32 THE POTATO. 



and a simultaneous lifting of the lower part of the spade. 

 The spadeful of soil is projected forward and turned over 

 at the same time, and deposited in the trench, and so 

 on right across the plot. Although the method of taking 

 up the spit of soil, projecting it forward, and turning it 

 over, is identically the same as in single digging, the 

 manner of placing each spit of soil is rather different. We 

 wish to have the soil in ridges, and in a rough condition, 

 and in order to obtain that result special means must be 

 adopted, and they are exceedingly simple. Now let us 

 see how it is done. We dig the first spit of soil, and pro- 

 ject and turn it over in front of us. We take a second 

 spit, and serve it the same, placing it by the side of the 

 first. We now take a third spit, and place that on the top 

 of the first two, and we have formed the commencement 

 of a ridge, thus: 



We proceed as before, by taking two more spits and throw- 

 ing them forward ; then add another third spit to the top 

 of them ; but instead of placing the first of each three 

 spits of soil in contact with the second spit of each preced- 

 ing three, we leave the space of a spit of soil, thus: 



n n 



and so on across the plot. This process is repeated again 

 and again, forwards and backwards across the plot, until 

 the whole is completed, and we have a piece of ground 

 in ridges and furrows like the annexed diagram. 



Farm Soils. In the treatment of farm soils deep til- 

 lage is equally important. Trenching, of course, is out of 

 the question, but deep ploughing should certainly be done, 

 and this as early in the autumn as possible, so that the 

 turned-up furrow's may be thoroughly " weathered " dur- 



