30 GROW YOUR OWN VEGETABLES 



measures are deemed necessary, deep but narrow 

 trenches should be cut leading from various points to 

 the excavation, always, of course, provided with a down- 

 ward run. The trenches must then be packed with 

 cinders and tins, as mentioned above, and be finally 

 filled over with soil. These arrangements will take some 

 little time to carry out and will prove an arduous business, 

 but the land so treated becomes sweeter, better aerated 

 and far more fertile. 



Digging the Plot. Let us now turn to the digging 

 operations. We take our implements to the cabbage 

 patch or, as it was designated in the previous chapter, 

 plot C. This patch must be d ug deeply and well manured . 

 The best thing to do is to turn it over in the late autumn, 

 repeating the work before sowing or planting time. If 

 this is impossible, it should be dug in late December 

 only. 



According to whether we intend digging the plot once 

 or twice so must our work be regulated. Plate 2 

 (Figs. 1 4) illustrates the process of double digging. 

 Each figure shows three layers of soil : the surface soil, 

 the second or under spit, and the subsoil. Go to one 

 end of the plot the lower if the ground be not level 

 and dig out a trench two feet wide and two spits deep 

 (Fig. 1). Cart the removed soil to the far end of the 

 plot. Fork B and C and mix them well with a plentiful 

 supply of manure. Then transfer the portion of soil 

 marked D in Fig. 1 to its position in Fig. 2 and give it 

 manure following this by the removal of portion E in 

 Fig. 2 to its position in Fig. 3. From this, it will be 

 seen that as the work proceeds, the second spit comes to 



