Mark off the area containing the dirt that you wish to measure. The area should be rectangular.
Measure the length and the width of the area with a ruler, meter stick, yard stick or field tape measure.
Write down the length and width. If the units of measurement are in feet and inches, divide the number of inches by 12. This will make the inches measurement expressed in terms of tenths of a foot. If the units are in the metric system, leave them as they are.
Multiply the length by the width to get the area. If you are using U.S. measurements, the answer will be expressed in terms of tenths of feet because of the calculations in Step 3. If you are using the metric system, the measurements are already expressed in tenths. For instance, if the area of dirt measured 60cm, it is 6 decameters, or 6/10m, or .6km.
Place the empty bucket on the kitchen scale. Write down the weight of the bucket.
Fill the bucket with the dirt that you wish to weigh. Place it on the scale and write down the weight.
Subtract the weight of the bucket from the weight of the dirt and bucket obtained in Step 2. This will be the weight of the dirt only.
Divide the measurement by 16 if your scale measures in ounces. This will give you the measurement as expressed in tenths-of-pounds. If the measurement is in grams, it is already expressed in terms of tenths. For example, if dirt weighs 60g, it is 6/10kg.