204 



The Canadian Horticulturist. 



CONVENIENCES FOR THE ORCHARD. 



Wheelbarrow Truck. — The wheelbarrow is one of the indispensable 

 things in the garden almost the whole year around, but when heavily loaded it 

 is very straining on the muscles, the opei'ator having to Hft a good share of the 

 load, besides Jpushing and balancing it. Its transformation into a simple truck, 

 as herewith illustrated, will make it 

 much easier to handle, and better 

 than a two-wheeled cart, as the front 

 wheel prevents the body from tipping 

 over when the load is in the front end. 

 It works like a baggage truck used in 

 all railroad depots. The iron axle is 

 about two inches square, and long 

 enough to allow about two inches 



Fig. 662. 



play between wheels and body of barrow frame and axle. The truck wheels 

 should be about ten inches higher than barrow wheel, or high enough to suit 

 the operator, and to carry the front wheel a few inches above the ground when 

 turning by lowering the handles. 



Orchard Ladders. — A reasonable num- 

 ber of ladders are a necessity for large orchards, 

 and they should be of all kinds and sizes. Al- 

 ways let the ladder fit the tree, a large ladder for 

 a large tree and a small ladder for a small tree. 

 The home grower, having a limited number of 

 fruit trees, can get along with an ordinary step- 

 ladder and an ordinary extension ladder. We 

 use a ladder consisting of four sections, easily 

 separated from one another, and easily fitted 

 together into a single large ladder, or two me- 

 dium-sized ones. They can also be used as step- 

 ladders. The disadvantage of these extension 

 ladders is their weight. It takes an unusually 

 strong person to handle a four section ladder, and considerable effort for a 

 person of average strength to handle the three section ladder. My preference 

 would be for having several light ladders of different sizes. The accompanying 

 illustration shows a step-ladder that is easily 

 transportable, and for this reason a great con- 

 venience. The ladder can be made of any 

 length desired. It will come handy in grafting 

 and pruning as well as in picking fruit. Baskets 

 of fruit may be set into the spaces between the Fig. 664. 



rounds and wheeled home, and empty baskets back to the orchard again. 



Fig. 663. — Combination Barrow 

 Ladder. 



