CHAP. I.] DIGGING. 9 



say not wider than five or six inches, and of 

 smooth polished iron, and it is surmounted, at 

 the part where it joins the handle, by a piece of 

 iron rather broader than itself, which is called 

 the tread, to serve as a rest for the foot of the 

 operator while digging. The handle is about 

 the usual length, but quite smooth, and suf- 

 ficiently slender for a lady's hand to grasp, and 

 it is made of willow, a close, smooth, and elastic 

 wood, which is tough and tolerably strong, 

 though much lighter than ash, the wood gene- 

 rally used for the handles to gardeners' spades. 

 The lady should also be provided with clogs, 

 the soles of which are not jointed, to put over 

 her shoes ; or if she should dislike these, and 

 prefer strong shoes, she should be provided with 

 what gardeners call a tramp, that is, a small 

 plate of iron to go under the sole of the shoe, 

 and which is fastened round the foot with a 

 leathern strap and a buckle. She should also 

 have a pair of stiff thick leathern gloves, or 

 gauntlets (see fig. 8, in p. 70.), to protect her 

 hands, not only from the handle of the spade, 

 but from the stones, weeds, &c, which she may 

 turn over with the earth, and which ought to be 

 picked out and thrown into a small, light wheel- 

 barrow {fig. 1.), which may easily be moved 

 from place to place. 



A wheel-barrow is a lever of the second kind, 

 in which the weight is carried between the 

 operator, who is the moving power, and the 

 fulcrum, which is represented by the lower part 

 of the wheel. If it be so contrived that the 

 wheel may roll on a plank, or on firm ground, a 

 very slight power is sufficient to move the load 



