98 UTENSILS USED IN HORTICULTURE. 



a two-edged blade, lancet-pointed, and is used for mowing off the 

 heads of daisies, clover, and various other plants in lawns, which 

 renders less frequent the necessity of mowing with the scythe. In 

 using this instrument, the handle, which ought to be angular, is 

 held firmly with both hands, and the blade, which ought to be at 

 least four feet from the operator, is moved rapidly to the right and 

 left parallel to the plane of the surface, the operator advancing as in 

 mowing. 



There are several other instruments which are only occasionally 

 used, and chiefly by amateurs ; such as the averruncator, which may 

 be described as a cutting-shears fixed to the extremity of a long handle, 

 and operated on by means of a cord and pulley. Its use is to enable 

 a person standing on the ground to thin out branches in standard fruit 

 trees, which it readily does, though frequently with a considerable 

 loss of time. An amateur, however, who prunes his own orchard, 

 will find this a useful instrument ; though, if he has an attendant, the 

 hooked pruning-chisel, fig. 45, /, is preferable. The grape-gatherer, 

 or flower-gatherer, consists of a shears fixed at the extremity of a long 

 handle, which clips and holds fast at the same time. It is occasionally 

 useful for gathering flowers from the upper parts of stages in green- 

 houses, or from plants against walls, or on poles, that cannot be con- 

 veniently reached by hand ; it is also used for gathering grapes which 

 cannot be otherwise conveniently reached. There is also an instru- 

 ment of this kind without a long handle, called a flower-gatherer, 

 which clips off a flower and holds it at the same time, and is used 

 by ladies in gathering roses. Scissors with long handles and sharp 

 angular blades are required for thinning grapes. The fruit-gatherer 

 is an amateur's instrument, of which there are several varieties ; but 

 they are very little used. Instruments for scraping the moss or bark 

 off trees, gouges for hollowing out wounds in their trunks or branches, 

 climbing-spurs, and some other instruments belonging to this section, 

 and perhaps more fanciful than useful, will be found described in 

 the ' Encyclopaedia of Gardening,' edition of 1831. 



Chests of tools and instruments for amateurs are made up by dif- 

 ferent ironmongers, and at prices varying with their contents. They are 

 useful for ladies and amateurs, but are too delicate and small to be of 

 much service to the practical gardener. 



Utensils used in Horticulture. 



Garden utensils are vessels for containing growing plants ; for carry- 

 ing different articles used in culture, such as soils, water, &c. ; for pre- 

 paring soil or other matters, such as the sieve ; and for protecting 

 plants. The principal are the plant-pot or box, the watering-pot, the 

 basket, the sieve, and the bell-glass. 



Earthenware pots for plants are made by the potter in what are 

 called casts, each cast containing about the same quantity of clay, and 

 costing about the same price, but differing in the size of the pots so 



