206 TRENCH Gx\RDENS 



on the contrary, when it is wafted on the wind, 

 a degree of restfulness comes with it. I therefore 

 chose a space in the shrubbery, north of where the 

 ribes are, and one of the stalwart lime-pit men, 

 having cleared away all trees and shrubs, began to 

 hew out of the chalk a cavity some five feet deep 

 and twelve feet square. The first thing he did 

 was to remove all good surface soil and stack it 

 upon one side ready for future use. There was not 

 much of it, for a chalky subsoil is soon reached, 

 and when he began to pick out the rock steadily 

 bit by bit, it was thrown up to form a high bank 

 upon the east side, where a draught of wind some- 

 times penetrates through the trees. As he got 

 down deeper, and at last his head alone appeared 

 above the surrounding banks, the chalk became 

 harder, tougher to handle, and by that time quite 

 a high slope, similar in outline to Mont Blanc, had 

 been made with all that his spade had extracted 

 from the bottom of the trench. I was able to form 

 as it were pockets in this by collecting the biggest 

 chalk stones and building them up to make small 

 retaining walls for good soil. It is interesting 

 work ; for the stones must be laid carefully so 

 that they form no pattern or artificial-looking 

 arrangement, and a group of pockets should lead 

 to one large one, and then a series of smaller ones 

 on a higher level make the whole appear well- 

 balanced. 



From all the different rubbish-heaps, in the 

 garden it was possible to collect in trugs tempting 

 mixtures of decayed leaf-mould, ashes, and manure, 

 and these were put in layers within the pockets of 



