6o 



MY GARDEN. 



A special form of shears is also used for grass-edgings (fig. 60). A 

 particular form of knife is used for budding, the blade for making the 

 incision, and an ivory handle for raising the bark (fig. 6 1). A special form 

 of knife is made to cut asparagus (fig. 62), and a long pair of scissors 

 (fig. 63) is useful to thin the berries of overladen bunches of grapes. 



FIG. 60. 



For sharpening the cutting instruments we have a grindstone. We 

 sometimes cut the grass with a scythe, but prefer the mowing machine, 

 of which there are many kinds now in operation. The one at my 

 garden was made by Green (fig. 64), and has lasted satisfactorily for 



some years in constant work without any inconvenience. The grass 

 lawn is essentially an English feature, and a lawn may now be kept 

 by a good machine in a state worthy of its English reputation with 

 only a moderate amount of labour. 



FIG. 65. 



FIG. 66. 



FIG. 67. 



For the removal of small plants the trowel (fig. 65) is valuable, 

 as by it the earth about the roots is removed with the plant. We 



