HORTICULTURAL WHESL-BARROW. 



BY W. K. COPPOCK, miFFALO. 



On liortlcultural subjects, I am liappy to per- 

 ceive a liberality of expression on all matters 

 pertaining to both the theory and practice, 

 not frequent with other branches of know- 

 ledge. This is as it should be. Heretofore 

 there may bavc been some hocus-pocus — some 

 great secret, known only to the trade, and by 

 them carefully retained. Those times have 

 passed. With the dawn of the " Horticul- 

 turist," the science and practice has become 

 " pro bono publico i'' and he who possesses a 

 a secret hastens to proclaim it, lest it may be 

 anticipated, and in this wise shorn of his 

 honors. Thus it is with one I shall now de- 

 scribe. 



Who — that cultivates ever so small a gar- 

 den, — a few, or many trees, — that grows his 

 own sarse, or tnick — knows not the value of 

 the chamber- wash — the suds on washing 

 days — and other slops, too often thrown in 

 the wrong place, to produce stench and pesti- 

 lence, which, otherwise applied, would pro- 

 duce luxuriance, luxury and gold? A mo- 

 ment's reflection will satisfy any understand- 

 ing mind, that the amount of fertilizing mat- 

 ter thus generally lost, would be sufficient to 

 Bustain the annual draft of vegetable growth 

 of a tolerable sized garden ; the applic;i.tiou 

 of which brings into use the horticultural 

 wheel-barrow. The wheel is 28 inches in 

 diameter, and 6 inches in breadth, made of 

 steamed board, Mith eight spokes, reduced 

 from the width of the felloe to 2 inches at the 

 hub — made also of inch stuff — and tired on 

 either edge with common hoop iron. 



The sides {handles,) 6 feet long, and 3^ 

 inchss wide, rounded neatly at the handles, 

 are made of I5 inch stuff. These are to be 

 mcrLised, to receive two sliding cross bars of 



the same width and thickness, placed at the 

 distance of the circumference of the barrel to 

 be used, and of any required length for ex- 

 pansion. The cross bars, being perforated at 

 each end by half a dozen holes, are held in 

 place by moveable iron pins. The barrels, 

 to be used for depositing the slops, &c., are 

 to have substantial cleets screwed upon the 

 staves, to act as rests upon the barrow sides, 

 and to be provided with a hinged lid. 



In order to load, loosen the pins of tho 

 cross bars, and elevate the handles, at the 

 same time expanding the sides over the bar- 

 rel, which, when brought down, clasps the 

 barrel under the cleet, when the pins are put 

 in to fit. Legs are to be put to the side in 

 the usual way — but shorter, somewhat, than 

 the distance from the cleets downwards, 

 and without a cross bar ; so that the weight 

 of the barrel, when down, rests upon tho 

 ground. 



The advantages of this barrow are mani- 

 fold. The breadth and size of the wheel per- 

 mits its use in soft soil, with far less labor 

 or injury. It can, by having a moveable 

 platform, — held in place by the pins of the 

 cross bars, or dowels,— be used for general 

 garden purposes ; and for rolling seeds which 

 have been drilled in, it is the handiest thing 

 imaginable, as it can be weighted to any de- 

 sirable purpose. It will, too, on a pinch, 

 supply the place of a roller for a small lawn- 

 This, then, is the horticultural wheel-barrow, 

 which enables us to dispense, with so littlo 

 trouble, the wash of the house to the rcmoto 

 parts of the garden, &c. 



A suggestion, as to the nature of thcso 

 slops, and the strength at which they may bo 

 applied, may, to many readers, be necessary. 



