next morning declare that new stones had grown in the night.

The ditching was very little work. It meant digging a ditch about two
feet deep and then making at either end of this gutter a side ditch at a
very severe angle to the main ditch. These side ditches were directed
along the sides of the hill for about six feet, and the water thus
directed would conduct itself off. Of course the angle was such that
the ditch led away from the garden spot.

[Illustration:

SLOPE SLOPE
---------------------
/ DITCH \
SIDE / -------------------- \ SIDE
SLOPE / / \ \ SLOPE
/ / GARDEN \ \
/ / \ \

Picture this as the ditch George dug right above his garden. The water
passed through the side slopes away from the garden.]

As the stones were picked off he piled them into the gutter, where this
stony bottom also helped the drainage problem.

George was a master hand at ploughing, for he had always done his share
of it, so ploughing meant nothing to him. First, you will remember
George had one foot of dressing to put on the land. This he ploughed in;
and then reploughed. After this the slope was harrowed. You all know
that the harrow simply makes fine the soil after the plough has done its
work of throwing up the earth. The rake is a kind of harrow. Of course,
when the garden plot is large, the rake is impossible, and then the
harrow, really a big rake dragged by a horse, must do this work.

It took the boy longer than some of the others to do his work, for
George did more work at home than the others. He was probably better
informed on farm matters, however. His father was a real farmer; the
other boys' fathers farmed, too, but not as a business.

Anticipating the amount of time this preparatory work would take he had
not started his cabbage inside. To get an early crop of cabbage, seed
must be planted in January or February; then one may start in March.
But for the late crop plant in the open in May or June. This is just
what George did.

He made furrows straight down his sunny southern slope. These furrows
were two feet apart. The seed, of Savoy cabbage, was sprinkled in the
furrows. This was done after rain. Cabbage needs much moisture for quick
germination. George might have poured water into the furrows and puddled
or stirred the earth a bit, if the garden