148 UTENSILS USED IN HORTICULTURE. 



handle, for carrying it ; sometimes it is formed like the common coal-scuttle, 

 but rectangular. The pot-carrier, fig. 65, is a flat 

 board about eighteen inches wide and two feet long, 

 with a hooped handle, by means of which, with 

 one in each hand, a man may carry three or four 

 dozen of small pots at once, which is very convenient 

 in private gardens where there are many alpines 

 Fig. 65. Pot-carrier. i n pots, and in nurseries where there are many seed- 

 lings or small cuttings. 



429. Baskets. Several different kinds of baskets are used in gardens. 

 They are woven or worked of the young shoots of willow, hazel, or other 

 plants, or of split deal or willow, or of spray ; but by far the greater number 

 of baskets are made of the one year's shoots or wands of the common willow, 

 alix viminalis. They are for the most part used for carry ing articles from 

 one point to another, though some are employed as a substitute for a garden 

 wallet, others are used for growing plants; some for protecting plants 

 from the sun or the weather, and others as utensils for measuring by bulk. 

 As every gardener and country labourer ought to understand the art of basket- 

 making for ordinary purposes, in order to fill up his working time during 

 inclement weather, we shall first shortly describe that operation. 



430. Basket-making. One year's shoots of the common willow, or of 

 some other species of that family, are most generally used. The shoots are 

 cut the preceding autumn, and tied in bundles, and if they are intended to 

 be peeled, then- thick ends are placed in standing water to the depth of three 

 or four inches ; and when the shoots begin to sprout in spring they are drawn 

 through a split stick stuck in the ground, or an apparatus consisting of two 

 round rods of iron, nearly half an inch thick, one foot four inches long, and 

 tapering a little upwards, welded together at the one end, which is sharpened 

 so that the instrument may be readily thrust through a hole hi a stool or^small 

 bench, on which the operator sits. In using it, the operator takes the wand 

 in his right hand by the small end, and puts a foot or more of the thick end 

 into the instrument, the prongs of which he presses together with his left 

 hand, while with his right he draws the willow towards him, by which the 

 bark is at once separated from the wood : the small end is then treated in 

 the same manner, and the peeling is completed. Every basket consists of 

 two parts : the framework of the structure, and the filling in or wattled 

 part. The principal ribs in common baskets are two : a vertical rib or 

 hoop, the upper part of which is destined to form the handle ; and a hori- 

 zontal hoop or rim, which is destined to support all the subordinate ribs on 

 which the wands are wattled. The two main ribs are first bent to the 

 required form, and made fast at their extremities by nails or wire. They 

 are then joined together in their proper position, the one intersecting the 

 other ; and they are afterwards nailed together, or tied by wire at the points 

 of intersection. The operation of wattling is next commenced, by taking 

 the small end of a wand, and passing it once or twice round the cross formed 

 by the points of intersection ; after which one, or perhaps two secondary- 

 ribs, are introduced on eack side of the vertical main rib. The wattling is 

 then proceeded with a little further, when two or more secondary ribs are 

 introduced ; and the process is continued till a sufficient number of subordi- 

 nate ribs are put in to support the wattling of the entire structure. The 

 whole art, as far as concerns the gardener, will be understood from the fol- 

 lowing figures: 



