RUNNING LINES FOR DITCHES 



179 



To use this instrument for locating the line of the ditch, calculate 

 the amount which your line should rise between each two pegs. Drive 

 a peg at the starting point with its top say six inches from the general 

 surface of the ground. Hold one end of the leveling apparatus above 

 this peg by exactly that amount which the line arises per each instru- 

 ment length (B C), and swing the other end around into the direction 

 from which the ditch is to come, until, when level, it is just six inches 

 above the ground. Drive a peg here, which will, like the first, be six 

 inches high, and proceed as before. Care should be taken to give the 

 top of each peg exactly the correct elevation. The level must be 

 horizontal when resting on any peg, and raised exactly that amount 

 which the line rises per level length, above the preceding peg. It will 



A home-made leveling instrument. 



be found convenient to use a carefully prepared block to hold on the 

 top of each stake at the rear end of the level instead of trusting to 

 measurement each time. 



Locating Contour Lines for Checks or for Distributing Ditches. 



This work can be done with the aid of the level above described. 

 For instance, to locate a contour (a line of equal elevation), as 

 required in the construction of a check levee, drive a peg until its top 

 has a convenient elevation from the ground, say one foot. Rest one 

 end of the triangle on this peg and swing the other around until, when 

 B C is horizontal, this other end has exactly the same elevation from 

 the ground as the top of the peg. At this point drive a second peg and 

 proceed as before. If the tops of the pegs be chosen as the height of 

 the levee, they may be retained as grade stakes as well as line stakes 

 for the embankment. 



Storing Water from Small Sources. For individual uses quite 

 a respectable water supply can sometimes be developed from apparently 



