44 SATURDAY IN MY GARDEN 



it will remain in a cloddy state during the summer, and the crops 

 will inevitably suffer when their roots are most in need of a free 

 run in search of nourishment. 



Too much emphasis cannot be laid upon the necessity for 

 deep digging. Where there is a good depth of workable soil 

 there need be no hesitation in turning the soil completely over, 

 provided the subsoil be not brought to the surface. But it not 

 infrequently occurs that immediately beneath the top twelve or 

 eighteen inches of soil the gardener will find, as was indicated 

 earlier in this chapter, a layer, more or less thick, of some hard, 

 impervious substance. This it should be his object either to 

 remove entirely, if it be of stone or rock, or to break up, so thut 

 it may become loose and porous, and thus add to the efficient 

 drainage and consequent fertility of the upper layer of soil. In 

 order to accomplish this efficiently it is necessary to resort to 

 the operation known as trenching. This involves the disturbance 

 of the soil to a depth of at least three feet. It means the ex- 

 penditure of considerable time and a good deal of hard manual 

 labour ; but it will be found to be labour well spent, and the 

 reward in greatly superior crops will be great. 



There are two methods of trenching known to gardeners 

 namely, double trenching, which means the disturbance of the soil 

 to the depth of either two or three " spits " or spades, one below 

 the other ; and bastard trenching, in which the position of the 

 two spits of soil is not reversed, the lower spit being merely 

 broken up and the top spit turned over on itself. Let me explain 

 the two processes in a little more detail : 



DOUBLE TRENCHING. First of all mark out the piece of 

 ground to be trenched in convenient sized portions, either in 

 squares or oblongs. At the extreme end of one of the sections 

 dig out a hole to the desired depth say three feet at least and 

 wheel the soil thus removed to the other extreme end of the 

 section. Here it should be allowed to remain until the whole 

 piece of ground has been operated upon, for it will be required to 

 fill up the final hole or trench. If the soil is good throughout 

 there need be no hesitation in turning the next subsection com- 



