TOOLS USED IN HORTICULTURE. 



Cast-iron 



sheaths for 



dibbers. 



Fig. 19. 



for inserting cuttings of heaths, not thicker than a quill ; but these the 

 gardener forms for himself. The potato-dibber, fig. 17, has a hilt for 

 the foot, and a handle and shank as long as that of the -pig. 17. 

 spade. For the potato and other larger dibbers, cast-iron 

 F . lg sheaths, fig. 18, are sometimes fitted to the 

 lower extremities, to render them more 

 fj fl durable. 



Picks, fig. 19, combine the operation of 

 perforating with that of separating, break- 

 ing, loosening, and turning over ; and the 

 pickaxe adds that of cutting. As the 

 blow given by the pick on the soil, or Potato-dibber. 

 on a root, is almost always given in a vertical direction, the helve is 

 made cylindrical, excepting where it joins the head, and here it is 

 dilated, so as to wedge into the hand of the operator, and serve to 

 guide the direction of the stroke. The common pick is shown at a, 

 the pickaxe at 6, and the mattock 

 at c. The narrow pointed end of 

 the common pick is used for 

 penetrating into the hardest soils ; 

 and the broad or ghisel end for 

 separating and turning over softer 

 soils. The pickaxe b is for sepa- 

 rating and turning over soft soils 

 containing numerous roots of 

 trees ; those roots lying in a direc- 

 tion at right angles to the opera- 

 tor, being cut off with the chisel 

 at one end of the prongs, and those roots lying in the opposite direc- 

 tion by the chisel at the opposite end. The pick c, frequently called 

 a mattock, and a grubber, or grubbing-axe, is principally used for 

 grubbing up small trees or bushes. The pick a is essential to the 

 toolhouse of the commonest garden, being frequently required for 

 loosening gravel-walks, where repairs or alterations are to be made, 

 or more gravel to be added. 



The common draw-hoe, and its varieties, shown in figs. 20 and 21, 

 are merely picks of a lighter -p. 2 0. 



kind, with the prongs dilated 

 into blades. They are used 

 for penetrating, moving, and 

 drawing the soil, for the 

 purpose of disrooting weeds, 

 forming furrows in which to 

 sow seeds, or drawing the 

 earth up to plants. For light, 

 easily- worked soils, the blade 



may be broad and narrow in Draw-hoes. 



depth ; for stronger soils, it 

 should be less broad, and the iron should be thicker ; and for thin- 



Picks. 



