SOIL PREPARATION 27 



sweet through previous aeration following upon deep 

 culture. 



Digging, a process by which a depth of 12 inches 

 of soil is turned over, is good as far as it goes, but those 

 whose land is so shallow that they cannot secure a deeper 

 rooting medium than this must not expect to achieve the 

 same results as others who have soil 2 or 3 feet deep. 

 However, a 1 2-inch depth of thoroughly friable, sweet, 

 fertile ground will grow some grand plants ; and if the 

 flowers are not all fours or fives upon a stem, and the 

 stems are not all 20 inches in length What matters 

 it ? Judicious watering and feeding will encourage the 

 successive production of blooms, provided that the flowers 

 are picked from the plants either just before, or when they 

 are at, perfection. In the process of moving the soil, more 

 particularly if the work has to be done in the spring when 

 the grower cannot have the invaluable assistance of the 

 weather as a disintegrator, small bites should be taken 

 with the spade or fork, and the tool should be driven 

 down to its utmost depth. This will go far to favour the 

 friability that is so desirable for seeding or planting, as the 

 case may be. 



In bastard trenching, the cultivator is able to increase 

 the depth of soil available for the roots indeed, when 

 ground has been bastard-trenched three or four years in 

 succession, there should be no difficulty in moving the 



