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GARDENING FOR LADIES. 
, Sie CHAPTER L[. 
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° STIRRING THE es. . 
Digging.—Every one knows that the first operation of the gar- 
dener, whether a new garden is to be made, or merely an old one 
re-planted, is to dig the ground; though but comparatively few per- 
sons are aware why this is so essentially necessary to be done. 
When a piece of rough ground is to be taken into cultivation, 
and a garden made where there was none before, the use of digging 
is obvious enough; as the ground requires to be levelled, and di- 
vided by walks, sal thrown up into beds, to give it the shape and 
appearance of a garden, which could not be done without stirring 
the soil: but why the beds in an old garden should be always dug 
or forked over, before they are re-planted, is quite another question, 
and one that requires some consideration to answer. 
Wh soil, except sand or loose gravel, remains unstirred for 
a length of time, it becomes hard, and its ‘particles adhere so firmly 
together as not to be separated without manual force. It is quite 
clear that when soil is in this state, it is unfit for the reception of 
seeds; as the tender roots of the young plants will not be able to 
penetrate it without great difficulty, and neither air nor water can 
reach them in sufficient quantity tomake them thrive. Whena seed 
is put into the ground, it is the warmth and moisture by which it is 
surrounded that make it vegetate. It first swells, and the skin with 
which it is covered cracks and peels off; then two shoots issue from 
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