprights are placed, the binding tie-rods fixed, and the cup-sill, corresponding to the frame below, placed above all, every joint being carefully mortised and tenoned. The weather-boards can now be nailed on the outside, and when the roof is put on, the hut is complete. The breadth should not, for stability, exceed 16 ft.; and when the hut is of any considerable length, cross-beams should be throWn from side to side at the top. The roof should be made of ordinary scantling, as described under RooF. It is usually estimated that one of these huts, 30 ft. long, 16 broad, and 10 high, makes a good barrack-room for 20 soldiers. The camps at Aldershot and the Curragh are mainly formed of framed huts. Where extra warmth is desired, the spaces between the uprights are built up roughly with bricks, burned or unburned.
Pis4 huts, common in the s: of France, and very useful where wood is scarce, as well as very, comfortable, *are walled with blocks of clayey earth, rammed with great pressure into wooden they assume the forms of stones. These are laid one above each other much as stones themselves would be by a mason, and the wall so formed is both durable and sightly.
The most critical operation for the non-professional but-builder is roofing. This is usually of thatch, shingles, paper, or felt, if lightness be an object; and of stones, bricks, or tiles, if the walls be calculated to bear their pressure.
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