{Implements* 45 



done with the plough and subsoiler, these implements can- 

 not in any way compare in usefulness with the spade. In 

 planting large grounds the soil can be worked tolerably 

 well by these means, but for all more important work the 

 spade is still used. Spades should be made of the best 

 steel ; they must be light and strong, with smoothly fin- 

 ished handles, and sharp blades that will remain clean and 

 polished when in use. Spades of the best American manu- 

 facture are generally satisfactory. Shovels are used as ad- 

 juncts to the spade in digging and shifting loose materials 

 and in surface grading of lawns. Those with long, smooth 

 handles and comparatively small steel blades turned up at 

 the sides, are the best for our purpose. Forks with flat 

 prongs are handy for digging beds and borders, in pre- 

 paring the vegetable garden for planting, or for digging in 

 open shrubberies. Forks of light and strong make with 

 spade handle and four or five elastic steel prongs are the 

 best. Trowels are small tools for planting herbaceous 

 plants and bulbs in rockeries and flower-beds. The blade 

 is hollowed and pointed, made of- a thin piece of steel about 

 eight inches long joined to a short wooden handle five 

 inches long. The pickaxe is employed in rough construction 

 work for loosening soil, removing stones, digging trenches 

 for drains, and in making cuts and excavations for drives 

 and walks. For this purpose crowbars are also occasionally 

 needed. The grubbing-axe is a similar tool, but has one end 

 flattened into an axe-like edge. It is chiefly used in clearing 

 land, and also in digging where many roots of trees are 

 encountered. Besides this, where clearing is necessary, 

 axes and brush hooks are required. 



