32 



Spade Husbandry. 



Where spade labour is employed the land should be 

 dug as early as circumstances permit. The soil should 

 be laid up roughly to benefit by the frosts. Where 

 specially good results are aimed at it is a common 

 practice to trench the soil that is, to dig the ground 

 two spits deep. If there is a fear that the subsoil con- 

 tains injurious matter, whether from its physical pro- 

 perties or from the presence of a large quantity of 

 seeds of weeds which lie dormant until brought to the 

 surface, the bottom spit should be kept from coming to 

 the top. When trenching it is necessary to keep an 

 opening or trench between the dug and the undug 

 ground, so that the two spits may be worked con- 

 veniently. If the bottom spit is not to come to the 

 surface it should be turned with a spade or fork, as 

 seems most suitable at the time. It is well to break 

 this spit, as it will not be further subjected to cultiva- 

 tion, and a solid spit soon sets back into the condition 

 it was in previously to being dug, thus destroying the 

 benefits aimed at. If dung is applied at the time of 

 the first digging, it may be conveniently buried be- 

 tween the two spits. If the subsoil is not charged 

 with injurious matter it may be brought to the surface, 

 and the top spit be buried in its place. The two spits 

 will work together during future operations, and the 

 soil will henceforth be deepened. If soil is clung, so 

 that it does not leave the spade freely, a fork-spade 

 should be used. This is a four-tiiied fork, to which a 

 thin bar of steel is welded, so as to give a spade edge 



