II.] 



PLOUGHING DIGGING AND TRENCHING 



so with the land ; where the soil is shallow and has a 

 hard surface the roots are necessarily confined to a very 

 small feeding ground. They cannot penetrate down, nor 

 can the moisture from beneath pass up to them in dry 

 weather, neither can the surplus water in wet weather 

 pass away; under these conditions only a small part of 

 the land is utilised and a great deal is left waste. 



The three diagrams are meant to illustrate the 

 three recognised methods of preparing the ground first 

 by ploughing, which is practically limited to the 

 upper 6 inches of the surface. By digging, there 

 is a further depth of another 6 inches gained ; the 

 food-holding soil is proportionately deepened, the useless 

 subsoil recovered, and by this means the store for food 

 is just doubled, and the capacity of growth for trees and 

 crops in the same proportion increased. By trenching 

 again, the soil may be made good to a still greater 

 extent. Trenching means the moving of all the soil to 

 the depth of about 2 feet, and by a judicious mixing 

 of the upper and lower strata bringing the whole avail- 



