Preparing the Ground. 



afterwards^ when they could be extirpated only by great 

 labour. The plough and the harrow and the fire must, in 

 this case, prepare the top before the trenching begins; 

 but, in the other case, where the top is to go to the bottom, 

 it is, for the reason before stated, rather an advantage to 

 have the top spit go down in solid lumps; but if there 

 be any dock, thistle, or dandelion roots, they ought to be 

 carefully taken out in the trenching, for no depth of bury- 

 ing will kill them. 



23. If the bottom be of clai/, of even the stiffest kind, 

 and if there be plenty of manure at hand, it may do very 

 well to put the top mould down to the bottom of the 

 trench; but if you have not plenty of manure, the clay at 

 top is bad, and young trees will be a very long while before 

 they make any progress. And, as to sheer sand, or chalk, or 

 sand-stone, these, if brought up to the top, will be ages 

 before they become fit for planting. In short, if you can- 

 not manure well, or bring up a pretty good soil from the 

 bottom, you should, by all means, keej) the old top soil still 

 at top. When the trees have stricken into that, their roots 

 will go down into almost any soil that has been recently 

 moved, but they will not strike at first in such poor and 

 raw soil. This being the case, and it being also the case 

 that plantations are generally made in land where the bot- 

 tom is not of a good quality, it is necessary to think of the 

 manner of preparing the top soil previous to trenching. 



24. If the ground, intended for that mode of trenching 

 which keeps the top soil still at the top, be covered with 

 grass and perennial weeds, or if it be green turf, it ought to 

 be broken up with the plough, and made clean by the har- 

 row, and by burning the roots of the grass and weeds, just 

 the same as if about to be used as arable land. If the 



