84 



TOOLS USED IX HORTICULTURE. 



ning seedlings, such as onions, lettuce, or turnips, the blade need not 

 be more than two inches broad. The triangular hoe, fig. 20, a, is 

 useful in light soils, and for separating, by its acute angles, weeds 

 which grow close to the plants, to be left, and also for thinning out 

 seedlings ; but for loosening the soil among seedling-trees, or other 

 .plants growing close together on strong soil, the pointed or Spanish 

 hoe or pick, fig. 21, deserves the preference. One of these tools has a 

 j<v o -, short handle, and is used for stirring the soil in 



r narrow intervals among the plants sown broadcast 

 "U in beds ; the other is worked with a long handle, 

 like a common draw-hoe ; and it has a cross-piece 

 ^r . ,^fr on the neck of the blade, which serves as a guide 

 S to the operator in directing the blade perpendicu- 

 larly downwards, instead of to one side, when it 

 might materially injure tap roots. In France and 

 other parts of the Continent, there is almost an 

 endless variety of hoes and hoe-picks, a number of 

 which will be found figured and described in the 

 ' Gard. Mag.,' and in the ' Encyc. of Gard.,' 3rd ed., 

 1832. Sometimes a draw-hoe and a rake, or a draw-hoe and a hoe- 

 pick, are fixed back to back, as shown in fig. 20 ; but these instru- 

 ments are not much used. The common draw-hoe, also shown in 

 fig. 20, will suffice for most garden purposes. . 



Scrapers, fig. 22, are narrow pieces of board, 

 or of sheet-iron, fixed to a long handle in the 

 same manner as a draw-hoe, and used to scrape 

 the worm-casts from lawns or walks. Where 

 worms are kept under by the use of lime-water, 

 or ammoniacal liquors, these tools are scarcely 

 necessary. 



Thrust or Dutch hoes, fig. 23, may be considered as intermediate 

 Fig. 23. between the draw-hoe and the spade. 



The common form is shown at a, and 

 a modification of it at e ; but 5, the 

 blade of which is of steel, and sharp 

 * on every side, so as to cut either 

 // backwards or forwards, or on either 

 II side, is a more efficient implement ; 

 H though in the hands of a careless ope- 

 II rator it is liable to wound the plants, 

 I among which it is used for loosening 

 ft^jl the soil, or cutting up the weeds. 

 ^-*i Booker's hoe, c, is a very powerful 

 implement, but liable to the same 



objection ; as is Knight's hoe, d. 

 Thrust-hoes. mV .. i t j ' /. 



Inrust-noes are best adapted for 



light soils, and for cutting over annual weeds ; they are also most 

 suitable for hoeing between plants in rows, where the branches reach 

 across the intervals ; because no vertical stroke being ever given by 



Fig. 22. 



Lawn- scraper. 



