The Ash. 



them at fifteen inches distance from one of its ends. Two 

 men do the work, one at one end of the line and the other 

 at the other. Having made a straight line on the outside, 

 hy chopping along with the spade, they suffer the line to 

 stand there till they have laid down their sticks, one at the 

 one end of the line and the other at the other, perpendi- 

 cular from the line. Then they take up the line, and 

 place it on the ground again, so as to come over the notch at 

 three feet from the point where the line lay before. They 

 then begin to mark out the alley by treading the ground 

 along by the side of the line. Having done this, they take 

 their spades and mark the alley more distinctly, by a little 

 chop made along by the side of the line, and by drawing a 

 little of the ground into the alley. They then (the sticks 

 having lain on the ground all the while) move the line, so as 

 to make it come to the end of the two sticks. They then 

 tread and chop as they did before, in order to mark this 

 other side of the alley. Thus they have marked out a bed 

 three feet wide, and an alley fifteen inches wide. When 

 they have done this, they, before they move the line, move 

 their sticks, laying the three-feet ends of them to touch the 

 line, as they did before. They then move the line, place 

 it over the notches of the stick, as before directed, and then 

 they proceed to tread and to chop, and thus to form a 

 second alley and a second bed. 



110. In this manner they proceed, till the whole of the 

 ground is laid out in beds and alleys. These large spaces 

 of fifteen inches wide for each alley may, to some persons, 

 appear to be a waste of ground; but, whoever has had 

 much experience in the matter, must know that less space 

 is not sufficient. The earth has to be taken out of the 

 alleys, for the purpose of covering the seeds. The sides of 

 the alley cannot be perpendicular, without leaving the 



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