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THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



ceive the next top spit, on to which the 

 second spit is thrown, and every spade 

 breadth is worked forward a little, so 

 that there is soon plenty of room for 

 working, and a breadth of two spades 

 wide always open. This saves wheel- 

 ing, and raises the ground at one end, 

 and is an easy way of preparing a piece 

 of sloping ground in autumn for early 

 spring crops. Or, if a slope is not wanted, 

 the second digging, which it should have 

 in spring, when seed-beds are made up, 

 may be commenced at the end which 

 is lowest, and by working a little for- 

 ward again, you bring it to a level, 

 this time, of course, digging one spit 

 deep only. 



This sort of work should be com- 

 menced in the autumn, as the various 

 compartments become vacant. The 

 ground always works best in fine 

 weather, just after rain. If the top is 

 wet and soddened, it is more harm than 

 good, even to tread on it, but as the 

 weather at the fall of the year is un- 

 certain, every opportunity should be 

 taken to ridge up every yard of land 

 not occupied, for if it lays for a week 

 only for sun, rain, and air to get upon 

 it, its fertilising power is vastly in- 

 creased. Where you do not intend to 

 have a winter crop, let the ground lay 

 in ridges till spring, and in ridging it 

 up for the frost, break it as little as 

 possible, but throw it up on the ridges 

 in large blocks or cakes, each block 

 will then get frozen through, and in 

 spring will crumble down as fine as 



potting mould. If you are not afraid 

 of work, you may, after there has 

 been a few weeks' frost, turn these 

 ridges over, so as to change them, the 

 top of each ridge being put into a fur- 

 row, and the furrow made into a ridge, 

 so that every fragment, for two feet 

 deep, if possible, shall be crumbled by 

 the searching fingers of Jack Frost. 

 The result of this thorough digging 

 and shifting will be, that your root- 

 crops will be finer than you ever saw 

 them before ; carrots and parsnips will 

 dart straight clown, as deep as your 

 spade has gone, and produce crops of 

 immense weight, and the labour be- 

 stowed in winter digging, will, the next 

 summer, be rewarded by the little 

 need you will find for the watering- 

 pot, while everything will be finer, 

 earlier, and more abundant. One 

 thing you must guard against. If 

 your neighbours catch you bringing 

 up the hazelly loam from underneath, 

 they will tell you it is madness, for 

 folks have a strange horror of such 

 deep digging ; but try it for yourself, 

 and you will thank me for so strongly 

 urging the matter on you — at the same 

 time, it is not every soil that should 

 be so treated, and your neighbours and 

 labourers may give you many whole- 

 some advices, as to what the soil is fit 

 for, and how best to manage it, for all 

 of which be thankful, for a bit of prac- 

 tical knowledge gained on the spot, is 

 worth all the generalities that ever pen 

 committed to paper. 



This Winged Pea. — This pretty annual is a favourite of mine, and as it appears to be 

 little known, 1 shall be happy to distribute seeds to the readers ef the " Floral World." 

 Last year 1 ,500 packets were distributed to readers of the " National Magazine," but I saved 

 a few for myself, and have now about a pint. As half-a-dozen are as many as I want, 

 it is a pity for them to become a prey to mice or mildew, epecially as it does not 

 yet appear to be entered in any seed lists. It grows very dwarf and bushy, and 

 must be sown four inches apart. The blooms are rich crimson and black, and the pods 

 being winged, are as curious m the flowers are pretty. I will enclose h ilf-a-dozen in 

 every stamped envelope that may be forwarded to me till they are all gone — "first come 

 first served." — Shirley Hibbeed, Stoke Newhujton. 



Value of Leaves. — Payne and Boussingault give analyses of leaves from several 

 difterent trees. Taking the average of all their analyses, leaves contain 1T3 per cent of 

 nitrogen, together with a large amount of mineral and carbonaceous matter. Common 

 barn-yard dung, according to the same chemists, contains 0-41 per cent of nitrogen; and 

 it may be confidently asserted that leaves are worth, therefore, three times as much as 

 common barn- yard manure. Every good gardener makes them into a compost with weeds 

 and other rubbish of the garden or orchard. 



