PLANTING. 



127 



produced by swaying it to and fro. The tool requires 

 two persons, one making the notches, and the other in- 

 serting the plants, filling in, and pressing down the 

 oar tli with his feet. The common spade can be used 

 in the same way as the notching spade. 



In Great Britain notching is done in a somewhat 

 different way, generally with the ordinary spade, so 

 as to produce a T-shaped or a triangular notch, mostly 

 the former. The spade is inserted into the ground 

 (Fig. 65, a) and withdrawn ;tHhen it is a second time 



a. b. c. 



Fig. 65. 



inserted at right angles to the first insertion and at one 

 end of it (Fig. 65, ); next the handle is bent back- 

 wards, thus raising and opening out the edges of the 

 first notch (Fig. 65, c) ; then the plant is slipped in from 

 the blade of the spade towards the far end of the first 

 notch, the spade withdrawn and the soil pressed down 

 with the feet, so as to cause the notches to close com- 

 pletely. The operation requires two persons, a man 

 and a boy. 



The merits of ordinary notching are very much the 



