12 



Gardening for Amateurs 



position. No better spirit level can be 

 obtained than the water which lies on the 

 ground on a rainy day, and if the border 

 can be left until such a time the uneven 

 parts will be beautifully mapped out, and 

 the work can be finished off with satisfactory 

 completeness as soon as it gets dry again. 



Pegging on Inclined Surfaces. The 

 method of pegging is just as easily practised 

 on an inclined surface, but in this case more 

 pegs are generally required and the spirit 

 level is dispensed with. Two pegs are 

 driven in at 3-foot intervals, with their 

 tops on the level to which the ground will 

 be reduced. The long piece of wood (a 

 " straight edge ") is now laid on top of 

 these two, and a third peg is driven into 

 the soil until its top coincides with the 

 bottom of the " straight edge," as shown in 

 the illustration. The three pegs are then 

 on a level, and by a repetition of the process 

 with numbers two and three, a fourth peg 

 is easily driven into position. The process 

 is continued, and the ultimate result is 

 similar to that obtained on the level. 



Another method of levelling both an in- 

 clined surface and a horizontal surface is 

 to put pegs in at opposite sides of the 

 border and to get a series of intermediate 

 pegs by drawing a string taut between the 

 two and hammering in pegs alongside it 

 until their tops are level with the string. 

 Where it is desired to bring the surface to 

 a horizontal plane it is not easy to use the 

 spirit level with the string. 



Levelling the surface of a bank (a) by means 

 and (b) by using pegs. 



Simple Gauging. A professional gar- 

 dener was once levelling a broad border pre- 

 paratory to laying turf, and his method of 

 working was to level thoroughly each end 

 of the border and to gauge the intermediate 

 surface by means of a set of simple, home- 

 made instruments. Into each end he ham- 

 mered a tall peg bearing a crossbar at the 

 top and one about 12 inches from the foot ; 

 at the other end a duplicate was firmly 

 fixed in the soil until the lower crossbar was 

 touching the surface. The third instrument 

 of this set consisted of a pin with two cross- 

 bars nailed at the same distance apart as 

 those on the first and second, but in this 

 case there was no peg protruding past the 

 lower bar to fix into the soil. After the 

 soil had been raked fairly evenly between 

 the first and second fixed marks, the third 

 was held at various points along the inter- 

 vening space ; the gardener himself stood 

 well back from the first peg, and by looking 

 across the tops of the three upper crossbars 

 was able to determine whether a level had 

 been obtained ; the crossbars were painted 

 to assist the eye and for quick determination. 

 A similar practice will often be noticed when 

 drains are laid in order to see that the 

 bottom of the ditch is thoroughly uniform 

 between the extremities. The principle of 

 the work is simply to see that the top cross- 

 bars are all level (see illustration on p. 10). 

 Some Necessary Precautions. When 

 reducing ground to a uniform level for 

 gardening purposes, beware of laying bare 

 the subsoil in some parts by 

 removing all the surface layer 

 to fill up the hollows ; this is 

 only too readily done where 

 the ground is very uneven. 

 The evils of the work are 

 noticed later on ; should grass 

 seed, say, be sown on the pre- 

 pared border plenty of good 

 growth would result where the 

 soil was rich and fresh, but 

 on the stiff, cold, sterile sub- 

 soil little would grow. Level- 

 ling should never be finished in 

 one day ; the soil must be al- 

 lowed to settle and become firm, 

 then the process can be repeated 

 to ensure a level surface. 



of string, 



