371 



GARDENING. 



" When Adam delved and Eve span, 

 Who was then the gentleman." Old Rhyme. 



A PUZZLING question was often asked in our boyish days, which 

 was, "How the first hammer was made?" and if gardening was 

 man's first occupation on earth, some curious boy will no doubt 

 want to know, " Where he got his spade?" To this we can only 

 answer that, perhaps, it was a wooden one. But where did he get 

 his knife, or whatever it was, to cut it into shape ? inquires some 

 young Master Inquisitive. To this we can give a clear, plain, sa- 

 tisfactory answer, " We don't know." 



Gardening was no doubt the first thing man turned his hand to ; 

 it is the first thing a child tries its hand at, even now ; for only put 

 it on the ground, before it can run even, and it begins to scratch 

 the dirt up, having first scratched its nurse, with its pretty little 

 fingers . If it cannot get out of doors it creeps to the grate, and 

 commences gardening amongst the cinders. And what does it set 

 there ? Well, when it burns itself, it sets up a good cry. 



Now we are not going to write about the Garden of Eden, never 

 having seen it ; neither are we prepared to show how Noah grew 

 mustard and cress in the ark, which no doubt the monkeys who ran 

 about loose often scratched up, because we don't know that he cared 

 about a salad ; but what we are going to say is, first get a piece of 

 ground and next a spade. Now, we dare say any boy thinks he can 

 dig, when he can do nothing of the kind ; he would no more know 

 how to open his first trench than we know which was the first fish 

 that swam in the sea. We don't call digging putting your spade 

 in the ground, pulling it out again, and tuming the dirt over, as 

 your sister would a cake in the oven. That's only making a hole 

 in the ground and filling it up again. Now, we'll show you how 

 to dig properly. If you've a wheel-barrow all the better ; it will 

 save you carrying the first few spadefuls of eurth to the other end 

 of the bed. How long's the room you are Sitting in ? Fourteen 

 feet. Very well ; now begin to dig at which end you like, and re- 

 member, to do any good, you must dig what the gardeners call 

 "two spit deep," that is, two spades deep, for we suppose you are 

 going to grow something you can eat. Now, having dug "two 

 spit deep," you have made a precious deep hole in the ground, and 

 what you have taken out must be wheeled or carried to the other 

 end of the bed, or we'll say the other end of the room, and left 

 there until you want it, and that will not be until you have dug the 

 whole bed over; then you'll find a deep hole at the other end of the 

 bed, and nothing to fill it up with but the earth you have carried 

 there, which will fill it up to a T. Now you begin to work fairly* 



