38 The Amateur's Book of the Dahlia 



old plaster if you have it (there is no harm in 

 using coal ashes here, since it is so far down that 

 the dahlia tubers can never reach it), and upon it 

 throw the sod and soil from the next trench as it 

 is being dug, breaking it up thoroughly. This 

 brings up the subsoil of the second trench which 

 is to form the topsoil of the first. In few cases 

 is the subsoil entirely infertile. The addition 

 of bonemeal and leaf mould well incorporated 

 thoroughly aerates it and causes the chemicals 

 in it to become available. Sand, of course, 

 should be mixed with both subsoil and topsoil 

 in varying quantities according to its content 

 of clay; or clay and manure mixed with them 

 according to their content of sand. 



Each following trench being merely the next 

 two spade widths of soil adjoining the previous 

 one, it is simple enough to turn the soil from one 

 into the other; but care must be given to the 

 thorough breaking up of the soil and mixing of 

 the ingredients which are to be incorporated. 

 Add bonemeal to the last eighteen inches of top- 

 soil at the rate of one pound to three square feet, 

 but when finished the whole bed must be twelve 

 to eighteen inches higher than the level of the 

 surrounding beds. The green manure at the 

 bottom of the bed will decay during the winter, 

 and the ground will naturally settle. 



