20 PIGTOBIAL PEAGTIOAL VEGETABLE GROWING, 



fallow then. There is nothing gained, but there may easily be some- 

 thing lost, by leaving a considerable task like trenching till spring. 

 In the first place, autumn trenching gives the soil time to settle down 

 before it is cropped : freshly trenched soil is too loose for many 

 crops. In the second place, the soil is usually drier and more work- 

 able in autumn than in spring. In the third place, there is generally 

 more labour available. When many urgent jobs are waiting in 

 spring, a stiff one often gets shelved. 



What is the best tool for trenchingj Is the fork or the spade the 

 more useful ? If trenching is trenching — if the trenches are really 

 trenches — if the work is done not only thoroughly but cleanly, every 

 trench being emptied before another is begun, both tools are wanted, 

 but in soil with real body about it the better tool is the fork. It is 

 the better, in my opinion, because with it the average man can shift 

 more soil with a given expenditure of energy than he can with a 

 spade. A man may be able to get through a specified area in a given 

 time, and do his work conscientiously and well ; but if another man 

 is able to do the same area equally well in the same time with a 

 slighter expenditure of energy he is working on sounder principles. 



I have heard the fork spoken of as the lazy man's tool. Is it 

 laziness to economise energy ? Why should a man waste his muscular 



B, heavy, tenacious soil ridged 



in autumn with a fork. 



C, the same not dug till spring ; 



its lumpy condition then. 



D, light soil dug with a spade. 



E, heavy soil (B) in spring after 



PICTORIAL PRACTICE— PLAIN 

 HINTS IN FEW WORDS. 



FIG. 5.-H0W TO DIG HEAVY 

 AND LIGHT SOIL. 



being pulverised by frost 

 and forked over. 



