86 



THE AMERICAN GARDENER. [Chap. 



should have started on a straight side, or on the 

 straightest side, leaving out any crook or angle that 

 there might have been. I should have taken two 

 distant objects, two objects, found, or placed, be- 

 yond the end of the work, and should have directed 

 the head of the ox in a line with those two objects. 

 Before I started, I should have measured off the 

 width to find where the ox ought to come to again, 

 and. then have fixed two objects to direct his coming 

 back. I should have done this at each end, till the 

 piece had been finished. 



166. But, is there no other use, to which this 

 roller could be put? Have I not seen, in the mark- 

 ing of a corn-field, a man (nay, the farmer himself) 

 mounted upon a horse, which dragged dilog of wood 

 after it, in order to indicate the lines upon which 

 the corn was to be planted I And have I not, at 

 other times, seen the farmer making these marks, 

 one at a time, with a plough ? And have I not seen 

 the beauty of these most beautiful scenes of vege- 

 tation marred by the crookedness of the lines thus 

 drawn ? Now, take my roller, take all the teeth out 

 but three, let these three be at four feet apart. Be- 

 gin well on one side of the field ; mount your 

 horse : load the teeth v/ell with a stone tied on 

 each ; drop the bar ; take two objects in your eye ; 

 go on, keep the two objects in line, and you draw 

 three lines at once, all straight and parallel, even if 

 a mile long. Then, turn, and carefully fix the horse 

 again, so that you leave four feet between the out- 

 side line drawn before and the inside tooth. You 

 have already measured at the other end (where you 

 started,) and have placed two objects for your 

 guide. Go on, keeping these objects in a line ; and 

 you have three rnore lines. Thus you proceed till 

 the field be finished. Here is a great saving of 



