How to manage a Garden 



soil some well-decayed manure and some leaf soil, and if 

 heavy, some lime. With a heavy soil should be incor- 

 porated, when possible, some good loam, free from weeds ; 

 and an opportunity here presents itself of disposing of a 

 good quantity of sifted coal ashes. The digging must be 

 to a uniform depth, whatever that may be. 



When the digging has been completed the surface 

 should further be made level by means of the rake, for 

 no matter how good the digging may be, it is impossible 

 to make the ground sufficiently even with a spade. When 

 levelled in this way let it be trodden down and then raked 

 again. When making a croquet lawn, it is especially 

 desirable that the ground be made perfectly level. To 

 ascertain whether this is so can be done only by use of 

 the borning rods (which are so simple as scarcely to need 

 explanation) and a spirit-level. On a large scale other 

 expensive instruments would be used, but in ordinary 

 cases a careful use of the spirit-level will give equally good 

 results. A piece of board one inch thick, four inches 

 wide, and ten feet long, is procured (commonly called a 

 straight-edge). A thick peg is driven in at one end of 

 the lawn, leaving perhaps six or nine inches out of the 

 ground. The straight-edge is then stood, thin edge up- 

 ward, on this ; and at its other end is driven another stake 

 which is approximately supposed to equal the level of the 

 first. With the ends of the board on the pegs, we place 

 the spirit-level in the middle, and drive the second peg 

 down to such a depth that the bubble of the spirit level is 

 in the centre of the tube. These two pegs now being 

 level, we let the board rest on the second and a third peg 

 and do in like manner, until there are sufficient pegs to 

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