TOOLS 



American is inventive. The result is that there is a tool 

 to expedite and lighten almost every labor. The effort 

 of each man is multiplied. Not only are the American 

 tools numerous and adapted to almost every agricul- 

 tural labor, but they are trim, light and comely in de- 

 sign. 



A tool is properly a hand implement, 

 used to facilitate mere manual labor. A 

 machine is a contrivance, usually more 

 elaborate, that multiplies and transmits 

 power or motion. Yet tools and machines merge so 

 completely that it is impossible to make a definite cate- 

 gory of one or the other. The word implement is more 

 generic, and applies to any intermediary device by 

 means of which a man accomplishes a given work. 

 The phrase "agricultural implements," as used by 

 tradesmen, usually refers to both tools and machines. 

 In general discussions the word tool is used somewhat 

 indefinitely, as in this sketch; but even then it does 

 not include complicated machinery. 



The tools used by horticulturists can be thrown into 

 four general categories: 



1. Tools for tilling the land, as plows, harrows, roll- 



ers, cultivators, weeders, hoes, rakes. See Tillage. 



2. Tools to facilitate various handwork, as seed- 



sowers, transplanters, markers, pruning imple- 

 ments, and most greenhouse devices. 



3. Tools or machines to facilitate the destruction of 



insects and fungi, as fumigators, syringes, spray- 

 ing devices. See Spraying, Insecticides, Fun- 

 gicides. 



4. Tools or vehicles for transporting, as carts, bar- 



rows. 



In the multiplic- 

 ity of tools, one is 

 often at a loss what 

 to purchase. The 

 buyer should have 

 a definite idea of 

 the kind of labor 

 that he needs to 

 have performed 

 and he should then 

 consider how well 

 adapted the tool 



may be to perform that labor. Once purchased, the tools 

 should be cared for. A tool shed or room is the greatest 

 convenience und often the greatest economy. Labor is 

 expedited and annoyance saved if each tool has its 

 place. Every farm or garden should be provided with a 

 room that can be warmed in cold weather, in which re- 

 pairs can be made on tools and machinery. No general 

 farm barn is complete without such a room. The care 

 of tools not only contributes to the longevity and use- 

 fulness of the implements themselves, but it sets dis- 

 tinct ideals before the farmer and thereby is a means of 

 educating him. The greater the variety and the better 

 the quality of the tools the more alert the user of them 

 is likely to be. One should look up the new ideas in 



TOOLS 



appears to have been a forked or crotched stick, one 

 prong of which was used as a handle and the other as a 

 cleaving instrument. From this the hoe and the HOW 

 appear to have developed. Fit:. -':.'_'<>. The hoe and th- 

 plow are still the fundamental or primary tillage tools, 



2529. An European type of plow, still used in its improved forms. 



2530. The perfected American plow. 



one being for hand-work essentially what the other is for 

 team-work. As the philosophy of tillage has come to 

 be better understood, these tools - have been greatly 

 modified and varied. It is surprising to know that the 

 plow was not perfected until within a century. It is 

 doubtful if the invention of any of the most important 

 machines of modern times has really meant so much for 

 the welfare of the race as the birth of this humble im- 

 plement. To many persons is ascribed the credit of the 

 invention of the modern plow, for the implement seems 

 to have originated independently in different countries, 

 and even in America there are various contestants for 



the honor. Thomas 

 Jefferson, Charles 

 Newbold, David 

 Peacock, and others 

 have received the 

 honor. There i s 

 reason for ascrib- 

 ing the modern 

 type of plow to 

 Jethro Wood, of 

 Scipio, Cayuga 



3528. An early Yankee plow, made of wood and the mold- 

 board protected by iron nailed on. After Roberts. 



tools each year as he does in markets or crops. The 

 advertising pages of rural papers are suggestive in this 

 direction. 



The original tool for opening or tilling the ground 



county, New York. 

 The years 1814 and 



1819 are the dates of his most important patents, al- 

 though the latter is usually regarded as the natal 

 day of the implement. Wood was born in Massachu- 

 setts in 1774 and died in 1845 or 1846. (See "Jethro 

 Wood, inventor of the Modern Plow," by Frank Gilbert, 

 Chicago, 1882.) The study of plows is a curious and 

 profitable undertaking, and one that still needs to be 

 prosecuted. Some of the forms of plows, ancient and 

 modern, are shown in Figs. 2527-30. 



The large-area farming of North America and the ap- 

 prehension of the principles that underlie tillage have 

 resulted in the invention of a large number of surface- 

 working tillage tools. These inventions are particu- 

 larly important in orcharding, as they enable the grower 

 to maintain the necessary surface mulch (see Tillage 

 and Pomology ) with a small amount of labor and without 

 training the trees too high. There are now many culti- 

 vators and harrows which cover a wide swath and which 

 are adapted to the light stirring of the surface soil with- 

 out the turning of furrows and the ridging of the land. 

 Fig. 2531. One who is contemplating a serious 

 study of tillage tools should familiarize himself 

 with the inventions of Jethro Tull, before the 

 middle of the eighteenth century. Tull devised 

 implements to facilitate the tillage of plants 

 when they were growing in the field. 



In hand-tillage tools the greatest recent ad- 

 vancement is in the development of the wheel 

 hoe. Fig. 2532. This light and simple tool, usually 

 with adjustable blades, performs the labor of many 

 sets of fingers and does the work more effectively so 

 far as tillage is concerned. It also enforces better 

 initial preparation of the land in order that it may do 

 its work more perfectly; and this remark will also 

 apply to the modern seed-sowers. Fig. 2.~>:a. 



Unfortunately, there is no recent American book that 

 discusses the principles underlying the application of 

 farm tools ami machinery. Practically, our only sus- 



