chap. I.] STIRRING THE SOIL. 
9 
long in cultivation, can never be very hard 
or difficult to penetrate, and she will not only 
have the satisfaction of seeing the garden 
created, as it were, by the labour of her own 
hands, but she will find her health and 
spirits wonderfully improved by the exercise, 
and by the reviving smell of the fresh 
earth. 
The first point to be attended to, in order 
to render the operation of digging less la¬ 
borious, is to provide a suitable spade ; that 
is, one which shall be as light as is con¬ 
sistent with strength, and which will pene¬ 
trate the ground with the least possible trou¬ 
ble. For this purpose, the blade of what is 
called a lady’s spade is made of not more 
than half the usual breadth, say not wider 
than five inches or six inches, and of smooth 
polished iron, and it is surmounted, at the 
part where it joins the handle, by a piece of 
iron rather broader than itself, which is 
called the tread, to serve as a rest for the 
foot of the operator while digging. The 
handle is about the usual length, but quite 
smooth and sufficiently slender for a lady’s 
hand to grasp it, and it is made of willow, 
