INSTRUMENTS USED IN HORTICULTURE. 137 



Strutt, Esq. To retain the handle in the socket, a slit is made in the han- 

 dle, and a small wedge entered in it, and afterwards it is driven home till it 

 assumes the appearance shown in the section at e. The great art in conso- 

 lidating turf or gravel with the beetle or rammer, is to bring down the tool in 

 such a manner as 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. 



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

 elm or oak, or of fir, though in the latter case it should have a 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 hammer in driving in short stakes. In using 

 Wooden mallet and a mallet, as in using the beetles, the centre of the 

 garden hammer. striking part of the head should always be brought 



down on the centre of 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 produced. 



407. The garden hammer, fig. 38, b, 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 fulcrum in drawing 

 out nails from walls, without injuring the young shoots. Considered by itself, 

 the common hammer may seem an insignificant tool ; but viewing it as in- 

 cluding 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. 



** ====!s=1 ^&^ 408 - The garden pincers, fig. 39, besides the pincing part, 



<* *^^ have a clawed handle for wrenching out nails, and are useful 



F ' g ' 39 incerT deH in g ardens for tnis and a variety of other purposes. Some 



have a knob, which enables them to be used also as a hammer. 



SECT. III. 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. 



409. Garden Knives. Three kinds of knives are required in every garden, 

 the cabbage-knife, a large rough handled instrument, with a hooked blade, 

 for cutting and trimming Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Turnips, and other large 

 succulent vegetables, when gathered for the kitchen ; the pruning -knife, 

 fig. 40, a, for cutting the branches and twigs off trees and 

 shrubs, forming cuttings, &c. ; the budding-knife, 6, and 

 the grafting-knife, c, used in performing the operations 



Fig 40 Ga"n knives. of buddin ? and g raftin g> and also in ma king smaller 

 ' cuttings. Where heaths and other small-leaved plants 

 are propagated by cuttings of the points of the shoots, a common pen-knife 

 is requisite, as well as a pair of small scissors for clipping off the leaves ; but 

 these instruments are so familiar to every one that it is unnecessary to describe 



