DIGGING. -- Very few people ever consider in detail, the expenditure of labour required from the garden labourer when digging. It is a labour of all others calling into exercise the muscles of the human frame, and how treat is the amount of this exercise may be estimated from the following facts: -- In digging a square perch of ground in spits of the usual dimensions, (seven inches by eight inches), the spade has to be thrust in 700 times, and at each spadeful of earth, if the spade penetrates nine inches, as it ought to do, will weigh on the average full 17 lbs.; 11,900 lbs. of earth have to be lifted and the customary pay for doing this is 2½d.! As there are 160 perches or rods in an acre in digging the latter measure of ground, the garden labourer has cut out 112,000 spadeful of earth, weighing in the aggregate 17,000 cwt, or 850 tons, and during the work he moves over a distance of 14 miles. As the spade weighs between 9 and 9 lbs. he has to lift, in fact, during the work, half as much more weight than that above specified, or 1,278 tons. An able-bodied workman can dig 10 square perches a day. A four-pronged fork, with the prongs 12 inches long, and the whole together forming a head of 8 inches wide, is a more efficient tool for digging than the common spade. It requires the exertion of less power; breaks up the soil more effectually; and does not clog, even when the soil is most wet. It is less costly than the spade, and when worn can be re-laid at a less expense.
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Carlisle Patriot 
