PREPARATION OF SOIL FOE OECHARi.. ,ii7 



position of two layers of the soil more thoroughly, and to 

 a greater depth, than is done by simply digging or plow- 

 ing, in which a limited amount, only a thin layer of the 

 soil, is inverted. In trenching with the spade, a narrow 

 strip of land is excavated across one end of the piece to 

 be trenched, eighteen or twenty inches wide, and as deep 

 as the spade can take it out at two diggings. The earth 

 thus removed is thrown aside, to be used at the end of the 

 work. The trench being now open, a similar space is laid 

 off, and the surface soil, to the depth of the spade, is dug 

 and thrown into tlie bottom of the first trench, after which 

 the subsoil is dug to the same depth, the length of the 

 space, and thrown on top of the surface soil that was put 

 into the bottom of the first trench. A second trench is 

 thus opened, and a third strip being then marked off, the 

 same processes are continued, until the whole piece is 

 trenched, when the pile of earth first excavated is brought 

 into requisition to complete the work, by filling up the last 

 trench. This is common trenching, which reverses the 

 two layers of soil, and stirs the whole to the depth* of 

 eighteen or twenty inches. It is an expensive operation, 

 but very desirable in a small fruit-garden — ^not at all ap- 

 plicable for extensive orchard planting, though often ap- 

 plied to the prep.aration of extensive vineyards. 



Trench plowing is conducted upon the same principle, 

 and is done by using two plows in the same furrow, the 

 first taking off the surface soil and throwing it into the 

 deep furrow of the second plow, which is so constructed 

 as to lift the lower soil and throw it high up over the fur- 

 row slice laid by the first, and at the same time, leaving 

 a deep furrow open behind it to receive the next cut of 

 10 



