14 



GENERAL ADVICE 



and pick are the implements usually employed, 

 although a spade with a long handle and narrow 

 blade, as shown in Fig. 4, is very useful for exca- 

 vating the bottom of the ditch. In most cases, 

 much time and muscle are wasted in the use of 

 the pick. If the digging is properly done, a spade 

 can be used to cut the soil, even in fairly hard 

 clay land, with no great difficulty. The essential 



5. How to handle the spade. 



point in the easy use of the spade is to so manage 

 that one edge of the spade always cuts a free or 

 exposed surface. The illustration (Fig. 5) will 

 explain the method. When the operator endeavors 

 to cut the soil in the method shown at A, he is 

 obliged to break both surfaces at every thrust of 

 the tool; but when he cuts the slice diagonally, 

 first throwing his spade to the right and then to 

 the left, as shown at B, he cuts only one surface, 

 and is able to make progress without the expendi- 



