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#-: BURYING MANURE. ~— 91 
to germinate as quickly as possible, pointing is preferable to digging; 
because the latter operation would bury the warm soil, and bring 
that up to the surface which is still as cold as in winter. Pointing is 
also used in stirring the ground among trees and other plants, in or- 
der that the spade may not go so deeply into the ground as to injure 
their roots. 
Burying manure.—There are two ways of digging the ground for 
the purpose of burying manure: according to the first method, the 
manure is spread evenly over the whole bed, and then the gardener 
proceeds to dig as though the manure were in fact a portion of the 
surface of the soil; and according to the second method, the manure 
having been first brought to the spot and thrown into a heap, is de- 
posited, a small portion at a time, at the bottom of each furrow as it 
is formed, and the earth from the next furrow thrown over it. In 
noth cases, the manure should be buried as speedily as possible; as 
if left long exposed in small quantities to the air in hot dry weather, 
it loses a great part of its nutritious qualities by evaporation. 
___ Digging for the purpose of exposing the soil to the action of the 
weather, trenching, and ridging on a large scale, are operations too 
laborious to be performed by any one but a gardener’s labourer. To 
be done well, the earth in all these cases should be removed in large 
spadefuls at a time, and turned over without breaking; on which ac- 
count these operations are best performed in moist weather, when the 
earth is in an adhesive state. Ridging on a small scale may be use- 
ful in a flower garden, when the soil is much infested with insects, or 
where there are many weeds. «It is performed by opening a trench, 
and throwing up the earth out of it in the form of a ridge; and then 
opening another trench, and forming another ridge in the same man- 
ner. The whole garden is thus thrown into a series of ridges and 
trenches, which should be suffered to remain all the winter, and be 
levelled in spring. It is obvious that this mode of ameliorating the 
soil can only be practised where the garden is not likely to be visited 
during winter, as it destroys all beauty, and has a peculiarly des- 
olate and forlorn appearance. It is thus a remedy only to be resort- 
ed to in extreme cases; but fortunately there are very few flower 
gardens in which the ok is in so bad a state as to require it. 
The other kinds of, digging are to form pits for receiving plants, 
or for filling with choice soil, and to remove plants. In the first case, 
a hole of sufficient size to receive the plant is dug, and the earth 
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