CHAPTER V. 



M Y G A R D E N TOOLS. 



" Turn ferri rigor, atque argutas lamina serrae ; 

 Nam primi cuneis scindebant fissile lignum : 

 Turn variae venere artes ; labor omnia vicit 

 Improbus et duris urgens in rebus egestas." VIRGIL, Georgicon. 



A SKILLED gardener will do more with bad tools than an unskilled 

 one with good tools ; nevertheless, it is desirable that the garden 

 should be supplied with the best mechanical appliances. In the division 

 of labour which now exists we are required rather to select tools than 

 to devise them ; and the manufacturers of Sheffield tax their ingenuity 

 to invent, and their skill to construct, such as shall be serviceable to 

 the gardener and tempt him to buy. 



Upon the question of tools, I have consulted Messrs. Spears and 

 Jackson of Sheffield, who advocate the employment of steel for the 

 construction of tools instead of weldings of steel and iron, as com- 

 monly used, because they say that flaws will sometimes occur in the 

 union of steel and iron, and the steel has to be decarbonized to a 

 certain amount to render it capable of being thoroughly blended with 

 the iron. Most of the tools in my garden are made entirely of steel, 

 and have been procured at their manufactory. 



The one all-important garden tool is the spade (fig. 43). It should 

 be strongly made of steel, and so firmly fixed in the handle that it 

 shall not readily break. Some persons use spades made of steel and 

 iron, with the intention that the iron may wear and the steel remain, 



