12 STIRRING THE SOIL. [CHAP. I. 



be dug, by a garden-line, into two parts : a 

 trench, or furrow as it is called, is then opened 

 across one of these divisions or halves of the 

 bed, the earth out of which is thrown up into a 

 heap. The digging then commences by turning 

 over a breadth of soil into the furrow thus 

 made, and so forming a new furrow to be filled 

 up by the soil turned over from the breadth 

 beyond it ; and this is continued till the operator 

 reaches the end of the first division, when the 

 furrow is to be filled with the earth taken from 

 the first furrow of the second division ; after 

 which the digging proceeds regularly as before, 

 till the operator reaches the last furrow, which 

 is filled with the ridge of earth thrown up when 

 the first furrow was made. As few ladies are 

 strong enough to throw the earth from the 

 heap where it was laid from the first furrow, 

 to fill the last, the best way is to put it into a 

 small wheel-barrow, which may be wheeled to 

 the place required, and filled and emptied as 

 often as may be found convenient; or the 

 ground may be divided into narrower strips. 

 It must also be observed, that as a spadeful 

 of earth taken up obliquely will be seldom 

 found to loosen the soil to a proper depth, a 

 second or even a third should be taken from 

 the same place before the operator advances 

 any further along the line; or the whole of 

 each furrow may first be made shallow, and 

 then deepened by successive diggings before 

 proceeding to the next furrow. 



It is obvious that the great art in this kind 

 of digging is to keep the furrows straight, and 

 not to take up more earth in one place than in 



