90 INSTRUMENTS USED IN HORTICULTURE. 



gravel with the beetle or rammer, is to bring down the tool in such a 

 manner that the face of the head may be perfectly parallel to the 

 surface to be acted upon. When the operator does not succeed in this, 

 he will be warned of it by the jar which the tool will transmit through 

 his hands. 



The mallet, fig. 38, a, is formed of a piece of any tough wood, 

 such as elm, or oak, or beech, and in any case it might have a 

 -pj 38 ring at each end to prevent its splitting. It 



is used for driving posts, and there is a 

 smaller or hand-mallet for using with the 

 pruning chisel, and as a substitute for a ham- 

 mer in driving in short stakes. In using a 

 mallet, as in using the beetles, the centre of 

 Wooden mallet and garden- the striki t of the head should always be 



hammer. , , , , ., , r 



brought down on the centre 01 the stake or 



other object to be struck ; otherwise the full power of the tool will 

 not be obtained, and a jar on the hands of the operator will be pro- 

 duced. 



The garden-hammer, fig. 38, , is used for nailing wall-trees, and for 

 a great variety of purposes, and it differs from the common carpenter's 

 hammer in having a projecting knob, c, in the head, to serve as a ful- 

 crum in drawing out nails from walls, without injuring the young 

 shoots. Since the wiring of walls or the covering them with wide- 

 meshed netting for the training of wall-trees, the hammer is of less 

 consequence ; still it is an indispensable requisite in the garden. Con- 

 sidered by itself, the common hammer may seem an insignificant tool ; 

 but viewing it as including all the different kinds of hammers used in 

 rendering metals malleable, and in joining constructions and machines 

 of various kinds together, by means of nails and pins, it appears one 

 of the most important of all implements. See Moseley's ' Illustrations 

 of Mechanics,' p. 238. 



The garden-pincers, fig. 39, besides the pincing part, 



Fig. 39. have a clawed handle for wrenching out nails, and are 

 *==-=-5^s^ useful in gardens for this and a variety of other pur- 

 -V-^ poses. Some have a knob, which enables them to be 

 Garden-pincers. usec l a l so as a hammer. 



Instruments used in Horticulture. 



Instruments are distinguished from tools by having sharp-cutting 

 edges, and being adapted for operating on plants rather than on the 

 soil ; and they are also generally smaller than tools, and have for the 

 most part handles adapted for grasping. Those used in horticulture 

 are chiefly knives, bills, shears, and scythes. 



Various kinds of knives are required in gardening operations : 

 large long-handled knives for cutting and trimming vegetables, 

 pruning, budding, and grafting-knives, and long curved ones, with 

 teeth like a saw at the end, for cutting asparagus. Three kinds 

 of knives are required in every garden the cabbage -knife, a 



