HOUSE AND GARDEN 
July, iqii 
Fig. III. Final position of the proposed 
dial shifted to allow more space be¬ 
tween the numerals 
Sun-dial pedestals bear sculpture, but only in the formal garden, and then only in harmony 
with the rest of the ornamentation 
draw lines through them from the central 
point E. Where these lines cross the 
circles will be the hour points. In drawing 
the figures for the hours they should have 
the same inclination as the lines radiating 
from E. The half and quarter hours 
should be made in the same way by divid¬ 
ing the distance between the points on the 
outer and inner circle, and where the lines 
from E intersect will give the position for 
the half hours and quarter hours. The 
minutes, if one chooses to put them in, can 
be spaced off with the eye, as the distances 
to be divided are short. The lower half of 
the dial can be laid out in precisely the 
same manner given above and the hour 
marks extended to, say, four o'clock in the 
morning and eight o’clock in the eve¬ 
ning ; but for ordinary, practical use 
from six o’clock in the morning to six 
o’clock in the evening covers all that 
is needed. 
In laying out a dial in this way, no 
allowance is made for the width or 
thickness of the stile or gnomon. If 
a thin gnomon is used, that is, of metal 
1/16 of an inch thick, it is scarcely 
necessary to make any allowance; but 
if a heavy gnomon is to be employed, 
having, say, a thickness of 3/16 or l /[ 
of an inch, then, instead of the single 
line AE (Figure II), there must be 
two parallel lines the same distance 
apart as the thickness of the gnomon. 
In this case, an easy method would be 
to cut into two equal parts the prelim¬ 
inary diagrams we have been describ¬ 
ing and to place between them a strip 
of paper the exact thickness of the 
gnomon to be used. 
As the hours about the middle of 
the day are closer together than those 
early in the morning or late in the 
afternoon, it makes a much better 
looking dial to shift the center towards 
the twelve o’clock mark and to draw a 
new circle from this point (Fig. III). 
The completed dial worked in brass as it 
appears with the gnomon and hour lines 
in position 
The lines radiating from E should be ex¬ 
tended to this new circle and the gnomon 
increased in proportion. That the dial 
should give the best results, a practical 
rule for the length of the gnomon is that 
the upper tip of its sun edge be directly 
over the outer line of the border contain¬ 
ing the figures of the hours (see Figure I). 
The center of the new circle should not be 
moved, however, from side to side, but 
must always be on the line AE midway be¬ 
tween the two six o'clock points, as shown 
in Figure III. 
With your dial planned, the question of 
materials is to be considered. Brass has 
the advantage of being very lasting, but 
perhaps demands more skill in marking 
than some other things. A smooth piece 
of slate can be had, however, of suffi¬ 
cient thickness to be durable. This is 
easily marked and decorated. Thomas 
Jefferson, who spent some of his leis¬ 
ure hours in plotting dials, worked 
them in slate, and at least one of them 
remains today. The modern discov¬ 
eries in the practical uses of concrete 
offer a new field adaptable to the uses 
of the sun-dial maker. The lines, and 
even the gnomon, can be put in when 
the material is still soft and the num¬ 
erals can be cut out of some metal, 
fitted with a key to hold them and let 
into the hardening substance. 
The sun-dial is not complete with¬ 
out its motto. The quaint phrasing of 
many of them seems to signify the 
ever present voice of its daily service. 
There is nothing gloomy about a dial, 
and the often used lines reminding us 
that time is flying or that we must live 
while we have time, are mal apropos. 
It is not time that is flying, for time 
is permanent; we are moving, and the 
epicurean warning of the shortness of 
life is melancholy rather than full of 
the gladness of life. A dial on the 
(Continued on page 48) 
Placed at the junction of the garden paths, the sun¬ 
dial is framed in foliage and appears at its best 
