How to reckon the length and width of a field

You measure the length or width of a field in metres.

A metre is a unit of length.

At shops you can buy a wooden folding rule, or a tape which measures exactly one metre. But you can make a metre measure for yourself. Take a stick that is quite straight, or a piece of string or rope. Take five times the length of your booklet (the bigger side of the booklet) and you will have a length of about one metre (1.05 metres exactly), because your booklet is 21 centimetres long, that is 0.21 metre (0.21 X 5 = 1.05 m). To get just one metre, take off the stick, or string or rope, the length of your thumb.

With this stick, string or rope, you can measure the length and width of your field.

As these distances are often very long, the length or width of fields is often measured with a rope or chain of 10 metres. (This rope or chain is called a decametre). If you have a rope long enough, you can yourself make a decametre. Take the metre that you made first and put it along the rope ten times. That will give you a decametre. It will enable you to measure much more easily the length and width of your field.

The extension workers or agricultural assistants sometimes have decametres. You can ask them to measure your fields.