GROUND OPERATIONS. 



13 



porated with the soil : whereas a full half of maiden 

 surface soil added to that on the spot, will gene- 

 laUy be found of the greatest service, and render 

 it far more valuable for all horticultural purposes. 



But the subject of deepening will recur under the 

 head of " Trenching," an,d the chief point here is to 

 insi$t on the necessity of so levelling the subsoil, 

 ■either by bodily removal or incorporation with that 

 •on the spot, that the surface soil should cover it 

 everywhere to the same depth. Those most conversant 

 with the economical performance of ground opera- 

 tions will see that this levelling process should com- 

 bine the merits and advantages of trenching, digging, 

 iind manuring as well. After levelling the subsoil 

 it should be loosened to a further depth of six inches 

 or a foot with a pick or spade, a layer of manure 

 spread over it before the layer of surface soil, and 

 more added during the process of filling up with the 

 mixture of the difiereut earths. But not a few level 

 first, and it is for these chiefiy that the ad\ice is 

 so often repeated to level soil and subsoil abreast at 

 one operation and the same time. 



Simple Modes of Levelling. — Levelling on a 

 large scale is an important branch of civil engineer- 

 ing, and requires a theodolite, and other expensive in- 

 struments and appliances. It is not such ascertaining 

 or alteration of levels, on a large scale, that is re- 

 ferred to here, but rather of inequalities of sui-face or 

 of fall over a few acres at the most. The majority of 

 gardens are either on a dead fiat or an even fall, and 

 so far as the kitchen garden is concerned it is desir- 

 able that they should be so. 



Most fields, on the other hand, before being taken in 

 for gardens, are more or less uneven, and as a rule it 

 is not desirable to perpetuate these inequalities, and 

 hence the importance of having some simple means 

 of removing them. So many words, figures, and 

 diagrams have been expended on this subject, with 

 the result of frightening people away from it rather 

 thar teaching the art of levelling their own garden, 

 that cne almost fears to approach it. 



In most gardens the starting or standard points 

 are already predetermined for the operator, the house 



zz 



A 



rig. 2.— straight-edge with Level. 



or mansion on the one hand, and the park, fields or 

 surrounding country, public or private roads, and so 

 forth, on the other. The problem is thus much sim- 

 plified, for few operations can be more simple than 

 the making of ground between two points perfectly 

 level, or on an even regular fall all the way. The 

 only implements needed are a measuring-rod ten feet 



long, marked into feet and inches aU the way, a 

 straight-edge (Fig. 2) or triangular foot level (Fig. 4), 

 a quadrant (Fig. 3), three borning-rods, a bundle of 

 straight stakes, either with or without cross-bars, 

 movable or otherwise, at the top, some smaller stakes, 

 and a mallet. 



In levelling such an irregularly- shaped piece of 

 ground as Fig. 5, place a row of stakes at equal dis- 



Fig. 3.- Quadrant. 



Pig. 4. — Triangle-level. 



tances of ten or twelve feet along its surface, and 

 of any convenient height. Having placed the first 

 two in position, take the straight-edged spirit-level 

 (Fig. 2), place it on the top, and see that they are 

 made exactly level. Then drive a third in, and 

 level it to a dead level with the second, and so with 



Kg. 5.— Levelling with Stakes and Eods. 



the fourth, and all through to the end. This will 

 form a level line at any haiidy distance from the 

 earth, the exact height being in no way material. 

 As the slightest mistake becomes of material impor- 

 tance in a long line, it is desirable to teat the level 

 by sighting it over a quadrant, or by sighting on 

 a second level, reversiag the end of the level be- 

 tween every pair of stakes. Two points must be 

 specially noted at this stage. The gauge for forming 

 a level surface is already provided by the level line 

 on the top of the stakes, and it is quite clear that 

 by measuring the same distance down from the top 

 of each stake, the earth-line would be as level as 

 this line in the air. But the second point is, where 

 is the surface line of the garden to be ? This can 

 bo settled thus: — Measure the distance from each 

 stake to the original surface, and. set the distance 

 down, and so on with aU the other stakes throughout. 

 As the ground varies in height less or more at either 

 end, it is better, for the sake of greater accuracy, to 

 measure the two ends separately, add the product, 

 divide by two, and set down the haU under the other 



