LAYING OUT THE GROUND. 



77 



est side of the field. Then, after the marks have all been 

 made in one direction, the cross-marking should be com- 

 menced near the middle of the plot, or where the rows 

 will be the longest, marking each way from the middle of 

 the field. The idea will be to run the marker across the 

 first marks at an angle of about sixty degrees. The cor- 

 rect direction may be readily ascertained by the aid of a 

 surveyor's compass. But an inexperienced beginner sel- 

 dom has the advantage of such an instrument; and even 

 if he does possess one, there are thousands who must rely 

 on some more simple and cheap device, to aid them in the 

 performance of such a job. 



The accompanying illustration, representing a sweep for 

 marking out ground, 

 is a figure of a device 

 which we have em- 

 ployed in laying out 

 the ground for grape- 

 vines and fruit-trees. 

 The sweep was made 

 by securing two light 

 strips of wood, A A, 

 to the stakes B B, 

 with small round 



Fig. 41. 

 A 



A sweep for marking out the places for trees. 



bolts, or with large wood screws, so that the horizontal 

 bars may be turned a little, like a hinge. The stakes should 

 be about five feet long, two inches in diameter, either round 

 or square, and pointed, so that the lower ends may be thrust 

 into the ground at pleasure. With such a device, two boys, 

 or illiterate laborers, who do not know an angle from a par- 

 allel of latitude, may proceed to mark out ground for any 

 thing with as much facility and dispatch as an experienced 

 surveyor can do it with a compass. It will be very difficult 

 to do the work wrong if the first row is only staked out 



