82 



TOOLS USED IN HORTICULTURE. 



like those of a common hammer, it is termed a crowbar, d, and is ex- 

 tremely useful for forcing up stakes or props which have been firmly 



fixed in the ground. Sometimes the 

 upper extremity of the bent lever and 

 crowbar are made pointed and sharp, 

 so as to serve at the same time as per- 

 forators, as shown in both the kneed 

 lever and crowbar. Every garden ought 



to have one of these tools ; and perhaps 



<? -i - 1. i 

 the most generally useful is the kneed 



lever, forked at the extremity, fig. 13, c. 



Perforators, fig. 14, are straight rods of iron, or of wood pointed 

 with iron, for making holes in the ground, in which to insert stakes 



Fig. 13. 



Kneed lever and crowbar. 



Fig. 14. 



/ 

 Perforators. 



for supporting tall or climbing herbaceous plants, 

 standard roses, climbing roses, or other shrubs, and 

 young trees. The pointed iron rod, with a solid 

 ball at top, e, i, is most in use for inserting pea- 

 sticks, and the smaller props in dug gardens, as well 

 as for inserting branches in lawns to shelter tender 

 shrubs in the winter time, or to prevent 

 small plants from being trodden upon. 

 The wooden stake, pointed with iron, /, 

 is used for making holes for larger posts 

 for protecting or supporting trees in 

 parks and pleasure-grounds. It is 

 driven in with a wooden mallet, and 

 afterwards pulled out by passing an iron 

 bar through the ring at g, one man taking hold of each end 

 of the bar. The other bars are inserted by alternately 

 lifting them up and letting them drop down, and they are 

 pulled up either by hand or, in the case of fig. 14, h, by 

 passing a stick or handle through the eye at the top. The 

 solid ball t is for the purpose of adding to the weight of 

 the rod, and which, of course, when lifted to a considerable Perforator 

 height, adds greatly to its power in falling. The perfo- f or amateurs - 

 rator, fig. 15, having a handle, , and a hilt for the foot, &, is chiefly 

 adapted for amateurs and ladies. 



The dibber, fig. 16, is a perforator for inserting plants, and some- 

 times also for depositing seeds or tubers in the soil. It is most suitable 

 _,. 16 for planting seedlings, because these have a tap root, and 

 few lateral fibres. Dibbers are very .commonly formed of 

 the upper part of the handle of a spade, as /, after the 

 lower part has been broken, become decayed, or is no 

 longer fit for use. This is sometimes shod with iron, 

 which renders it more durable when it is to be used in 

 stiff or gravelly soils. Sometimes a piece of a kneed 

 branch is formed into a dibber, as shown at m. For 

 planting cuttings of the shoots of shrubs or herbaceous plants, either 

 in the open ground or under glass, small dibbers, w, are used, some 



