THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



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up, it will not generally twist it as hard as it ought to be twisted 

 by simply allowing it to run off. These few ideas will enable 

 the farmer to understand and to appreciate the FIG. 115. 

 importance of having a spool like Fig. 115. 

 It will be discovered by the cut that there are 

 three flanges to this spool, which are about 

 four inches in diameter, and two inches between 

 them. A half-inch hole is bored through the 

 spool, and it revolves easily on the part of the 

 handle which passes through it, which should 

 be made of very tough wood. In letting off 

 the line, let the workman, as one hand grasps 

 the handle, apply the thumb against one flange 

 of the spool to keep it from unwinding too 

 rapidly, and in winding it up let the spool be 

 turned by taking hold of the wrist-pin or little 

 handle, in one flange. By letting a line off 

 such a spool, and by winding it up without SPOOL FOB CHALK LINE. 

 passing it over the end of the spool, it will never become un 

 twisted, nor twisted so hard that it will curl into kinks ; and a 

 line will last much longer when kept on such a spool than it will 

 when kept on a corn cob or stick, and more than all besides, it is 

 infinitely more convenient. A chalk line is kept in one gain and 

 a fence line in the other. To keep the other line from unwind 

 ing when one is being let off, cut a gash in each flange with a 

 saw about three-sixteenths of an inch deep, and after the lines 

 are wound up draw the ends into these gashes. Always have a 

 loop in the end of each line, for hooking on a scratch-awl or pin. 

 330. When chalking the line, the line should not be allowed to 

 run across a lump of chalk, cutting gashes all through it, but the 

 chalk should be held in such a manner that the line will run 

 between the thumb and chalk, wearing down one side of the chalk. 

 A little skill will enable a workman to wear a piece of chalk all 

 out on the line without cutting gashes all through it. Select soft 

 chalk, as hard chalk will not shed, and will wear out the line. 

 For black chalk, a billet of basswood, burned to a coal, and the 



