404 
FAMILIAR LESSONS ON PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
Circumstances must determine whether the 
soil should be laid roughly, or broken fine, 
and the surface levelled, as the operation of 
digging proceeds. In general, rough digging 
is best, as it exposes a greater surface to the 
air ; and for this, each spadeful of the soil 
should be laid so that one side may lay up 
v.ith a sharp angle if possible, a little judg- 
ment being exercised to lay it, so that the 
general level of the ground is maintained. If 
wanted at once for broadcast seed-sowing, or 
for sowing seeds in lines near together, or for 
planting any crops that go near together, the 
ground must be pulverized as the digging 
goes on ; for this purpose it ought not to 
be too wet ; the spadefuls of earth, after 
being laid, are to be stiuck once or twice with 
the edge and corner of the spade, by which 
they will be broken moderately fine, and an 
extra working of this kind will secure any 
extra degree of fineness or tilth that may be 
required. Where the ground is wanted for 
sowing or planting in rows wide asunder, it 
may be rough dug, and the part to be occu- 
pied by the rows afterwards made sufficiently 
fine with a fork. In general, the sowing and 
planting of all principal crops should take 
place on ground previously trenched or dug, 
and which may only require levelling with a 
fork at the time of cropping. In the process 
of digging, both the operator's hands should 
be at the top of the spade-handle when he is 
thrusting the blade into the earth by pressing 
his foot on the "tread" — a flat rim to the 
upper part of the blade ; when the blade is 
pressed down, one hand should momentarily 
pass down the handle to lift it as soon as it is 
forced away from the mass by pulling back 
Avith the hand which retains hold at the top 
of the handle. It falls natural to some to pass 
down the left hand, some the right ; but a 
clever workman should be able to pass down 
either. If the right hand is passed down, the 
operator is said to work right-handed ; if the 
left, left-handed. A right-handed w^orker 
should begin on the left side of the piece of 
ground, and work towards the right ; a left- 
handed worker the opposite. The operator is 
thus clear of his work. The same details of 
" workmanship" apply to all operations of this 
class. 
Ordinary trenching might be called double 
digging, as it consists in the turning over of 
the ground two spades depth instead of one. 
It requires, however, a somewhat different 
process, in consequence of the greater bulk of 
soil that has to be moved. There are several 
kinds of trenching ; sometimes the top spit 
only is removed, and the second spit merely 
turned up in its former place ; sometimes the 
whole bulk of soil is removed to two or three 
spades depth : and the surface- soil and the 
lower-soil are variously placed with reference 
to each other, according as it may be required 
to intermix the different layers, or to bring 
up a fresh and unexhausted portion to the 
surface. 
Trenching two spades depth may be thus 
performed : A trench is opened across one 
end of the ground two feet wide and one 
foot deep. The soil from this opening is 
disposed of as in digging. The details of the 
operation will be best explained by diagrams, 
in which each number may represent the width 
and depth of a spit or spadeful of earth. The 
opening made by removing the earth one 
spade deep and two spades wide, will be 
represented in the an- 
nexed longitudinal sec- 
tion of the ground, Nos. 
1 and 2 being the parts 
removed. The next thing wiir be, to dig 
over No. 3 one spade deep ; then No. 4 is dug 
out spit by spit, and laid on No. 3 ; a section 
of the ground will then 
A. 
appear thus. No. 5 is 
next dug out, and laid 
in the place of No. 4 : 
and when this is done across the whole piece 
of ground, No. 6 is dug out and placed upon 
it, occupying the place of No. 2. The ground 
now lies thus. The 
same course is followed 
thi'oughout. Either one 
or two persons may 
work at this mode of trenching ; when Nos. 1 
and 2 are removed, one may commence digging 
up No. S, and as soon as he has advanced a 
little, another may follow and turn out No. 4 ; 
the first, when he has finished No. 3, then 
begins to throw No. 5 into the place of No. 4, 
and keeps ahead sufficiently for the second to 
commence No. 6 by the time he has done 
No. 4. Thus, two may continue working 
without interfering with each other. To the 
regular progress of the operation, it is essen- 
tial that the ground be divided into equal 
spaces, and worked to an equal depth all 
over. 
Trenching is almost universally performed 
at the end of one season, in order to prepare 
the ground for the next. For this purpose, 
the soil should be laid together as roughly 
and as lightly as possible, and the surface 
should be disposed in the form of ridges, in 
order that the greatest possible extent of sur- 
face may be exposed to the weather. These 
ridges should be laid as roughly and lightly 
as possible, and not patted up smoothly on 
the sides with the spade. The surface of a 
piece of ground 
appearance,tlie 
