Implements, etc. 99 



blade and its bed form with the handles, imparts a sawing motion 



Fig. 135. Fig. 136. 



to the knife, which renders it more effective. It may be used on 

 stocks an inch or an inch and a half in diameter. Pressing the top 

 of the stock from the operator with one hand, it is cut off with 

 remarkable ease by a single stroke given to the shears with the 

 other hand. Another perpendicular stroke slits the stock for the 

 graft, leaving a perfectly smooth face cut for its reception. The 

 expedition and perfection of the work are thus greatly facilitated. 



Small shears attached to a pole and worked by a cord, Fig. 136, 

 are useful for cutting grafts on tall trees ; in removing the eggs of 

 caterpillars (see chapter on the apple) ; and in taking off fine fruit 

 to prevent bruising, by attaching a basket to the pole immediately 

 under the shears. The blades of these shears, forming an oblique 

 angle with the shaft at a little distance above the pivot, make a 

 draw-cut instead of a crushing-cut, and are for this reason more 

 effective. Apples, and some of the harder fruits, may also be 

 gathered with a wooden hook in the end of a pole, to draw the fruit 

 from the branch, caught in a basket just underneath. 



In using the long-handled pruning-saw, the pruning-chisel, the 

 graft-cutter, or the fruit-gatherer, the operator may stand on a lad- 

 der or high stool, as an additional assistance in reaching the higher 

 parts of the tree. 



The orchardist 's hook consists of a light rod, with an iron hook 

 at one end, and a piece of 



wood made to slide along r> ^=^ 



it. In using it the fruit- |L ^ 



gatherer draws down the F3g J37 



end of a branch with the 



hook, and fastens it by the sliding-piece to another branch below. 



The slider passes freely along the rod, but ceases to slide by the 



friction of the side-strain whenever it is in use, Fig. 137. 



