Now, I am sure we should not place ourselves within a dozen yards of our tree if we wished to get its general effect; therefore, we must have plenty of foreground in our drawing. We must give the eye a chance to look, allowing plenty of space between the lowest point of our drawing and the lower edge of our paper. As the height of tree we are to draw (Fig. 211) is greater than its greatest width, we find that it will fill the space best if placed the vertical way of the paper. After indicating the extreme height and width by four light marks, before carrying the drawing further we must test these proportions by comparing the width with the height, always testing the shorter dimension into the longer, viz.: _To test the drawing._--Close one eye. The pencil may be used to test the drawing by holding it in front of you at arm's length (as in Fig. 214) perpendicular to the direction in which the object is seen; also revolving it in a plane perpendicular to the direction in which the object is seen, in order to compare one dimension with another. For example, hold your pencil horizontally at arm's length so that its blunt end covers the outermost left-hand point of the elm. Slide your thumb along the pencil till it covers the extreme right-hand point; retain that measurement (keeping the same position in your chair, pencil always at arm's length); revolve the pencil in the same plane until it coincides with the height of the elm, at the same time lowering it so that the end of the thumb covers the lowest point of the tree; note carefully the point that the blunt end covers; raise the pencil so that the end of the thumb covers that point, noting again where the blunt end occurs and notice how many times, and how much over, the width goes into the height. In our elm (Fig. 211) we find that the width goes about once and six-sevenths into the height, or a little short of twice. If the latter statement is preferred, we must bear in mind the proportion left over. [Illustration: _Fig. 214. How to test the drawing._] Do not use the scale side of a ruler or marks on the pencil or object used in order to test the proportions, and never transfer measurements from the object used in testing to your paper. A scale or other mechanical means should not be used in free-hand drawing. The teacher should have a spool of black thread and should give a piece about 2 feet 6 inches long to each pupil. An eraser, a knife, or some small article may be attached to one end of the thread. By holding the weighted thread as a plumb-line in front of us, we have an absolutely vertical line; so by having it intersect a desired point of our tree we may obtain the relative positions to the right and left of other points above and below this intersected point.