THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



79 



spado, the blade worn down to six 

 inches, and with this he tidivates the 

 top soil, jnst deep enough to hide the 

 green mould and weeds that have 

 grown upon it. That is the expensive 

 mode of gardening, by which the cab- 

 bages cost five shillings each, and are 

 then very small for the money. Ano- 

 ther, and better way for plain digging 

 is, to work with a good No. 2 spade, 

 nearly new. Begin at one end of the 

 piece, aud throw out a straight trench 

 of one spit deep, then work back very 

 regularly, turning each spit clean over, 

 so as to bury the surface weeds, and turn 

 the spadeful quite upside down. If it is 

 in good condition, say two days after 

 rain, the mould will crumble down of 

 itself, if not, give each lump a side cut 

 with the spade, so as to rather shake 

 it in pieces than to chop it up. Go on 

 in this way, always keeping an open 

 trench before you, for without that, 

 and very regular working of spit after 

 spit, the labour will be doubly 

 fatiguing, and very inefficiently per- 

 formed. Most people think the}' know 

 how to plain dig a piece of ground ; 

 well, if you are not quite sure of your 

 experience, just take note of the easy 

 way in which a labourer goes over a 

 piece, and you will see that the secret 

 is to work regularly, and to keep al- 

 ways a good trench, into which every 

 spadeful is easily overturned. This 

 sort of digging is much practised in 

 spring, in preparing seed beds and in 

 making up loose ground, and in put- 

 ting on manure for various crops, but 

 if no other mode is adopted all the 

 year round, the ground has no chance 

 of showing you what it is capable of 

 producing. 



Where there is any depth of soil, 

 trenching ought to be practised at 

 least once a year over every bit of it 

 that is not permanently occupied, but 

 the diligent gardener will not be con- 

 tent with one annual trenching, but 

 Avill take every opportunity to shift 

 the soil to the depth of two feet at 

 least, and on deep, rich loams even to 

 three feet. Now this operation is 

 performed in two different wa^'s. If 

 the subsoil is poor, or in any way un- 

 fit to be brought to the surface, it may 

 be bastard trenched, which loosens the 



under spit, and keeps the top one 

 where it was. But double digging or 

 two spit trenching causes the under 

 spit to take the place of that which is 

 now at top, and at the next trenching 

 that original top spit comes up again, 

 and so on, and on each occasion, some 

 portions even of the third spit get 

 mixed with the other two. To per- 

 form either of these operations, pro- 

 ceed as follows : — 



To bastard trench, mark off a piece 

 right across the ground, one yard in 

 width, take oft' the top spit one spade 

 and the shovellings deep from the 

 whole of this piece, and wheel it away 

 to a yard or so beyond where you mean 

 to finish. This will leave an open 

 trench of a yard wide in front of the 

 piece ; the soil of this trench is to be 

 well dug and manured. Now dig 

 another yard in the same way, throw- 

 ing the top spit and the dung and 

 weeds into the open trench first made, 

 and then the next digging, previously 

 stirring the bottom as before, into the 

 second trench, and so on till you come 

 to the end of the piece. 



Trenching is managed in the same 

 way, except that the under spit is 

 brought up to the top ; in fact, the first 

 and second spit change places. First 

 take out a trench, two spades deep and 

 twenty inches wide, and wheel the 

 earth away to fill up the last trench. 

 Then mark off another breadth ot 

 twenty inches, and regularly dig the 

 breadth one spit deep, and throw the 

 earth into the first trench. Then dig 

 the same breadth a second spit deep, 

 and throw this on the top spit which 

 is at the bottom of the trench, and thus 

 work piece after piece regularly, till 

 you come to the last trench, when the 

 first wheelings will fill that up. In 

 throwing out the second spit of each 

 breadth, it is right to leave it ridged 

 up, as by this plan a much larger sur- 

 face of earth is exposed to the air. 

 There are other and simpler ways of 

 doing this, but it needs a little expe- 

 rience to adopt them. I generally 

 take out a breadth of one spade wide, 

 throw it forward a little, then a second 

 spade from the trench so formed, 

 which is thrown the other side ; there 

 is a narrow, open trench, ready to re- 



