Dictiomny of Tools and Iviplcmcnts 



373-' 



or lid to enable the cultivator to examine his 

 crop, they are made all in one piece, having 

 a knob or handle at the top to serve as a 

 handle for lifting them off or on. They are 

 from 9 to 12 inches in diameter and the same 

 in height \ are placed over the plants Avhen 

 nearly full grown, tlie leaves being gathered 

 up with one hand, while with the other the pot 

 is placed over them so as to enclose them com- 

 pletely, and thus ensure their blanching, while 

 they are protected from frost, snow, or rain. 

 The curled leaved varieties of endive are 

 much more readily blanched than the broad- 

 leaved or Batavian sorts, therefore a corre- 

 sponding degree of care must be used in per- 

 forming the process. 



BOITE-A-HOUPPE {French, signifying a 

 puff-box). — This simple apparatus (fig. 30), a 

 French invention, is used for the application 

 of sulphur for the prevention or cure of the 



Fig. 30. 



disease which affects the vine and other plants. 

 It consists of a hollow cone, the smaller end 

 containing an opening for the introduction of 

 the sulphur, the larger end being closed with 

 perforated metal. Strands of worsted are in- 

 serted in some of the holes, and as the box 

 is shaken, the sulphur, as it falls through the 

 holes, slightly adheres to the worsted, from 

 whence it is shaken evenly upon the plants. 



The Boite-a-Houppe is very easily used,, 

 allowing the operator one hand always at 

 liberty to separate the leaves and unco\-er the 

 parts which are to be sulphured, distributing 

 the sulphur regularly in impalpable powder 

 (which is indispensable in order to obtain a 

 successful result) ; the other hand being used 

 in merely shaking the box. Two or three ap- 

 plications only are necessary — namely, Avhen 

 the plant first begins to shoot, after it has 

 blossomed, and, if necessary, when the fruit 

 begins to ripen. There are many other uses 

 to which this invention may be applied — 

 such as the distribution of lime, or any 

 sim-'ar material. The apparatus is used very 

 extensively in France. An instrument like a 

 pepper-box is sometimes applied to the same 

 purpose ; but it distributes too freely, causing 

 much waste. The advantage of the Boite-a- 

 Houppe is, that before distribution the 

 sulphur passes through short lengths of wool ;, 

 by this means it falls in almost imperceptible 

 particles upon the plants, without the waste 

 which takes place by other methods. 



BROOMS (Anglo-Saxon brom).— i:\i\s. 

 name is strictly due only to those which are- 

 made of the twigs of the broom {Spaj-thnn 

 scopaj-iiii/i, or Cytisiis scoparius of botanists) y. 

 but common usage has applied it to all kinds 

 of long-handled besoms, whether made of 

 broom, heather, birch, whalebone, bristles,, 

 wire, or of cocoa-nut or other vegetable fila- 

 ments. Birch is the material most generally 

 used for brooms for the garden or farm, and 

 they are made of various shapes. For garden- 

 walks which are liable to become mossy, a 

 broom made of wire maybe usefully employed.. 

 If of iron wire, it ought to be well dried and 

 dipped in oil, both before and after being used, 

 or it \vill soon be destroyed by rust. The 

 form best adapted for a wire broom is given 

 in fig. 31, which is that of the ordinary kind' 

 used for stables or other coarse work. The- 

 common kind of brooms used by gardeners 

 are formed of twigs of the birch, strongly 

 bound together, into Avhich a handle of wood 

 is inserted. Fig. 32 represents the fomi best 

 adapted for ordinary purposes. In 1S55, Mr 

 William Henderson, gardener to the Duke of 

 Athole at Dunkeld, took out a patent for im- 



