108 



DIT 



DI T 



will be Ihe cooler in summer and 

 warmer in winter, as well as more 

 durable, as it will be defended from 

 rain, &:c. 



If rats and mice cannot enter the 

 milk room, there will be no need 

 of having shelves in it. The floor 

 is the best place to set the vessels 

 of milk on, it being coolest in sum- 

 mer,aud perhaps warmest when the 

 weather is frosty. See BiUter and 

 Cheese. 



DARNEL, Lolium, a trouble- 

 some weed, which sometimes ap- 

 pears among grain, and is often so 

 fruitful as to spoil a crop. The 

 seeds of it resemble corns of blast- 

 ed rye, but are more light and 

 chafTy. These weeds should be 

 pulled up before they go to seed. 

 But grain for sowing may be mostly 

 cleared of the seeds by swimming 

 it in water. 



DIBBLE. A tool, used by 

 gardeners and farmers in Europe, 

 chiefly in transplanting. It con- 

 sists of a stick about a foot or eigh- 

 teen inches long, slightly sharpen- 

 ed at the end, with which a hole is 

 made to receive the plant or seed. 

 Gardeners prefer an old spade 

 or shovel handle that has been 

 broken, retaining the upper part 

 of the handle, and sharpening the 

 lower end. This is very handy, 

 and with care will last many years. 



DITCH, a narrow channel, of 

 great use in agriculture. Ditches 

 serve two purposes, to enclose 

 grounds and to carry oif superflu- 

 ous water. When used for fences, 

 a hedge should be planted on their 

 sides, otherwise they will not keep 

 out cattle or sheep. The earth 

 faken out of ditches should Dot be 



suffered to lie in heaps on the bor- 

 ders to the great loss of time in 

 mowing, and the crop. It is too 

 precious a material for compost 

 heaps, to be suffered to remain in a 

 state worse than useless. 



A ditch should be three times 

 wider at the top than at the bot- 

 tom, to prevent the falling in of 

 the sides. 



DITCHING, the making of ditch- 

 es. This work is most commonly 

 performed in summer, or early in 

 autumn. When this work is to be 

 done in very low and wet land, a 

 hot and dry season is best ; that 

 the water may not prove trouble- 

 some, neither by its quantity, nor 

 by its coldness. When it is to be 

 performed in a salt marsh, not only 

 a dry and warm time should be 

 chosen forthebusiness,butit should 

 be done also at a time when the 

 tides are lowest. On high lands, 

 ditches may be made at almost any 

 season, when the ground is not 

 frozen. But in the spring the dig- 

 ging will be the easiest, the ground 

 being softened by the preceding 

 frosts. But as the ground is driest 

 in autumn, then is the best time for 

 ditching in most of our low lands. 

 At least, the month of September 

 is a good season. But farmers 

 mu*t be governed, as to the time, 

 in some measure, by their own 

 conveniency. It must be done 

 when no other business of greater 

 importance demands the whole of 

 their attention and exertion. 



When bushy ground, full of 

 strong roots, is to be ditched, the 

 Rev. Mr. Eliot wisely recommends 

 beginning the ditch in the winter, 

 when the ground is frozen two or 



