134 GRAPE CULTURE AND 



8 feet long, and four men, complete our equipment for the 

 simplest and most expedient plan for laying off I have yet 

 tried, and which will always give straight lines, if the avenues 

 -are correctly marked. 



We commence by establishing the main avenue or road, 

 first running a straight line through the center, if our piece of 

 .ground admits it, in dimension and nature of soil. This we 

 do by setting a few long stakes or guides, then drawing our 

 line from one to the other, one of our men having hold at 

 each end, and he takes a measuring pole eight feet, or any 

 other desired distance, the fourch carries a lot of markers, 

 putting one down every time the distance is measured, and 

 counting. When twenty-five are counted, the breadth of a 

 block, omit one, measuring sixteen feet to the next, so on to 

 the end of the field. We now run another line, parallel with 

 this, but sixteen feet from it, in the same way, and this es- 

 tablishes our main road or avenue. 



We now measure in the same way around each block, tak- 

 ing care to have them at right angles. If the main avenue 

 runs north and south, we run our next line below east and 

 west, or the reverse, and count fifty ; from there to north and 

 south again, counting twenty-five, and back to the main 

 avenue and the 25th marker. It is best to establish all the 

 outside lines of the blocks first. When we get this done, the 

 rest will be comparatively easy. We now draw a long line 

 from marker 2 longitudinally, over the block to marker 2 on 

 the other end, also the other long line from marker 24 to 24 

 at the other end. Two of our men now take the short line 

 on each side of the block, holding them to the next marker 

 east, while the other two take .each a bundle of markers, and 

 put them down in the angle of the crossing lines. If the men 

 move lively and precisely, and take care to stretch their line 

 well, it can be done very fast and accurately. As soon as 

 the marker is down, they both move the line to the next, and 



