The oldest part of our house, built before 1720 but probably not much earlier than that, has unfired mud brick nogging in the walls. This house was the original De Ridder farm just west of Cohoes Falls, in the area called the Boght. That really is 1720, not an error for 1820. The bricks are made of unfired clay or mud. They are especially interesting because they are the size of small 17th-century Dutch yellow klincker bricks. Also, they look yellow or buff colored. When I did some insulating, I had to remove a few of them. Some broken pieces that were left on the sidewalk got rained on, and they dissolved entirely by themselves into little mounds of mud. Carefully looking at the mud, I noticed mixed in were many small seeds or kernels that looked like kernels of wheat or grain. These unfired mud bricks were used to fill the walls of the house between the timber posts of the structure. Over the inside surface of the wall the interior plaster was applied, giving an uneven surface. I would be interested in knowing of any other examples of this technique this early. Paul Huey