371 



might accomplish, towards the improvement of thoir parks l)y means of 

 the transplanting machine, might yet be deterred from a due preparation 



of the soil, by the seeming quantity of manurr ihnt is proscribed for 

 it. But here is a noble, and valuable compound, adapted to all soils 

 and climates, and which may bo applied at a very small expense, with- 

 out encroaching on the stercoraceous collections of their farm-yards. 

 There are comparatively few situations in this kingdom, in which peat 

 moss of tolerable quality is unattainable on account of distance ;* and 

 it is fortunate that it is so ; because we know no given substance that 

 could supply its place. In many districts (as is seen in the present 

 section), it costs, when made up with lime, according to the above men- 

 tioned method, not more than Gd. per cart-load ; and there are others, 

 in which it may be had at a still smaller cost. But much depends on 

 the skill and attention that are bestowed on making it up. 



Note IV. Page 192. 



I conceive that I have made a considerable improvement on the ordi- 

 nary method of trenching or double-digging of ground, whether for 

 horticultural or arboricultural purposes. Common gardeners' trenching 

 is often a mere turning up and turning down of the soil, in regular strata, 

 without effecting any pulverization, or comminution of the parts ; and 

 although it deepens, it generally does nothing more, especially when the 

 trenching is done on grass-grounds; The method which I have prac- 

 tised with great effect, for twenty years, I can much recommend to 

 others. 



In trenching eighteen inches deep (and any thing less is of little use), 

 instead of keeping the bottom of the trench eighteen inches wide, or, 

 as it is generally done, only a foot, I would have it kept two feet wide ; 

 and, instead of executing the two spits deep successively, Mdth a regular 

 shoveling after each, I would have three spits executed, luithout any 

 shoveling, but with a good Scotch spade (as it is called), of which the 

 mouth is at least ten inches in length. The solid side of the trench is, 

 of course, cut perpendicularly ; but the loose side, or face of the work, 

 should be kept at a slope of not less than an angle of fifly or sixty 

 degrees, in such a way, as that in throwing on the contents, the surface 



* "In two-thirds of all the land in Scotland (says an intelligent writer), moss suffi- 

 cient for making compost, may be found within a inilc. Unless it be in some parts of 

 the counties of Edinburgh and Haddington, there is scarce one farm in ticolland, south 

 of the Forth, but can have moss within five miles; and not one farm in a thousand, but 

 may find it within three miles "—ytiiore's Treatise on Moss- Earth.— x\ 174. 



