356 
Garden Work 
and the other at the other end of his. No i boy will lay his soil across 
the path on to No. 2 boy’s plot, and No. 2 boy will lay his soil on to the 
other end of No. 1 boy’s plot. Thus when No. 1 digs right to the end of 
his plot he will have the soil from No. 2 boy’s plot to fill in his last trench, 
and No. 2 boy, starting from the opposite end, when he comes to the last 
trench will have the soil from No. 1 boy’s opening to fill up with, and so 
on through the whole fourteen plots. This will save considerable time 
and labour, as it is not necessary to wheel the soil from the one end to the 
other of every plot. The boys cannot understand this arrangement at first — 
to hand over part of their soil to their neighbour seems strange — but before 
they have finished they see the idea and consider it a good one. 
Where trenching can be done, the openings can be made in the same 
way, taking out two spits instead of one. This has many advantages. If 
the ground has been neglected for some time, and a great many annual weeds 
are growing on it, they are effectually destroyed by being buried in the bottom 
of the trench, and large numbers of their seeds are buried with them. On 
neglected ground there are always plenty of insect pests, as they can find 
refuge there without being disturbed; but trenching puts a great many of 
them down to a depth from which they cannot possibly climb, consequently 
they are destroyed. Trenching on deep clayey soils is almost essential, 
leaving it rough so that the frost may do its work of breaking the fine 
particles asunder and making a fine tilth for seed sowing in spring. 
In digging or trenching, the boys should be made to do their work 
very neatly: not to come too close to the edging, of whatever kind it is; 
not to injure it if a living one, not to break it down if of wood, nor to move 
the stones or tiles if of these materials. They should always keep 3 in. 
away from the edging; but the surface soil, with weeds and their seeds, 
may be scraped off and put into the bottom of the trench. The spade 
should always be turned inwards when digging along the edging; if it is 
turned outwards the soil is sure to be scattered over the edging on to the 
path, and this should never be allowed. It may take some practice to get 
into the proper way of handling the spade; but, as with all other tools, the 
correct way should be insisted on, and when this has been acquired the 
work is much more easily performed. For instance, when digging, the 
spade should be put straight into the soil and pushed in with either left 
or right foot. The boy should be standing in such a position that the 
whole weight of his body is on the spade when pushing it in with his foot, 
and when it is embedded to the top of the blade he should be standing 
almost upright. This will rest his back ; then, bending, he should grip the 
