The next operation is _pricking up_, or placing the first coat of _coarse stuff_ upon the laths; this is called pricking up, because when the plaster is laid, its whole surface is pricked and scratched with the end of a lath, that it may be rough enough for the next coat. The laying on of this second coat of plaster is called floating, and is performed in the following way. The surface is surrounded with narrow strips of plastering, called _screeds_, held fast by lines of nails, and these are made perfectly level, by means of the plumb rule (_see Builder’s tools_), and the use of the _hand float_. The spaces within these lines of plaster work are then filled with coarse stuff, till the whole forms a flat surface, which is made perfectly level, or “floated” with the _floating rule_. Other screeds are then formed and filled up in the same way, until the whole ceiling, or wall, forms one flat surface. The operations are the same for ceilings and walls, except that the plumb rule is used for adjusting the level of walls, and the _level_ for that of ceilings. [Illustration: Square. Modelling Tools. Brush. Floating Rule.] After the work has been brought to an even surface with the floating rule, the Plasterer goes over it again with the _hand float_, using a little soft stuff to make good any deficiencies. [Illustration: Hand Float.] When the floating is about half dry, the setting or finishing coat of fine stuff is laid on, and is first wetted with a _brush_, and then worked over with a smoothing tool until a fine surface is obtained. Stucco is laid on with the largest trowel, and worked over with the _hand float_—being at the same time sprinkled with water—until it becomes hard and solid; after which it is rubbed over with a dry brush. The water has the effect of hardening the face of the stucco; which, after several sprinklings and trowellings, becomes very hard, and as smooth as glass. [Illustration: Setting Trowels.] The commonest kind of Plasterer’s work is laying on one coat of stuff: when this is done on brickwork it is called _rendering_, and when on laths it is called _laying_. When there is a second coat it is called _render set_, or _lath-lay and set_: and when it is three-coat work it is called _render, float, and set_, or, _lath-lay, float, and set_; this is done in ceilings and partitions with fine stuff mixed with hair; or, when the walls are to be papered, with fine stuff and sand. _Rough stucco_ is used for finishing staircases and passages in imitation of stone. It is mixed with a great deal of coarse sand, and is not smoothed, the _hand float_ being covered with a piece of felt, so that when it is applied to the stucco the grit of the sand sticks to it and is drawn to the surface, giving the plaster the appearance of rough stone.