74 GARDEN DESIGN 



ingless, and to place a design on it " by eye " would 

 entail many attempts and failures, whereas with 

 the exact shape on paper it is comparatively easy 

 to make experiments. Here it is possible to carry 

 the tape over the boundary, and in B C this has 

 been done, which considerably shortens the offsets. 

 The proof line was taken across the diagonal. 

 .When the line was laid from A to C at 100 ft. 

 from A a tall stake was put, and sighting behind 

 this and D a stake was pitched on the line B C, 

 and its distance from B or C taken. This gave a 

 proof without having to stretch the tape on pur- 

 pose. 



Surveys on cleared ground are naturally 

 simpler than when obstacles exist, but when the 

 beginner has grasped the principle of building up 

 a survey by measured triangles he can use his 

 ingenuity to get over difficulties. A rough 

 sketch of the ground is first prepared, with the 

 house and other features marked on it in approxim- 

 ately correct positions. It is of course impossible 

 to get them more than relatively correct, but the 

 better this preliminary sketch is, the easier it is to 

 set down the measured figures and to understand 

 them afterwards. A careful inspection of the 

 ground should be made before deciding on the 

 method of triangulating it. Care at this stage 

 may save much time when the actual measuring 

 begins, and a full scheme must be prepared, and 

 kept to. A change of plan may lead to an omis- 



