PLANTING 55 
thick, and then be regularly trenched two spades deep, 
and the dung buried equally in each trench twelve or 
fifteen inches below the surface. When this trench- 
ing is done, lay two or three inches of thoroughly 
rotted manure over the whole surface, and dig the 
ground over again eight or ten inches deep, mixing 
this top-dressing, and incorporating it well with the 
earth. ) 
‘‘In family gardens it is customary to divide the 
ground thus prepared into beds, allowing four feet for 
every four rows of plants, with alleys two feet and a 
half wide between each bed. Strain your line along 
the bed six inches from the edge; then with a spade 
cut out a small trench or drill close to the line, about 
six inches deep, making that side next to the line nearly 
upright ; when one trench is opened, plant that before 
you open another, placing the plants upright ten or 
twelve inches distance in the row, and let every row 
he twelve inches apart. 
‘“The plants must not be placed flat in the bottom 
of the trench, but nearly upright against the back of 
it, and so that the crown of the plants must also stand 
upright, and two or three inches below the surface of 
the ground, spreading their roots somewhat regularly 
against the back of the trench, and at the same time 
drawing a little earth up against them with the 
hand as you place them, just to fix the plants in their 
due position until the row is planted; when one row 
is thus placed, with a rake or hoe draw the earth into 
the trench over the plants, and then proceed to open 
another drill or trench, as before directed, and fill and 
cover it in the same manner, and so on uutil the whole 
