280 



SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 



Part II. 



1371. The spirit-level, with a theodolite, compass, and telescope, is used for laying out ex- 

 tensive scenes. The most convenient are put together, and assume the form of a stout 

 walking-stick. Smalcalder is at present the best London artist in this line. 



1372. The staff is used in laying out straight lines. It may be a straight rod of six or 

 eight feet long or upwards, and one inch in diameter ; with the first six inches at the top 

 painted white, the second black, and the third six inches red. Two points of the desired 

 straight line being found or given, any greater number of points are found by placing 

 other staffs or rods so as they shall range, and the first staff conceal from the eye placed 

 behind it, all the rest in the line ; the use of the three different colors is to render the ends 

 distinctly visible when the ground is fresh dug, white or covered with snow, or green, as 

 in pastures. 



1373. The straight-edge, for a garden, may also serve for a plumb-rule. It is merely a 

 slip of board with straight parallel edges and sides, of any length from four to ten feet, 

 with the addition of a plummet for occasional use as a plumb-rule. It is used to form 

 and prove smaller levels, between points settled, by the borning-pieces ; or to prove beds 

 or borders of even or plane surfaces. As a plumb-rule, this implement is also used to 

 place espalier rails, temporary walls of boards, and even standard trees, upright. 



1374. The stake is any straight piece of wood of an inch or two in diameter, and from 

 one to four feet in length. There are two sorts, the one short and thick, of one foot or 

 eighteen inches in length, and used, by being driven into the ground in levelling, as resting- 

 places for the level, or fixed indications of surface alterations ; the other, comparatively 

 slender and long, may either be covered with white-wash, or the lower half dipped in 

 white- wash, and the upper half in a black-wash, or they may be painted as the staffs. The 

 last kind are used for tracing out lines of any description, or for indicating the situations 

 of trees, or other objects. Twigs and bits of lath are commonly used as substitutes, but 

 wherever correctness is any object, the trifling expense of two or three hundred of such 

 stakes, should not deter from procuring them. 



Subsect. 3. Instruments of Designation. 



1375. The object of designating instruments is to record and render ascertainable the 

 individuality of objects, and chiefly of plants; either as species, genera, or varieties. A 

 tally or stake driven into the soil and remaining fast, is, mechanically considered, a 

 wedge held in equilibrium by the resistance of the earth. Wherever there is a variety of 

 plants cultivated, it becomes necessary to be able to mark and distinguish them, as well 

 when in a growing state, as when in a state of hybernation, or recent insertion in the 

 soil. — In sending plants to any distance, the same thing is requisite. For both purposes 

 the name is either written on some instrument, and attached to or placed beside the 

 plant ; or a number is made use of instead of the name, from which reference is made to 

 a written list. Of both these a considerable variety is used in gardening. 



1376. Notch number ing-sticks are of several distinct species. 



1377. The common tally (tailler, Fr.), or number-stick (Jig. 160.), is a slip of lath, or 



170 163 



164 165 



I / \ /W VTfW, V 



9 OSpeciej; 



^ 



deal, or a piece of a rod, nine or twelve inches long, sharpened at one end and squared 

 at the other. The numbers, to nine inclusive, are cut on the face with a knife in 

 Roman numerals (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX.) ; reading always from the 

 insertion, or sharpened end. Ten is formed by a notch or tally on the near angle, and 

 placed behind the above numerals, extends the series from eleven to nineteen. Twenty 

 is formed by two notches, thirty by three, and so on : the nine numerals above being 



