DIGGING. 15 



the second trench, of the same size that the first was, will be 

 empty. Mark the same distance for opening another trench, 

 and go on putting the first spit at the bottom, and the second 

 to the top till you come to the last empty trench, which is to 

 be filled with the stuff you took out first, putting the first 

 that came off into the bottom, and the second to the top, and 

 thus may a very large piece be trenched without difficulty by 

 a very inexperienced hand. But if it should prove, which 

 sometimes it does, that the second spit of earth is not so good 

 as the first, instead of digging out the second spit, dig it up 

 merely, and leave it in the bottom j the loosening of the soil 

 does an immense good, and the top, being the best, retains 

 its place, being merely turned over in throwing it out of the 

 new trench into the old one. All the way we go on this sort 

 of work the soil has to be levelled and the lumps broken, if 

 there be any. Whatever be the nature of the soil, the remov- 

 ing it and turning it over, to the depth of two spades, is highly 

 beneficial, as it lets the atmosphere into the soil, and promotes 

 the percolation of the rain to a considerable depth. 



DIGGING. 



This is not generally so beneficial as trenching, simply 

 because in digging we only go one spit deep ; but after 

 being trenched, the cropping time only wants it disturbed 

 one spit deep. For this operation a trench is dug one spit 

 deep, and the stuff removed to the other end of the piece ; a 

 second trench is made by throwing the stuff taken out into 

 the first ; a third made to fill up the second, and so on until 

 all but the last is filled, and this is to be done with the soil 

 first taken out. Digging is required every time we have to 

 plant, to sow, or crop in any way, and the ground requires 

 dunging or dressing according to the state of the soil, and the 

 nature of the crop that is to go in. Digging is the most 

 simple operation in gardening. The spade is thrust into the 

 soil in a sloping direction ; the handle is pushed towards the 

 ground, and the blade or flat part of the spade, acting as a 

 lever, loosens the soil, which is lifted and thrown wherever it 

 is to go ; the spade is thrust in again a little more backward, 

 according to the soil you wish to lift, and in the course of this 

 digging all the lumps of earth are to be knocked to pieces and 

 the surface levelled. 



