THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 239 



with a handle entirely straight, and straight with the blade, is 

 not an awkward tool to spade with until one attempts to lift a 

 spadeful, then we shall see distinctly the necessity of having a 

 spade hung in the most proper manner. Manufacturers would 

 do well to make two kinds of spades, one kind very neat and 

 light, but sufficiently strong for skillful laborers, and another kind 

 unnecessarily heavy and clumsy, for the special benefit of those 

 fetupid dolts who use a spade as if it were a crowbar, and who 

 cannot use a spade a half day without bending the blade, or 

 breaking or springing the handle, or staving it up into some unde 

 sirable shape. 



321. In using a spade, especially in spading sod, the operator 

 should always remember to cut a spadeful loose on both sides 

 before it is thrust in to take up a spadeful. "When a spade is 

 thrust in its whole length into hard soil, and the force of a laborer 

 applied to the handle to loosen the spadeful as if it were a lever, 

 if it is not made too heavy and clumsy for a skillful laborer, it 

 must 'break or bend, so as to be unfit for use. In spading we can 

 not avail ourselves of any advantage by resting the handle across 

 one knee, as in shovelling ; therefore a spade should not be one 

 ounce heavier than is necessary for consistent strength. The 

 blade should be made of steel, because a steel blade is much 

 stiffer than an iron blade of the same thickness. A man whose 

 mind is enlightened with a knowledge of mechanical principles, 

 will never bend nor break a spade ; his keen perception will tell 

 him, even if he were blindfolded, when the strength of the spade 

 is unequal to the force applied to the handle. 



322. In spading the soil in gardens, when a plow is not used, 

 the laborer takes a spade-slice six or eight inches wide and spades 

 clear across a given plot of ground, leaving a furrow about half 

 as wide as the furrow made by a plow. The narrower the spade- 

 slices are the more completely the soil will be pulverized. When 

 manure is worked into the soil in spading, it should be spread in 

 the furrow, and every spadeful turned upside down on the top of 

 it ; and if the dirt does not all fall to pieces, a thrust or two with 

 the edge will pulverize it sufficiently for raking. When spading 



