8 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF GARDENING [CH. 



method need not be changed every time an hour has to be 

 spent in the garden, besides which it will keep one's knees 

 from damp and mud when busily at work stooping over 

 borders. 



Tools. Very few and simple are the tools an amateur 

 will find necessary. A well-made spade, not too heavy, a 

 digging fork, a rake, a hoe, a strong (second-hand) mason's 

 trowel which will last a life-time, a pair of shears, a 

 handy knife with large and small blades, a small hand- 

 saw, a pair of pruning gloves, a really good pair of pruning 

 scissors, and a garden line. 



Hard Names. Let no beginner feel discouraged by 

 what might be called " the nomenclature of horticulture." 

 At first the long Latin or Greek word is unintelligible, 

 but after a while the meaning of the name will dawn upon 

 us, and we shall discover its appropriateness to the plant ; 

 it then becomes easy to remember. Take a familiar 

 example: the name commonly given to one of the 

 newer Virginian creepers ( Vitis inconstans) is " Ampelopsis 

 Veitchii " opsis meaning in Greek the appearance ; 

 ampelos, a vine ; and Veitchii conveys the fact that it was 

 first introduced by Mr Veitch of Chelsea not so very 

 difficult a derivation; and when all has been said, it will 

 be allowed that we gardeners are much more fortunate 

 in this, as in other respects, than our next-door friends 

 and neighbours, the Botanists. 



Observation and Investigation. One thing more 



