INSTRUMENTS USED IN HORTICULTURE. 



operation two persons are requisite : one places the chisel in the proper 

 position and holds it there, while the other, with a hand-mallet, gives 

 the end of the handle a smart blow, sufficient to produce the separa- 

 tion of the branch. If properly performed, the section does not 

 require any dressing ; but sometimes there are lacerations of the bark, 

 which require to be trimmed off with the hooked part, g, of the 

 chisel, /. 



The raidisseur is the ingenious " little wire-straining imple- 

 ment which plays such a very important part in the wiring of 

 garden- walls, or erecting of trellises for fruit-growing in France. It 

 is an implement which, though insignificant in itself, is calculated to 

 make a vast improvement in our gardens and on our walls. It will 

 save labour, time, and expense, and make walls and permanent trellises 

 for fruit-growing infinitely more agreeable to the eye and useful to the 

 cultivator than ever they were before. 



" There are various forms, which I need hardly describe, as theyare 

 so well shown in the accom-* Fig. 46. 



panying cuts. The first (fig. 

 46) is a reduced figure of 

 one about three inches long, ^fms^r^r^^ ^w 

 and of which I brought some 

 specimens from Paris. The en- 

 graver has placed it in the best 

 position to show its structure. The wire that passes in through one 

 end is slipped through a hole in the axle ; the other end is attached to 

 the tongue, as shown in the engraving, and then by the aid of a key, 



Fig. 47. 





Key of raidisseur. 



fig. 47, placed on the square end of the axle, the whole is wound 

 much as a guitar-string is wound round its peg. The first form 

 figured is very much used in the best gardens, and always seemed to 

 me to do its work effectively. 



" The next figure is that of the raidisseur invented by Collignon and 

 recommended by Du 



Breuil. It does not Fi - 48 ' 



differ much from the 

 preceding. D shows 

 the point of insertion 

 of the wire that has to 

 be tightened ; B the fas 

 tening of the other end Collignon's raidisseur. 



of the wire ; and A the 

 head on which the key is placed. Fig. 49 is a side view of the same 



