200 LABOURS ON THE SOIL. 



injurious to the roots of trees, &c. ; but if the bottom were loosened so 

 as to form a regular slope, as from d to e, the water would gradually 

 follow that direction. 



Fig. 160. 



Section illustrative of good and bad trenching. 



Forking soil is simply stirring the surface with the broad-pronged 

 fork, which is greatly preferable to the spade for working among the 

 roots of growing crops. For working with litter or dung, the forks 

 with round, pointed prongs are used ; the rotundity of the prongs 

 diminishing friction, both in inserting the fork in the dung, and in dis- 

 charging the forkful. 



Hoeing is a mode of stirring the soil on the surface, and at the same 

 time cutting up weeds or thinning out crops ; and it is effected either 

 by the draw-hoe or the thrust-hoe. Soil is also drawn up to, or taken 

 away from, plants ; and drills, or narrow furrows, are drawn by the 

 former tool, of which there are several kinds, more or less adapted for 



these different purposes. In 

 Fig. 161. no kind of draw-hoe should 



I 1 a the plane of the blade form 

 a right angle with the handle, 

 ________________________________ as at a, in fig. 161 ; but it 



\ A should always be within a 



* right angle, more or less, as 



^ at b or c. If the ground be 



\ soft the angle should be more 



Diagrams showing the angle which the blades of acute than when it; is har( ?' 

 draw-hoes ought to make with the handles. or when its surface is much 



matted with weeds. This 



variable angle should be provided for, partly in the formation of the eye 

 or socket of the hoe, and partly by the application of a small wedge, the 

 heel of which should be turned up, like those used for scythe-handles, in 

 order that it may be driven out at pleasure. In short, the angle which 

 the handle forms with the blade should be such, that when the latter is 

 inserted in the soil to the required depth, the blade, in being drawn 

 towards the operator, may retain that depth with the least possible 

 exertion to his muscles in guiding it ; for whatever muscular exertion 

 is required in this way, beyond what is necessary for overcoming the 

 resistance of the soil, is a waste of power. For the purpose of cutting 

 weeds, or thinning out crops in light sandy soil, a hoe with a broad 

 blade may be used ; and of these the best that we know is the Leices- 

 tershire or shifting-blade hoe, the blades of which are pieces of the 

 blade of an old scythe. This hoe is shown in fig. 162, in which d is 

 the head, consisting of a socket for the blade, and a tubular socket or 

 hose for the handle, without the blade ; b, one of the blades not in- 

 serted in the socket; c, the socket with the kind of blade inserted 



