14 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDEXIXG. 



heights. As of course it would not be fair to count 

 both, ends in reckoning the number of measurements, 

 this product of the two end stakes will only count as 

 one. Add the different heights, divide by their num- 

 ber ; the product will give the mean or average height 

 throughout. Measure down each stake by this mean 

 and level up to it, and the surface of the ground will 

 present a true level. 



LeveUbig ivith Bornlng-rods. — This is still more 

 rapid and simple than the method already described. 

 Borning-rods are upright stakes or splinths, from two 

 to three inches broad, and from three and a half to 

 four feet in height, the exact height varying to suit 

 the stature of those who use them. Cross-bars are 

 fixed against the rod at exactly right angles with it, 

 so that the cross-bar forms a horizontal line as far 

 I i as it goes, the stake being perpendicular with 

 it. Two of these stakes should be of exactly 

 the same height, and one, or what may be 

 called the sighting one, about an inch taller 

 N than the other two. On this, and exactly 

 ^ R)d"^" at the same height from the ground, a small 

 sighting -hole should be bored, at an equal 

 distance from each end of the cross-bar, and an inch 

 from its upper surface. This should be very small, 

 and after making should be burned black with a hot 

 iron, to make and keep it perfectly clean. This 

 sighting or borning-rod is fixed in the earth at one 

 end of the ground to be levelled, and another fixed 



Fig. 6. — Levelling' with Boruins-rods. 



at the other end. (See Fig. 6.) Then a man or a boy 

 distributes stakes all along the line to be levelled, 

 which ought to be kept quite straight between the 

 two points, and places the third borning-stake on to 

 the ground, or a stake driven into it. When, on look- 

 ing through the sight-hole, the tops of the other two 

 can be seen at once, the borning-rods are either level 

 or at an even fall. The jDrocess of placing the third 

 borning-stake is repeated along the line at distances 

 of ten, fifteen, or twenty feet, as the case may be, and 

 Avhen completed, the line of earth or of stakes on 

 which they rested indicates a level, or an even fall. 

 In places where the earth is too high, it must be 

 removed, and the stakes driven in till the top of the 

 borning-rod lines with the sight-hole and the top of 

 the fixed stake at the other end. 



This mode of levelling can be done with tolerable 

 exactness with rods of equal length, without the 

 sight-hole ; but that simple contrivance makes the 

 matter much easier; and if the work is carefully 

 done the level or fall is absolutely perfect. The 

 light is apt to confuse the eyes, as it flashes on the 

 cross-bars of the three borning-rods at once, whereas, 

 when seen through a sight-hole, the third can be set 

 in line with the other two with absolute certainty, 

 and far greater ease and. rapidity. The cross-bars 

 are best painted white, with half an inch of black 

 from the top downwards. This simple mode of 

 levelling is invaluable for the making of walks, the 

 laying down of box or other garden-edgings, the 

 levelling of lawns, the determining of the regular 

 fall of di-ains, or any other purpose where a simple, 

 easy, and expeditious mode of levelling is required. 



It is always desirable to drive stakes fii-mly into 

 the ground in this mode of levelling, as these serve 

 the double purpose of forming a ground- line parallel 

 with the top of the borning-rods, and of lea^ing• a 

 permanent guide for the men to work to in mo^'ing- 

 the soil. In cases of considerable irregularity of 

 ground, the labour of digging to the i)roper level 

 may be avoided, and the stakes themselves made to 

 serve a double purpose, by starting the stakes a 

 foot or so higher than the ground is intended to be. 

 The process of levelling with the rods proceeds just 

 as before. The tops cf the elevated stakes are level, 

 or on an even fall, and by measuring a foot down 

 on each, the line of the ground is found. In cases 

 of even greater irregularities, the highest points of 

 the ground may be taken as the starting-level for 

 the borning-rods, and the desired level may be found 

 by measuring to the ground-line, and finding the 

 measure as already indicated by Fig. 5. 



There are many other means of levelling ground, 

 but none more simple and efficient, and therefore 

 none better, nor likely to be of more general use to 

 readers of a work of this character. 



FLOEISTS' FLOWEES. 



Bt Eichard Dean. 



rriHE distinctive term of "florists' flowers" repre- 

 X sents now, with a larger meaning than it did a 

 quarter of a century ago, a group of subjects, some 

 of which have for many years past been taken in 

 hand by persons specially interested in them ; and 

 cultivated, as well as improved, with great care, 

 mainly for the exhibition table. The annals of 

 floriculture are prolific of recox-ds showing how 

 workers in various positions in society, but mainly 



