PITS AND PEGS. 8 1 



justified in quoting here a very careful description 

 of the work by Mr. A. L. Cross, the writer of an 

 excellent little essay on " Ceylon Coffee." 



"When a few thousand pegs have been cut in advance," he 

 says, " the work of lining can then be commenced. The rope 

 used in lining is generally a good stout one of three-quarters of 

 an inch in thickness, and it should be well tarred to resist wet. 

 Pieces of white cord, or strips of red cloth, should be inserted 

 at the lining distance, every few feet along the rope, to mark 

 where the peg is to be put in the ground. This is usually at 

 intervals of five feet for the length, between each tree, and 

 six feet for the breadth ; in short, five by six, though other 

 distances may be preferred and used with advantage. In 

 very high and wind-blown districts five by five is a good 

 distance. The rope having been thus prepared should be 

 attached to a stout straight stick at each end of the line, 

 generally a stick six feet in length, or whatever the breadth of 

 the Coffee line is to be. A good working kangani and two 

 men, one for each end of the rope, to hold it taut, and ten or 

 twelve boys should then be selected, and each boy furnished 

 with a stick corresponding to the breadth it is intended to 

 leave between the Coffee lines. The first process is to run a 

 base line across the clearing, generally starting from the lowest 

 part, and as near the middle of the clearing as possible, and 

 when that is finished and pegged out, another at right angles to 

 it. For example, if the clearing is nearly square, thus : 



the dotted lines indicate the base lines laid down, each dot 

 representing a peg. Of course when the lining is by unequal 

 distances, say five by six, the pieces of cord or cloth, commonly 

 called by the coolies the * pu ' (flower), will require to be 



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