86 TOOLS USED IN HORTICULTURE. 



siderably more power in raising up the spitful. In all spades designed 

 for transplanting or other heavy works, the iron sheath should reach 

 more than halfway up the handle, to give greater strength. Were 

 the blade fixed to the handle in the same plane, and the blade inserted 

 in the soil perpendicularly, the first exertion of the operator would be 

 employed in gaining that angle, which, in the former, is produced for 

 him by the manner in which the handle is joined to the blade. In the 

 Flemish and other Continental spades, the blade is always fixed on in 

 the same plane as the handle ; but in these cases the blade is longer 

 than it is with us, and it is always entered at a considerable bevel ; 

 and besides, the soil is generally lighter than in Britain, and requires 

 less exertion to penetrate and separate it. 



In ground works and for the removal of manure or light soil, 

 shovels that may be described as lighter, wider spades, are most useful, 

 and are used as substitutes for spades. 



Turf-spades, fig. 25, are used for the purpose of paring very thin 

 layers of turf from old pastures, for forming or repairing lawns or 

 Fig> 25> pleasure-grounds, laying grass- 



edgings, collecting turf for form- 

 ing composts for plants, and for 

 other purposes. One form, A, 

 frequently called a breast-plough, 

 from the handle being pressed on 

 by the breast, has the edge of the 

 Turf-spades. blade turne( j up so as to separate 



the strip of turf to be raised from the firm turf: another form, a, is 

 used after the turf has been cut or lined off into ribbons or bands, by 

 the tool called a turf-racer. 



Turf-racers, or verge-cutters, fig. 26, are tools used either for cutting 



grassy surfaces into narrow strips to be afterwards raised up by the 



turf spade, or for trimming the grass edgings or verges of walks. The 



Fig. 26. commonverge-cutter, 



k, has a sharp reni- 

 form, or crescent- 

 shaped blade ; and 

 the wheel verge-cut- 

 ter, /, is a thin cir- 

 cular plate of steel, 

 with a sharp-edged 



Verge-cutters or turf-racers. circumference, fixed 



to a handle by an axle, and operating by being pushed along before 

 the workman. It is well adapted for cutting off the spreading shoots or 

 leaves of grass edgings which extend over the gravel, without paring 

 away any part of the soil. As the edges of these tools are very easily 

 blunted, they require to be made of steel, and frequently sharpened. 

 M'Intosh's wheel verge-cutter, fig. 27, is designed for cutting grass- 

 verges on the sides of walks. With this instrument a man may cut as 

 much in one day as he would cut in four or five days with the common 

 verge-cutter without wheels. Bell's verge-cutter, instead of a wheel, 



