GROUND OPERATIONS. 



99 



a layer of rough rank dung two or three inches thick, 

 if it can be afforded, on the top of the freshly-stirred 

 subsoil. Then a yard of the ground (as at e) is marked 

 off in the manner already described for the opening 

 «; and this second strip is to be either simply 

 inverted — which may be sufficient for shallow 

 trenching in good ground — or skilfully manipulated 

 and mixed in transferring it, "into the opening. Of 

 course, as the partly-moved soil will be lighter and 

 looser than when it lay solid, it will occupy more 

 space, and the ground will be raised even if no 

 manure is used. In most cases the soil is simply dug 

 out and thrown down in one mass, the top " spit " * 

 being thrown into the bottom of the opening, the 

 second following, and then the third ; the soil 

 being thus inverted as well as transposed. But 

 this is the worst method, and the evil of bringing 

 the lower layer to the surface may be reduced to 

 a minimum by working each trench after the first 

 opening in two halves, as shown by the dotted line, a, 



Pig. 9.— Half-trenching. 



in Fig. 9. Here, instead of digging out the whole 

 yard at once, half a yard is taken at a time. As this 

 half-yard is used to fill up a trench of double the 

 width, it will only fill it half full as at b. This half- 

 stage is a good point at which to apply another 

 dressing of manure ; and then, when the second half- 

 yard is taken and thrown on b, this top layer of new 

 ground will also consist of half surface soil. The 

 freshly-moved earth at h is always to be kept more or 

 less on an incline as shown, which will also, for 

 obvious reasons, favour the more thorough mixture 

 of " tops " and " bottoms," the great end in all good 

 trenching. When e (Fig. 8) is cleared, / is taken in 

 the same way, and so on till the whole ground is 

 gone over. 



During the whole of the process of trenching, 

 the crumbs— that is, the fragments that fall off 

 the full spadefuls and from the edges of the cuts- 

 should on no account be thrown out. The majority 

 of workmen take out a full spadeful all over the 

 trench, and then, either ^dth spade or shovel, remove 

 the crumbs, leading the ground firm and clear for a 

 second full spadeful, and so on until the bottom is 

 reached. By acting thus, one most potential means 

 of thoroughly mixing all qualities of the soil and 

 subsoil into one homogeneous mass is thoughtlessly 



* A " spit " in gardening is the ground dug by one depth 

 of the spade. 



lost. Let the crumbs find their ov^ti level from top 

 to bottom, and all the way through the work ; and 

 not a few of them ydW be found at the base of the 

 trench, mixing, freely with and forming powerful 

 factors in the conversion of sterile subsoils into 

 vegetable mould. 



Keep the liTew Surface on an Inclined 

 Plane. — This has already been mentioned, but is 

 one of those matters of detail that is likely to be 

 overlooked by all but those having much expe- 

 rience in trenching. The simplest way of laying 

 the work on an incline is, to allow the last thrown- 

 in three feet of earth to overlap the open trench by 

 a foot or eighteen inches. The space will not thus 

 be quite filled up to the level of the new ground. 

 Hence, part of the next or third yard-space may be 

 pitched over to form the surface of the first opening, 

 while the major portion will go into the second 

 trench in exactly the same way as the soil of the 

 second filled the first. And, of course, by trenching 

 each alike, the whole of the newly-trenched ground 

 will be very much of the same quality. 



Importance of Rough Surface. — It is quite 

 a mistake to break ground fine in the process of 

 trenching, unless in the case of very strong adhesive 

 loams or clays, which may be improved by some 

 slight subdivision, freely introducing old mortar, 

 rough sand, or other disintegrators in the process. 

 The majority of soils should be trenched in imbroken 

 spadefuls, and especially should these be left as 

 rough and whole as possible on the sui-face (Fig. 10). 



Fig. 10.— Eough Surface. 



As these masses or clods, as they are called, are 

 mellowed down by time and other influences, the 

 work of incorporation and thorough mixture of soil 

 and subsoil will be complete, and the surface will 

 gradually become fine. 



"What to Do with the Stones. — Unless very 

 large, i.e., exceeding two or three pounds in weight, 

 leave all the stones alone in the lower strata. They 

 are useful in keeping hea\y soils more open, and in 

 retaining moistm-e in light ones. "Within a foot or 

 so of the surface, all the larger stones may be re- 

 moved. But unless the ground is very full of them 

 indeed, it would be well to return most of those 

 picked out to the lower strata. Not a few will con- 

 demn this ad%'ice as heterodox and injurious. It may 

 be the former, because cultivators have been trained 



