CHAPTER IV 
PRELIMINARY AND GENERAL PREPARATIONS 
FOR THE CULTIVATION OF HARDY PLANTS 
WHATEVER the soil or situation of the garden, 
it is essential that it shall be well dug. 
Nothing less than bastard trenching should be 
considered good enough. For the majority of 
things it will be found adequate. 
How to dig is a matter that has been dealt with 
so persistently by writers that maybe the majority 
of readers require no instruction on the subject ; 
but beginners who it is hoped will form a good 
proportion of students of this work will do well to 
give first consideration to digging. Here then are 
instructions for bastard trenching. 
First measure off a strip of ground, two feet in 
width, across one end of the plot, and remove the 
whole of the soil from that strip to a depth of a 
foot, making a heap of it at the end where the 
digging is to finish. Next get into the trench and, 
starting at one end, turn over and break up the soil 
with a strong fork, working backwards until the 
full length and breadth of the trench bottom is 
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