Moulting

“ Have well-rotted stable manure scattered over the surface before ploughing, which should be deep at first. After two or three days’ airing, plough again, running the furrows crosswise; then harrow and roll and harrow again, until every clod is broken up. Thorough preparation of the soil should never be shirked, for it is more than half the battle. Let me caution you not to have the ploughing done if the ground be wet. Much of the disappointment which city people experience arises from the natural desire of the amateur to get to work. ”

“ MOULD. (1) (O. Eng. molde, from a Teutonic root meaning to grind, reduce to powder, cf. “meal”) , loose fine earth, rich in organic matter, on the surface of cultivated ground, especially the made garden soil suitable for the growth of plants. In the sense of a furry growth, consisting of minute fungi found on animal or vegetable substances exposed to damp, the word may be either an extension of “mould,” earth, or an adaptation of an early “moul,” with an additional d due to “mould.” ”

“ We can observe the effect that a rough, or badly scratched, or poorly shaped moldboard has on any kind of soil, especially when passing from gravelly soils to clay. In soil that contains the right amount of moisture, when a plow scours all the time, the top of the furrow slice always has a glazed or shiny appearance. This shows that the soil is slipping off the moldboard easily. In places where the plow does not scour the ground is pushed to one side and packed or puddled on the underside instead of being lifted and turned as it should be. ”

“ Smoothing and Pulverizing the Soil.—After plowing, the next important step is to smooth and pulverize the soil. If the soil be well prepared before planting, the work of caring for the crops will be very materially lessened. It is not sufficient that the land be smooth and fine on top, but the pulverizing process should extend as deep as the plowing. Some gardeners prefer to thoroughly cut the land with a disk harrow before plowing, so that when it is turned by the plow the bottom soil will be fine and mellow. ”

“ The plow is used to break up the soil into crumbs that will permit air to enter. The loosening is excessive when the planting must follow soon, permitting rapid escape of water. The roller or plank-drag is employed to compress the soil, and to crush crumbs of soil that are too large for good soil conditions. The harrow follows to make a mulch of fine, loose soil at the surface to assist in prevention of evaporation.
A sandy soil will retain its mulch in effective condition for a longer time than a fine clay, if no rain falls. ”

“ Setting up the mould with plaster of Paris.
When the model has been completed, the next thing to be done is to make a mould on it. For this purpose the moulders are called in. Some sculptors do their own moulding; but if they are busy men it does not pay them to do so, the moulding of a large group being a long job. It is, moreover, a strictly mechanical operation, although one requiring much manipulative skill and a fine touch. The first thing the moulder does, when the model is handed over to him, is carefully to consider the way in which he is going to accomplish his task. ”

“ In thick and level woods, protected from the wind, castings will never be removed as long as the wood lasts; and mould will here tend to accumulate to the depth at which worms can work. I tried to procure evidence as to how much mould is blown, whilst in the state of castings, by our wet southern gales to the north-east, over open and flat land, by looking to the level of the surface on opposite sides of old trees and hedge-rows ”

“ Plain, or unenriched, mouldings are formed with a running mould of zinc cut to the required profile. Enrichments may be Mouldings. added after the main outline moulding is set, and are cast in moulds made of gelatine or plaster of paris. For a cornice moulding two running rules are usual, one on the wall, the other on the ceiling, upon which the mould is worked to and fro by one workman, while another man roughly lays on the plaster to the shape of the moulding. ”

“ Use water liberally, and keep on doing so until rain comes or the plants have taken hold of the moister soil below with their delicate feeding-roots.
I would not advise mowing until the grass is at least three inches high. Then clip lightly with [Pg 27] a sharp-bladed mower. Just cut away the top of the grass. To mow close, while the grass is getting a start, is the worst thing you can do. When it begins to thicken up by stooling out, then, and not till then, will you be warranted in setting the mower so that it will cut closely. But never shear the sward, as some do. ”

“ Bands of mowers, in their light trousers and broad straw hats, are astir long before the fiery eye of the sun glances above the horizon, that they may toil in the freshness of the morning, and stretch themselves at noon in luxurious ease by trickling waters, and beneath the shade of trees. ”

“ Stirring the surface soil with a fine rake as soon as it is partly dry after a rain, furnishes a mulch of dust which prevents the moisture in the lower earth escaping, because it checks the capillary process by which moisture travels to the surface and is carried into the air. The soil may be rich in the mineral and animal components which constitute plant-food, but unless moisture is present in sufficient quantities these are not available as sustenance for plants. ”

“ The rains had softened the trail, until it was of the consistency of very stiff mud. In 58 this mud the first mule had left his tracks. The next mule trod carefully in the first mule’s footsteps; and all subsequent mules did likewise. The consequence was a succession of narrow, deep holes in the clay, into which an animal’s leg sank halfway to the shoulder. No power on earth, I firmly believe, could have induced those mules to step anywhere else. ”

“ Ploughing.—Other benefits, again, attend upon the ordinary ploughings, hoeings, and workings of the land. Its parts are more minutely divided—the air gets access to every particle—it is rendered lighter, more open, more permeable to the roots. The vegetable matter it contains decomposes more rapidly by a constant turning of the soil, so that wherever the fibres of the roots penetrate, they find organic food provided for them, and an abundant supply of the oxygen of the atmosphere to aid in preparing it. ”

“ A stuck moulding is worked directly on to the framing it is used to ornament; a planted moulding is separately worked and fixed in position with nails or screws. Beads and other small mouldings should always be stuck; larger ones are usually planted on. In the case of mouldings planted on panelled work, the nails should be driven through the moulding into the style or rail of the framing, and on no account into the panel. ”

“ Wherever the forest has been undisturbed by fire, they have accumulated, by shedding their foliage through a long succession of ages, and by their own decay, a covering of vegetable mould from six to twelve inches deep, and sometimes from eighteen to twenty-four. This mould is the best of all soils, and eminently friendly to every species of vegetation. It is, indeed, no other than a mere mass of manure, and that of the very best kind, converted into mould; and so long as it remains in considerable quantities, all grounds produce plentifully. ”

“ A workman should be placed in each of the three divisions of the mould, the best workman being placed at the angle. He is to direct the work of the other two, and by occasionally applying a plumb-rule, to take care that the mould does not swerve from its upright position. The labourers who dig and prepare the earth must give it in small quantities to the workmen in the mould, who, after having 61 spread it with their feet, begin to compress it with the rammer. They must only receive at a time so much as will cover the bottom of the mould to the thickness of 3 or 4 in. ”

“ Moufflon, mōōf′lon, n. a wild sheep in the mountains of Corsica, Greece, &c. [Fr.]
Mought, mowt (Bacon) , obsolete pa.t. of may.
Mouille, mōōl-lyā′, adj. sounded in a liquid manner, as certain consonants in many French words. [Fr.]
Mould, mōld, n. dust: soil rich in decayed matter: the matter of which anything is composed: a minute fungus which grows on bodies in a damp atmosphere, so named from often growing on mould: the earth, the ground, the grave, esp. in pl. Mools (Scot.) .—v.t. to cover with mould or soil: to cause to become mouldy.—v.i. to become mouldy.—n. ”

“ Joyce describes one floor as covered at the western end by rubbish and mould to a thickness of 281⁄2 inches, and at the eastern end by a thickness of only 111⁄2 inches. A very slight slope suffices to cause recent castings to flow downwards during heavy rain, and thus much earth will ultimately reach the neighbouring rills and streams and be carried away. By this means, the absence of very thick beds of mould over these ancient ruins may, as I believe, be explained. ”

“ The only available material for a mulch in most instances is the soil itself. Experience has taught that when the top layer of soil, to a depth of two or three inches, is made fine and loose, the water beneath it cannot escape readily. It is partly for this reason that the smoothing-harrow should follow the roller after land has been plowed. ”

“ The elegant bead work on the margin, and all the spongiform masses, now are falling into pieces, forming great quantities of débris around the base of the mound. There is also one boiling spring of great beauty. The orifice, which is nearly circular and beautifully scolloped around the margin, extends straight down, and the water rises within an inch or two of the margin. The water is in a state of constant agitation, boiling up two feet at times. ”

“ Great skill and discrimination are required in designing and applying mouldings, but that matter falls to the qualified designer and is perhaps outside the province of the practical workman, whose work is to carry out in an accurate and finished manner the ideas of the draughtsman. The character of a moulding is greatly affected by the nature and appearance of the wood in which it is worked. ”

“ Label Moulding, a projecting course of stone running round an arch. When not very large it is sometimes cut on the voussoirs, but is usually made a separate course of stone. Often, and especially in the case of door openings, a small sinking is worked on the top surface of the moulding to form a gutter which leads to the sides any water that trickles down the face of the wall. ”

“ When a hard clay soil is revealed by the operations for draining a meadow, and the crust of black or reddish mould on which the sweet green grass flourishes is seen to be but spade-deep, the idea naturally occurs that that thin crust must have been originated by some similar process to what is now going on in the ash wood. Those six or nine inches of mould perhaps represent several centuries of forest. But if the keeper admits the old woman shivering over her embers in the cottage to pick up these dead boughs, how can he tell what further tricks others may be up to? ”

“ The Mulch.—In conserving the supply of water in the soil the mulch plays an important work. The dry air is constantly taking up the water from the surface of land, and when the surface is drier than the soil below, the moisture moves upward if there is no break in the structure of the surface soil. The mulch is a covering of material that does not readily permit the escape of water. ”

“ The clear water, however, allows us to study the bottom which before was hidden by the load of mud.
First we see the rounded boulders and pebbles of all sizes which must have been rolled about for a long time to make them so smooth. Some of them are so very hard that we cannot even scratch them with our knives; others are soft and easily broken. What would be the effect of rolling together stones of such varying hardness? We must think of these stones as the tools with which the brook cuts and grinds, for water without sediment can do little more than slightly to dissolve the rock. ”

“ After setting, the surface soil should be made loose, so as to act as a mulch and prevent the loss of moisture from the packed lower layer. If the ground be dry a hole may be made beside the plant and filled with water—LOTS OF WATER—and when it has soaked away and the soil seems to be drying, the surface should be made smooth and loose as already mentioned. ”

“ A mulch of dry hay, grass clippings, leaves, and the like will also retard rapid surface evaporation. Gardeners think mulching prevents moisture loss better than bare earth because under mulch the soil stays damp right to the surface. However, dig down 4 to 6 inches under a dust mulch and the earth is just as damp as under hay. And, soil moisture studies have proved that overall moisture loss using vegetation mulch slightly exceeds loss under a dust mulch. ”

“ But beside the castings of worms and some earth brought up by insects, and some accumulation of dust, much fine earth will have been washed over the ruins from the upper parts of the field, since it has been under cultivation; and from over the ruins to the lower parts of the slope; the present thickness of the mould being the resultant of these several agencies. ”

“ The distinction between a rake moulding and a raked or raking moulding should be noted:
A rake moulding is simply a moulding that is inclined to the horizontal. It has the same profile as the horizontal moulding to which it is joined.
A raked or raking moulding is an inclined moulding that joins a horizontal or other moulding that does not lie in the same plane. It does not have the same profile as does the moulding to which it is joined. It takes its name from the fact that its profile must be altered or raked in order to join with the other moulding. ”

“ Frost, Water, Drought, and nitrous Air, easily penetrate to their very Centers, which cannot in the largest of them be more than one Inch and a Quarter distant from their Superficies. This Advantage, with a few subsequent common Plowings, performed in proper Seasons, resolves the Earth almost all to a Powder. The Swerd, some being immersed or buried and mixed among so great a Proportion of Mould, is soon rotten and lost; some of the Swerd lying loose a-top, the Earth presently drops out of it; and then the Roots are dried up, and die. ”