Box for excavating a ditch bottom, with fines ledger and tables
A labour-saving earth box, an account of criminal fines of 1489, and multiplication tables
The sheet mounts two studies. Drawings and text describe a labour-saving 'box' (cassa) set on the floor of a ditch being dug, three braccia long and open at the front, so that earth can be tipped straight in and hauled out, sparing the tiers of men who otherwise pass each spadeful up by hand, with the advice that whoever would undertake great works should buy oxen. A dense ledger records small cash sums received for sentences for crimes (condanagioni di malificio) between 23 November and 24 December 1489, from men of Ferneta, Monte Guduccio and other places. The upside-down margin carries multiplication and squaring tables.
On this page
Box set on the ditch floor to speed earth removal
The box shall be 3 braccia long and up to a braccio deep, without a front side; the bank is cut as vertical as possible and a notch a braccio high at the foot lets the earth above fall into the box. This saves great time in filling and carrying it out, avoiding the three or four tiers of men who pass earth up from a ditch floor, where a spadeful loses seven-eighths of itself through so many hands. Whoever would undertake great works, let him buy oxen.
Fondo di cassa: two boxes so no man loses time
n m is the bottom of the box. The form m n serves to draw the earth up, and one should keep two of them, so that while the two men above empty the raised box, the two men below do not lose time.
Ledger of fines for crimes, 23 November to 24 December 1489
A running account of small sums, in boni, denari, florins, lire and soldi, received in cash for sentences for crimes (condanagioni di malificio). Payers include men of Ferneta, Monte Guduccio, Coldazzo and Via Piana, some paying through a ser acting on their behalf, closing with a total.
Multiplication and squaring tables
Columns of products labelled with the letters b, C, D, E, F, G, H, I give the two- through nine-times tables up to ten, alongside a column of squares from 1x1 to 10x10.
