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THE PLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



to bring it to a level by beginning 

 at the lowest side first, and working 

 forward, so as to make the trenches 

 a little wider each time, and thus, 

 as you come to the highest part, the 

 earth will be thrown forward into 

 the last trenches, and bring the 

 whole to a level. Or, if the piece 

 is large and the inequalities great, it 

 will be better to dig the lowest 

 parts first and wheel a few trenches 

 from the highest parts to them, but 

 a little practice with the spade enables 

 one to manage these matters with 

 very little extra labour, and generally 

 without any wheeling at all. 



In the autumn digging it is not well 

 to add manure, except for such things 

 as winter cabbage, which are to go on 

 the ground soon after, or in preparing 

 a deep soil for tap roots. In the latter 

 case the manure should be buried at 

 the bottom of the trench to induce the 

 roots to push down after it ; if mixed 

 with the soil they throw out side roots, 

 and get badly shaped, which much les- 

 sens their value. The general manur- 

 ing should take place in the final one-spit 

 digging in spring, when the ground 

 is made up for planting. The usual 

 way is to spread the manure on the 

 surface, and turn it over with the weeds 

 into the bottom of the trench, but it 

 is preferable not to spread it at all, but 

 to fork it into the trenches as they are 

 opened in succession, then chop it up 

 with the soil of the trench, and lastly, 

 turn the next spit on to it. This saves 

 trampling on a wet mass of dung, 

 and the manure lays lighter and keeps 

 the soil of the trench more free and 

 open. 



Mawc, in his good old book, says, you 

 should never dig when snow is on the 

 ground ; now I like to dig the snow 

 in, for it is very fertilizing. The ob- 

 jection to the practice is that buried 

 ice and snow are a long while melting, 

 and of course in preparing a warm 

 quarter for something early, it would 

 be wrong ; but in the latitude of Lon- 

 don, and as far as the midland counties, 

 I should never expect the ground to be 

 cooled for any length of time, and as 

 far as my experience goes, I never 

 knew any but a good result from turn- 

 ing the snow in, and treating it as a 



very excellent manure, for it is rich in 

 ammonia, which is the most valuable 

 of fertilising agents. 



There are now two matters to dis- 

 pose of, one of them all important, 

 viz., drainage. In a badly drained soil 

 deep digging gives great relief, because 

 the surface readily parts with any ex- 

 cess of moisture by the absorbent power 

 of the loosened subsoil. But in low 

 positions on heavy loams and clays, 

 additional means of drainage are gene- 

 rally necessary. If you see the common 

 Horsetail, or Eqidsetum, growing plen- 

 tifully in your garden, be sure you 

 want a better drainage. If the autumn 

 fog hangs about your ground when 

 elsewhere it has cleared off, learn from 

 it the lesson that your drainage is not 

 what it ought to be ; in fact, if the 

 storm water does not pass away quickly, 

 you will never realize all the benefit 

 the ground is capable of effecting for 

 you, and must make provision accord- 

 ingly- 



The most effectual mode of drainage 

 is by a regular set of drain pipes or 

 tiles, properly arranged to carry water 

 to an outfall ; but there are some sim- 

 pler expedients that entail only a little 

 labour, and no expense whatever. Any 

 one can scheme a plan for arranging 

 drain pipes if there is anything like a 

 fall. Let them be placed so as to carry 

 the water into the nearest ditch, or to 

 the lowest part of the ground, and if 

 there is no established receptacle for 

 thern, dig a hole expressly to receive 

 it. The pipes should be of an inch 

 diameter only, and then it will be im- 

 possible for moles to get into them. 

 In laying them down, cut trenches 

 from two to three feet deep in regular 

 lines twenty-four feet apart, or in a 

 clayey soil, let them be only twelve 

 feet apart. Lay the pipes at the 

 bottom of the trenches, puddle them 

 over in the clay, and return the earth; 

 and the drainage, even with so small a 

 bore, will be very effectual. Some 

 permanent mode of marking where 

 they are should be used, that in future 

 deep digging they may not be broken 

 or disturbed, and to obviate this, it is 

 often better to place them along bor- 

 ders and adjoining paths, where there 

 is little chance of the g round ever being 



