462 HAND SAWS. [April 



placed in en route to China. In October, just one year from the 

 time the trees were dug, we opened the box, and sent a few to two 

 or fhree friends, who pronounced their vitality perfect. We im- 

 mediately headed up the box. When winter set in we moved it 

 again into the packing-house to secure it against frost, and in the 

 spring, eighteen months from the time the trees were dug, we again 

 opened the box and planted twenty trees, after soaking them in tepid 

 water, and they made, apparently, as good growth as trees newly 

 dug. — Rural Nciu Yorker. 

 Waukeg.vn", III. 



HAND SAWS. 



BY JAMES F. HOBAKT. 



WHEN" we buy a saw, we like a half-dozen to choose from. 

 Don't take a saw unless the back is ground thin. A 

 polished saw is the best ; it does not rust so quick, and it runs easier 

 when the lumber is inclined to bind. Take a saw by the handle 

 and see if it hangs well. It should not feel " top-hea\y," that is, 

 the point feeling out of balance with the rest of the saw. See that 

 the handle fits your hand ; if it does not, you never will like that 

 saw, and will swap it off at a pawnshop for an old thing half worn 

 out. See if the saw blade has a good bluish tint. If it looks like 

 cast-iron, you had better leave it for somebody else. Hold it up by 

 the handle and tap it with your knuckle : a good saw will give out a 

 peculiar ring which poor steel never possesses. Hold firmly by the 

 handle and switch it quickly from side to side, and the blade will 

 give out that " crackling " sound which once heard will always be 

 recognised as belonging to a good saw. Don't take a thick saw. 

 The thinner a blade having the requisite stiffness, the better the saw. 

 Avoid by all means a flabby or limber blade ; they are not worth 

 carrying home, except to lend. Let the " borrowing chap " take it 

 once, and he will never ask you for another tool. Now hold the 

 saw nearly level with your eye towards the light, and see if it is 

 " wavy." If it is — drop it. Grand-daddy's rule in choosing a saw 

 was to " stick the point of the blade through the handle;" if it " came 

 out straight," it was a good saw. Try this if you wish ; if the saw 

 stands the test, all right, but you may spoil an otherwise good blade. 

 This is an unreasonable test ; a saw was never intended to double 

 up like a hoop snake. 



A high-tempered saw is the Ijest. This is why the blue tint is 

 preferable instead of the cast-iron complexion. We pick for a hard 

 saw every time. Manufacturers would make tliem harder if they 



