of a small square, similar to the one accompanying the United States standard yards, with which the yards for the counties should likewise be provided; it will also allow of other yard measures being laid upon this, in order to compare their lengths and divisions more readily. 2. The standards of liquid capacity measures should be the gallon, containing 231 cubic inches, the half gallon, quart, pint, half pint, and gill, all to be made of brass. The body of the vessels to be made of sheet brass, one tenth of an inch in thickness, thickened at the top by a band to one fifth of an inch. The bottom to be made of cast brass, turned, since the effects of use, and of the comparisons, if made with water, will make this necessary. The interior dimensions should be the same as the United States standards. The standards should be without handles, as they will be equally convenient for the purpose of comparing the town standards, and it will tend to prevent their being used for other purposes. 3. The standards of dry measures should consist of the half bushel, to contain 1,075.21 cubic inches. The peck, the half peck, and quarter peck to be of a cylindrical form, made of stout sheet brass, one tenth of an inch in thickness, and thickened at the top by a band to one fifth of an inch; the bottom, also, to be of stout sheet brass, one fifth of an inch thick, and slightly concave, to prevent the spring in the bottom, which might occur if the bottom were a plane. The interior diameter of each measure should be equal to the height from the center of the bottom to the plane of the rim. The half bushel should have handles for the convenience of handling; but it will be better for the others not to have them, for the reasons mentioned in reference to the liquid measures. The thickness of the bottom, one fifth of an inch, will be sufficient for these measures, as the comparisons can be made by filling with small seed (rape seed is preferable), and “striking" it. The form proposed, it is believed, will be found to be preferable to that of shallower vessels, or even to any other. It is similar to the French dry measures. It is more convenient for striking and handling than a shallower measure. It is to be hoped that the introduction of this form will be a step towards the final abolition of the practice of heaping measures. 4. The weights should be of the same form and denominations as those furnished to the States, viz: 50 pounds weight, 25, 20, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, pounds avoirdupois, and 1 pound troy; avoirdupois ounce weights, from 8 ounces to 1-10000 of an ounce; and troy ounce weights, from 10 ounces to 1-10000 of an ounce; all to be made of brass, and the outside to be turned. The large weights, from 50 pounds to 1 pound, and some of the larger ounce weights, may be cast hollow, and filled with lead to the proper weight, having a knob to be screwed in. This is for economy and the convenience of adjustment. The other ounce weights to be solid. The hundredths, thousandths, and ten thousandths of an ounce may be made of silver or brass wire, in the same manner as the United States ounce weights, the number of sides of the figure into which they are formed denoting the weight, as a pentagon for five ten thousandths of an ounce, a quadrangle for four ten thousandths, a triangle for three ten thousandths, an angle for two ten thousands, and a small bar for one ten thousandth of an ounce. For the purpose of comparing the town standards with those of the county, two balances, or scales and beams, will be necessary; one for large weights, from one to fifty pounds, the other for small weights less than a pound. A plain beam, with its knife edges resting on the projecting arm of a single cast iron column, dishes with proper knife edge supports, an index on the base of the column, and a long index arm attached to the beam, will essentially complete the arrangement. The knife edges, with their bearing points, should be made with extreme care, to insure the requisite sensibility in balances for verifying standards. The other parts may receive more or less finish, according to the proposed expense. Designs for balances of the above description, suitable for counties, can be furnished, if desired, to the Executives of States. The cost of a full set of weights and measures of the kinds described, exclusive of the balances, will come within the limits of one hundred and fifty and two hundred dollars. The standards now in the office of the Secretary of State conform to these descriptive requirements.-See, also, Field's Draft Outlines Inter. Code, Title XXI, pp. 297-349, inclusive, where this subject and the report of Mr. John Quincy Adams, of the U. S. Congress, made A. D. 1821, and the present foreign weights and measures, are fully discussed, with numerous instructive tables. It will be observed that the standards of Congress and of our State differ. Should our State adopt the metric system, we have placed it here, where it properly belongs. extension. 3210. The standard yard is the unit or standard The unit of measure of length and surface from which all other measures of extension, whether lineal, superficial, or solid, are derived and ascertained. of the yard. 3211. The yard is divided into three equal parts, Division called feet, and each foot into twelve equal parts, called inches; for measures of cloths and other commodities commonly sold by the yard it may be divided into halves, quarters, eighths, and sixteenths. 3212. The rod, pole, or perch contains five and a half yards, and the mile one thousand seven hundred and sixty yards; the chain for measuring land is twentytwo yards long, and divided into one hundred equal parts, called links. The rod, the mile, and the chain. 3213. The acre for land measure must be meas- The acre. ured horizontally, and contains ten square chains, and is equivalent in area to a rectangle sixteen rods in length and ten in breadth; six hundred and forty acres being contained in a square mile. weights. 3214. The standard avoirdupois and troy weights The unit of are the units or standards of weight from which all other weights are derived and ascertained.. the pound. 3215. The avoirdupois pound, which bears to the Division of troy pound the ratio of seven thousand to five thousand seven hundred and sixty, is divided into sixteen equal parts, called ounces; the hundred weight consists of one hundred avoirdupois pounds, and twenty hundred weight constitute a ton. The troy ounce is equal to the twelfth part of the troy pound. NOTE.-Stats. 1861, p. 86, Sec. 6. See note, ante-by the metric system 2204.6 pounds make a ton. Unit of 3216. The standard gallon and its parts are the units or standards of measure of capacity for liquids, measures. liquid 76-VOL. I. The barrel, the hogshead. Unit of solid measure. Division of the half bushel. Division of capacity for commodities sold by heap measure. Heap measure. Contracts construed from which all other measures of liquids are derived and ascertained. 3217. The barrel is equal to thirty-one and a half gallons, and two barrels constitute a hogshead. 3218. The standard half bushel is the unit or standard measure of capacity for substances other than liquids, from which all other measures of such substances are derived and ascertained. 3219. The peck, half peck, quarter peck, quart, and pint measures for measuring commodities other than liquid are derived from the half bushel by successively dividing that measure by two. 3220. The measures of capacity for coal, ashes, marl, manure, Indian corn in the ear, fruit, and roots of every kind, and for all other commodities commonly sold by heap measure, are the half bushel and its multiples and subdivisions; and the measures used to measure such commodities must be made cylindrical, with plane and even bottom, and must be of the fol lowing diameters from outside to outside: the bushel, nineteen and a half inches; half bushel, fifteen and a half inches, and the peck, twelve and a third inches. 3221. All commodities sold by heap measure must be duly heaped up in the form of a cone; the outside of the measure, by which the same are measured, to be the limit of the base of the cone, and such cone to be as high as the article will admit. 3222. Contracts made within this State for work accordingly to be done or for anything to be sold or delivered by weight or measure, must be construed according to the foregoing standards. NOTE.-Stats. 1861, p. 86, Sec. 3. 3223. Whenever wheat, rye, Indian corn, barley, buckwheat, or oats, are sold by the bushel, and no special agreement as to the weight or measurement is made by the parties, the bushel consists of sixty pounds of wheat, of fifty-four pounds of rye, of fiftytwo pounds of Indian corn, of fifty pounds of barley, of forty pounds of buckwheat, and of thirty-two pounds of oats. NOTE.-Stats. 1861, p. 86, Sec. 7. Offenses for violations of the standard of weights and measures and penalties are provided for in the Penal Code Cal., Secs. 552-554. The provisions relating to the duties of State and County Sealers of Weights and Measures are under Title I of Part III of this Code.--See Secs. 561567, ante, and notes. Weights of bushels of various products. CHAPTER IX. LABOR AND MATERIAL ON PUBLIC BUILDINGS. SECTION 3233. Labor on public buildings must be done by day's work. 3234. Material must be furnished by contract. Labor on public must be day's work. 3233. All work done upon the public buildings of this State must be done under the supervision of a buildings Superintendent, or State officer or officers having done by charge of the work, and all labor employed on such buildings, whether skilled or unskilled, must be employed by the day, and no work upon any of such buildings must be done by contract. must be 3234. All materials to be used on any of the pub- Material lic buildings must be furnished by contract, in accord- furnished ance with the plans and specifications and proposals therefor. NOTE.-Stats. 1870, p. 777; see Secs. 176, 177, Penal by contract |