36 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 



best "way is never to disturb tbe earth, for eighteen inches' 

 width from mark to mark, but let the hard undisturbed ground 

 form a sort of path, to divide all these compartments; by 

 leaving them hard and undug, they will always keep drier 

 than if they were disturbed at the digging time; besides 

 which, they would be useful to wheel on, as the barrow-wheel 

 would not sink in it. V.licn the ground is all dug, and the 

 alleys are merely unplantcd spaces, the place is never so tidy. 

 A-N^enever the ground is dug, the line has to be stretched 

 along the edge of those paths, and the soil dug sloping 

 inwards, so that the path is not broken at the edges ; and 

 great care should be taken not to encroach upon the width of 

 the paths, nor to make them rotten by omitting to chop or cut 

 the side down low enough to prevent the lifting of the soil in 

 the digging, from cracking or disturbing it. Paths formed of 

 the ground itself are never too good ; and if they are dis- 

 turbed at all, they are often impassable, or, at least, unpleasant. 

 The digging of these compartments, or the trenching of them, 

 as the case may be, is to be regulated by what they are re- 

 Cjuired to produce ; and the dressing of them may safely be 

 done before they are dug, that the manure or compost may be 

 buried. If the first crop does not get much the better for it, 

 tlie second will. It may be, that the ground is not square, 

 and does not approximate to a square ; when this is the case, 

 it is better to have the paths straight notwithstanding : they 

 need not be parallel. The middle and two side walks will do 

 very well for long square pieces of ground, but odd-shaped 

 ground requires a different disposition of the main walks. 

 There should, however, be one decided rule — that of having 

 a main path all round the ground about a reasonable distance 

 for a good border, something between six and ten feet ; and 

 it is convenient that the walk or path next this border should 

 be four or five feet wide, and perfectly straight from angle to 

 angle, however many angles there may be ; and the com- 

 partments of the garden should be well-defined in straight 

 lines or angles, for the convenience of regulating the lines of 

 the crop. If you feel that ground is a great object, you may 

 do away with the paths or alleys that are to permanently 

 divide the compartments, and merely keep marks, from which 

 at all times you can stretch a line, to show the extent of the 

 compartments, and only leave the crops themselves to settle 

 or show the boundaries of such compartments. A notice of 



