''Lining!' 107 



sufficiently strong to bear being well driven into 

 the ground with a mallet ; a coolie should be able 

 to make from three to four hundred of them in a 

 day. A rope must now be procured, and marked 

 off with strips of coloured cloth at the proper 

 distances, say every four, five, or six feet, according 

 to the distance intended to be observed between 

 the plants. A couple of measuring rods, with 

 which to regulate the distance between each line, 

 will complete the apparatus required. 



The rope having been previously well stretched, 

 and all being in readiness, an intelligent man should 

 be put in charge of each end. It is usual to run 

 the lines straight up the face of the hill, i.e. con- 

 forming as much as possible to the greatest de- 

 clivity of the general lay of the land, a peg being 

 driven in opposite every mark on the rope. A 

 coolie with one of the measuring rods should now 

 mark out a base line, planting pickets in a straight 

 line at right angles to the direction taken by the 

 rope, so that when the first vertical line has been 

 marked out, the rope may be moved on to the 

 next of these, and so on. Care should be taken in 

 measuring a cross or base line, that the rod is held 

 perfectly level and horizontally, as well as at a 

 perfect right angle, otherwise, of course, the distance 

 will become diminished, and the lines instead of 

 continuing to run parallel will gradually converge. 



