88 MANUAL OF GARDENING 
the closing season. These are the months when I work 
hardest and when I am nearest the soil. To feel the thrust of 
the spade, to smell the sweet earth, to prepare for the young 
plants and then to prepare for the closing year, to handle the 
tools with discrimination, to guard against frost, to be close 
with the rain and wind, to see the young things start into life 
and then to see them go down into winter, — these are some of 
the best of the joys of gardening. In this spirit we should take 
up the work of handling the land. 
The draining of the land. 
The first step in the preparation of land, after it has been 
thoroughly cleared and subdued of forest or previous vegetation, 
is to attend to the drainage. All land that 
is springy, low, and “sour,” or that holds 
the water in puddles for a day or two fol- 
lowing heavy rains, should be thoroughly 
underdrained. Draining also improves 
the physical condition of the soil even 
when the land does not need the removal 
of superfluous water. In hard lands, it 
lowers the water-table, or tends to loosen 
and aerate the soil to a greater depth, 
and thereby enables it to hold more water 
without injury to plants. Drainage is 
particularly useful in dry but hard garden 
lands, because these lands are often in sod or permanently 
planted, and the soil cannot be broken up by deep tillage. 
Tile drainage is permanent subsoiling. 
Hard-baked cylindrical tiles make the best and most per- 
manent drains. The ditches usually should not be less than 
two and one-half feet deep, and three or three and one-half 
feet is often better. In most garden areas, drains may be 
laid with profit as often as every thirty feet. Give all drains 
79. Ditching tools. 
