134 
GARDENING AND FARMING 
has only to be spread over the adjoining 
ground. It may be vei-y desirable for a home- 
stead, which may be as effectually preserved 
from intrusion by this means as by any ; and 
it possesses the advantage of being no ob- 
struction to the master's view over miles of his 
own land. This can only be done with stiff 
land, or by driving in stakes close together, 
with slabs or planks, to hold up the ground, 
because it must be nearly upright to be effec- 
tive, and ordinary soil would soon slip and 
crumble into the ditch or trench formed in 
making the bank or side. There are many 
other modes of making a boundary protection, 
dependent, however, on materials, and of these 
none but wood can be fairly expected. 
PREPARATION FOR CROPS, MANURING, &C. 
The clearing of wood is of itself a fine pre- 
paration ; and a good dressing of wood ashes, 
from the burning of the waste underwood and 
rubbish, is all the ground need have. Grass 
or pasture land may yield at once to the 
plough, and that needs no other dressing than 
the turning in of the turf. But the plough 
will not be desirable for carrots, and beet-root, 
or mangold wurtzel ; it is far better to have as 
much trenched as you wish to appropriate to 
domestic crops, that is to say, for your own 
food, as well as that of cattle. Land that has 
not been arable or in cultivation, will in most 
instances give good crops without any dress- 
ing, and this must be the fate of the first land 
you crop. Indeed, it ought to be, for it is 
the only way to know what the soil will do ; 
and in some places, where it is rich alluvial, 
it yields wonderfully. It is impossible to say 
here what is the season for sowing, in so many 
different climates as are now open to the emi- 
grant ; he has only to watch the vegetation of 
the place, and be guided by that, as to the time 
of sowing and planting. In Canada the frost 
may break up ; in some of the warmer coun- 
tries you must wait for the rainy season ; in 
Australia there may be several crops had in 
a year ; in New Zealand you may take any 
English garden book of good authority, and 
act upon its directions. In all cases, let the 
first crop come off without any preparation, 
but in after seasons be guided by circum- 
stances. Your stock will find you in manure, 
^if well managed ; but remember, not an atom 
or drop must be wasted, or allowed to run 
away, or dry away. Every kind of offal from 
the house — dirty water, decayed vegetables — 
everything that might be called a nuisance — 
should, nevertheless, be carefully preserved ; 
removed from the dwelling, certainly, but so 
laid together that no moisture should run away. 
The most offensive matter can be prevented 
from becoming unpleasant by covering it with 
soil. Cesspools are a means of accumulating 
any kind of nuisance ; and when these are 
emptied, the contents should be carried towhere 
there is already prepared a couple of feet of 
loose earth, in a hole, dug, say four feet deep 
originally. Into this the soil, and dirt, and wet, 
and any kind of rejected filth, should be put; 
and when done, covered with at least a foot 
thickness of earth ; here it may remain for 
a year, and when wanted, the whole of the 
soil in the hole will be a mass of fertilizing 
material, of which a very small portion will 
go a long way. But this sort of manure, 
composed of night soil and slops of all sorts 
absorbed by common soil, will nevertheless 
be very strong, and should be laid on the 
soil very thinly, to be ploughed in before it 
is sown, that the roots may find the benefit 
when they shoot down. Stable dung, pigs', 
cows', and poultry dung, rotted leaves, and 
every description of decayed vegetable and 
animal matter, are useful on land, especially 
poor land; but every acre of new ground may 
be fairly tried without the least dressing, that 
you may see what it will do without help, and 
act accordingly. The ground that has been 
trenched only wants to be laid level for broad- 
cast sowing, or in ridges for other cropping. 
Suppose the country is very hot, the ground 
may be laid in high ridges, for the crops to 
grow in the bottom, and be shaded from the 
sun. If the land lies low and wet, let the 
plants grow at top of the ridges. In any case 
your season of sowing and the nature of the 
soil must determine you as to the preparation ; 
but gi-ound cannot be disturbed too deep ; the 
more the air is let into it, the better everything 
will grow. If the ground has been simply 
pasture land, ploughed up, the lumps must be 
broken before it is sowed or planted. If it be 
full of weeds or roots, or otherwise foul, it 
should be forked over, that they may be all 
taken out, and burned ; and before anything is 
planted or sown, this foulness should be cured. 
Ground once cleared is ready for any crop 
that does not require deep rooting. Land 
stirred six or eight inches deep with a plough 
would do but ill for carrots, parsnips, beet-root, 
and mangold wurtzel ; trench ground for these 
crops, and the yield will be heavier and the 
crop handsomer than it would be with the best 
ploughing. Much depends on the season, much 
on the situation ; but it is an old and excellent 
piece of advice, to stir the earth well, and as 
deep as the crop requires it. Among the pre- 
parations for cropping, the dressing or ma- 
nuring of the ground after it has done some- 
thing well, is among the most universal. Clay 
lands are the better for lime, for sand, and for 
knocking about ; light sandy soil is the better 
for marling, that is, dressing with marl or 
loam, or any stronger soil ; wet land is the 
better for draining ; but all must be stirred 
