The Fugleman.—The Fugleman places himself in a prominent place, and arranges the other boys before him in a line. He then begins with grotesque gestures, which all the boys are compelled to copy. Those who are seen to laugh are immediately ordered to stand out of the line, and when half the number of players are so put out, the others are allowed to ride them three times round the playground, while the Fugleman with a knotted handkerchief beats the steeds from behind.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE GARDEN
How to Dig.—It is beyond the scope of this book to enter into all the intricacies of gardening. To do this we should need a volume larger than this devoted to that subject alone. Whatever branch of gardening a boy may pursue, however, whether he grows gooseberries, sweet peas, or cabbages, he will need to know how to dig. One of the pleasures of life is to come to a garden that has been neglected or to a plot of land that hitherto has been a field and to see it gradually become a well kept garden without a weed, under the magic of good spade work. It is like subduing an enemy. The simplest way to dig is to take a spade full of earth, turn it over, and put it back where you found it. This, however, is only for lightening the soil when the garden has been cultivated already. You would not subdue an unruly garden in that way.
Shallow Trenching.—If ABCD is a plot of land and you are beginning at the AB end, dig out the earth ABEF and convey it to the DC end and put it near but off the plot you are digging. Now dig EFGH and throw the earth from that into the trench ABEF and so on for the rest of the plot. When you have come to the end of the plot there will be a trench, but this will be filled by the earth you took there at the beginning of your digging.
Shallow Trenching.
Deep Trenching.—The best basis for gardening, however, is a more drastic, deeper trenching than this. Let ABCD be the plot we are going to dig deeply. Divide it into equal parts by the line EF. Make the line GH 3½ feet from FC. Dig out the earth from GHCF and carry it to X where it may be put in a heap. Make the line IJ 3 feet from GH. Dig out the earth one spade deep from GHIJ and throw it upon the heap at X. This earth at X taken from the top is known as top soil. Now return to GFCH and go another spade deeper, throwing the soil of this digging into a heap at Y. Still at GFCH break up the soil there with a fork, and manure and refuse may be placed there. Weeds put down here would have no chance to grow again. Go now to GIJH, dig out the subsoil there and put it into GFCH. On the top of this subsoil so removed place the top soil from KIJL. Go on like this until you come to EB, when the top soil from AEMN should go to NOQR and the subsoil of AEMN into NOQR and the top soil from MNPQ into EBON. When you get to DF you will find the subsoil at Y and the top soil at X ready for the filling of the last trench. It is important to keep the top soil on the top and the subsoil underneath. Drive the spade into the earth in a perpendicular direction and the full depth of the blade. Let the garden endure the winter with a rough surface so that the soil may present as many surfaces to the frost as possible. Jack Frost is one of the very best gardeners, and to see soil before he has bitten it and afterwards will be a revelation to the young gardener.
