280 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



even succeeding crops of the same kind being 

 grown upon it, an effect which must ensue when 

 the depth is limited to 9 or 10 inches. Kota- 

 tion of crops, so much insisted on by most cul- 

 tivators, is, under this deep-trenching system, a 

 matter of very unimportant consideration. No 

 doubt, when the soil is naturally thin, and rests 

 on a bad subsoil, it would be injudicious to 

 trench so deep, at least at the commencement 

 of its cultivation ; because that portion which is 

 really sufficiently fertile to produce moderate 

 crops would be entirely buried, and a soil to- 

 tally unfit for most plants would be brought to 

 the surface. The improvement of such a sub- 

 soil, if sufficiently dry, can, however, be pro- 

 gressively accomplished by bringing up a portion 

 of it at each digging, and incorporating it with 

 that already formed, so that, in course of time, 

 most soils may be rendered deep and fertile to 

 any reasonable extent. Thin or shallow soils 

 are greatly improved by a system of trenching 

 much used by us, which, without bringing the 

 bad subsoil up, yet loosens it to a considerable 

 depth, and that without the expenditure of 

 much manual labour. The process is as fol- 

 lows : At one end of the piece, open a trench 

 not less than 3 feet in width, and as deep as the 

 soil is already made, removing the earth taken 

 out to the opposite side, for filling up the last 

 trench. When the first trench is opened — say to 

 the depth of a foot or more, according to cir- 

 cumstances—commence picking up the bottom, 

 allowing it, however, to remain where it is. For 

 this purpose we use picks made on purpose, 

 the prongs of which are 20 inches in length ; 

 with these the subsoil is torn up and loosened 

 to the depth of 1 8 inches, if the operation is not 

 interrupted by rock. This, with the 12 inches 

 of surface-soil already removed, gives us a 

 depth of 2| feet at the expense of actually re- 

 moving 1 foot. It is a good plan to lay over 

 the subsoil thus broken up a good coating of 

 undecayed dung, which, in itself, improves the 

 soil beneath, and affords nourishment to the 

 roots of the crops when they descend to that 

 depth. One of the great evils arising from a 

 rich surface and an impoverished subsoil is, that 

 the roots are pampered, and probably, in some 

 cases over-fed, in their earliest stage of growth, 

 and while the plants are small and require less 

 nourishment: when they have attained, say 

 half their size, and consequently stand in need 

 of a proportionate amount of food, their roots, 

 having passed through the rich soil, enter into 

 that in which little or no nourishment for them 

 is to be found. The consequence is, the plants 

 sustain a sudden check, from which they never 

 afterwards recover, but begin to assume a sickly 

 worn-out appearance, run up to seed, or cease 

 to increase in size, and ultimately die of sheer 

 starvation. 



During winter, when the ground is unfrozen, 

 and when neither too wet or covered with snow, 

 digging, ridging, and trenching should be pro- 

 ceeded with ; it is the most profitable employ- 

 ment men can be engaged in. Every piece of 

 ground, as soon as it is cleared of its crop, 

 should be operated upon in one or other of 

 these ways ; and whichever be adopted, the 



rougher the surface can be thrown up, the 

 better, so as to expose the largest possible ex- 

 tent to the action of the weather. All manur- 

 ings, without such operations as these, are of 

 little avail ; and these, even with a very limited 

 supply of manure, will secure excellent crops. 

 Ridging is a species of deep-digging or trenching, 

 where the soil is thrown up in parallel ridges ; 

 it is found valuable in strong tenacious soils, as 

 it presents the ground so ridged up to the ac- 

 tion of frost better than when the surface is left 

 more level. 



The purpose of trenching is to deepen the 

 soil by breaking into the subsoil, and improving 

 that, as well as bringing part of it at each ope- 

 ration near to the surface, and amalgamating it 

 with the soil, which has already been probably 

 over-cropped. It promotes filtration and the 

 descent of solar heat ; it gives scope to the 

 roots, and affords them a broader pasturage ; it 

 supplies rest to an already over-wrought soil, 

 and brings into action one that has not probably 

 as yet contributed the least share towards the 

 sustenance of plants. In fact, it is cultivation 

 upon a grand and high-culture principle. The 

 more a soil is disturbed, and the deeper that 

 disturbance is carried, the better, and the more 

 manifest will its improved state be, even in the 

 general acceptation of soil management. A very 

 sensible practical writer, J. B., in the " Cottage 

 Gardener," vol. i. p. 6, observes, " A soil would 

 never get exhausted, if managed with skill, but 

 would continue to improve in depth and fertility 

 in proportion to the industry bestowed upon it. 

 The food of plants, it is true, may be exhausted 

 from the soil by a repetition of cropping with 

 any one family of plants, if we neglect the ap- 

 plication of such fertilisers as may have been 

 taken from the soil by that family ; but no part 

 of the growing season is required for the soil to 

 rest, or lie fallow, if judiciously managed by a 

 successional varying of the crops, or supplying 

 to them such food as may be a compensation for 

 what has been taken off by the previous crops. 

 The first object to be attained for securing a 

 certain and profitable return of produce from 

 the soil must be thorough drainage ; the next 

 object is breaking into the subsoil to the desired 

 depth — not without first considering whether it 

 is proper and profitable to shift and turn up the sub- 

 soil at once to the influence of the atmosphere, or 

 whether it is best to break into it well first, by 

 shifting the surface-soil, and allowing the sub- 

 soil to remain, to receive, first, the beneficial 

 influence of the atmosphere ; and then, at the 

 next trenching, a portion of the subsoil may be 

 safely stirred up and mixed with the surface- 

 soil : this practice, continuedfor every succeeding 

 crop, will establish a healthy fertilising surface- 

 soil to any desired depth." 



Bastard trenching is an excellent plan where 

 the soil is too thin to admit of thorough trench- 

 ing. In performing the operation, a trench is 

 dug about a yard in breadth ; indeed, no trench- 

 ing should be of a smaller breadth, as, the wider 

 the trenches are, the less chance is left to care- 

 less operatives of leaving dykes, or undisturbed 

 portions of soil, between each trench. One full 

 spit and a shovelling is then taken out, and car- 



