CHAP, t] digging. 7 



soil, also, are frequently washed down by re-- 

 peated rains, and require bringing again to the 

 surface. 



The uses of digging having been thus ex- 

 plained, it is now necessary to say something of 

 its practice, and particularly of its applicability 

 to ladies. It must be confessed that digging 

 appears at first sight a very laborious employ- 

 ment, and one peculiarly unfitted to small and 

 delicatelv-formed hands and feet: but, bv a little 

 attention to the principles of mechanics and the 

 laws of motion, the labour may be much sim- 

 plified and rendered comparatively easy. The 

 operation of digging, as performed by a gar- 

 dener, consists in thrusting the iron part of the 

 spade, which acts as a wedge, perpendicularly 

 Into the ground by the application of the foot, 

 and then using the long handle as a lever, 

 to raise up the loosened earth and turn it over. 

 The quantity of earth thus raised is called a 

 spitful, or spadeful ; and the gardener, when he 

 has turned it, chops it to break the clods with 

 the sharp edge of his spade, and levels it with 

 the back. During the whole operation, the 

 gardener holds the cross part of the handle of 

 the spade in his right hand, while he grasps the 

 smooth round lower part of the handle in his 

 left, to assist him in raising the earth and turn- 

 ing it, sliding his left hand backwards and for- 

 wards along the handle, as he mav find it 

 necessary. 



This is the common mode of digging ; and 

 it certainly appears to require considerable 

 strength in the foot to force the spade into the 

 ground, in the arms to raise it when loaded 



