44 



laborers for this purpose, and an intelligent man should be em- 

 ployed to follow the spreaders, and to separate any lumps of 

 manure which they may have neglected. While a too abundant 

 use of manure is sometimes as detrimental as beneficial, yet on 

 heavy clay land, like that of the Prospect Park, a larger portion 

 of manure must be used at a time, because it can bear it without 

 risk, while a smaller quantity, instead of producing an effect 

 upon it, will probably be retarded in its fermentation, and will 

 consequently remain in the state in which it was placed in the 

 ground. 



Manure from the stables is estimated by the load, and can 

 be purchased at fifty cents per load. The quantity required on 

 the park cannot be less than twenty-five thousand loads, which, 

 at the above-named price, will make the total estimate of its 

 cost, delivered, $12,500, to which add mixing, carting and 

 spreading, $4,000 — making total cost, $16,500. 



TRENCHING. 



Trenching, or the operation of opening the land to a greater 

 depth than usual, by means of trench plows, spades or other 

 proper instruments, is requisite under certain circumstances, in 

 order to prepare for manuring. Trenching must be carried on 

 in various ways according to circumstances. The simplest way 

 is by the spade. Three feet is the depth for trees, two for 

 ordinary purposes. Trenching is serviceable in dry weather, as 

 the heat rarely, if ever, affects the soil below a certain depth. 

 Care should be taken, however, in trenching not to throw a 

 poorer over a richer soil ; as great damage has been occasioned 

 by such mistakes. Trenching costs much at first, but ultimately 

 pays. It has been known to repay the labor as much as a 

 thousand per cent. In trenching the site of an old plantation, 

 the ground should be marked out in sections of about thirty 

 feet in breadth. Under these circumstances, it is best that 

 three men should work together rather than singly, as one aids 

 the others if trees are to be extricated. In trenching very 

 strong ground, the foot-pick is found most efficient. Iron levers 

 may be used if needed, and the larger rocks in boulders blasted. 

 Ground should be trenched before drained, if the land to be 

 improved has been the site of a plantation. Trenching may be 

 dune at any season. The dry, warm days of summer have been 



