Labor Saving Tools for Garden Work* 



Hermann Simmers, Toronto 



THE first and still the most impor- 

 tant tool in the garden is the human 

 hand, and probably at one time in 

 ages past, it was the only one. Still, 

 at a very early period, tools of some de- 

 scription had been devised, to lighten 

 the labor of the gardener. In our youth- 

 ful days — alas, further back than some 

 of us care to admit — a conundrum was 

 propounded. It ran thus: "When Adam 

 delved and Eve span, who then was the 

 gentleman?" The obvious answer is 

 that Adam was the gentleman, and mark 

 you he was the first man, he was a gen- 

 tleman and he was a gardener — all of 

 which is true. Our immediate interest, 

 however, is to enquire what Adam delved 

 with. No doubt he did much work with 

 his hands — in many gardening operations 

 still the very best of tools — but he could 

 not delve very well thus, unless he had 

 something to aid him. The cradle of 

 the human race is in the East, and it is 

 there, we can observe customs to-day 



In explanation of my further meaning, 

 you will find that among the first and 

 last things to be done in almost any gar- 

 den in spring or fall, is to have your 

 garden dug in the spring and spaded 

 again in the fall, and those who are not 

 so furtunate as to employ a man for this 

 Wbrk, will better understand the neces- 

 sity of a pair of good, strong arms to 

 do this work. 



THE BEST TOOLS 



I have not had the pleasure of attend- 

 ing any of the conventions of this asso- 

 ciation, and am not acquainted with the 

 intention that you have, whether it is 

 necessary, just to introduce the subject 

 and after introducing, that questions are 

 asked, as to this, that or the other mat- 

 ter, but I am going to give you a list of 

 a good many articles that I have used 

 myself, as well as some of the others 

 that I know are "labor-saving tools, " 

 but which I may not have had occasion 

 to use. The list approximately is as fol- 



Some Panties that Grew in the Yukon — lUnttrated One-quarter Size. 



which had their inception in Adam's 

 time, or not long after. The soil there 

 is so sandy and easily worked, that a 

 very primitive stick sharpened, would be 

 all the labor-saving appliance required. 

 Irrigation is the great problem there. 

 In lands under different climatic condi- 

 tions, different circumstances naturally 

 arise and in our own land, one must ad- 

 mit, that stirring with a pointed stick 

 would not have much effect. Therefore, 

 other labor-saving tools had to be in- 

 vented. The king of all labor-saving 

 tools, is still the spade. Spade culture 

 is the most intensive and, per acre, pro- 

 duces more crops than any other form of 

 culture. 



In my opinion, the Creator, has en- 

 dowed us with the best means of labor- 

 saving appliances. I mean a pair of 

 strong arms. To those who have been 

 at the garden hobby for some years, 

 their arms will have been strengthened 

 by their use, an all-wise Providence hav- 

 ing created man or woman with these 

 handy appendages, and the man or wo- 

 man who makes liberal use of them, will 

 have as a result much the better garden, 

 for his close attention. 



'Extracts from a paper read at the oon- 

 ventioD ol the Ontario Horticultural Association, 

 held in Toronto last month. 



lows: spade, shovel, lawn rake, steel 

 rake, field hoe, Dutch hoe, spading fork, 

 manure fork, garden reel, garden line, 

 grass hook or sickle, pruning knife, 

 pruning shears, pruning saw, half-moon 

 edging knife, indelible pencil, labels tree 

 or pot, appliances for destroying insects, 

 hot-bed thermometer, garden trowel, tree 

 pruner, watering can, wheelbarrow, lawn 

 mower, hand weeders (such as Hazeltine's, 

 Excelsior, etc.), wheel plow, and hand 

 seed drill. 



MAKE GARDENING A PLEASURE 



This is about the list that would be 

 necessary to complete a full stock of 

 "labor-saving tools" for the amateur. 

 Many might say that a spade, a hoe and 

 a rake, is all he has used and found them 

 satisfactory, but if they had picked out 

 from this list any other special tools and 

 used them at the proper time, they would 

 have saved labor and made for them- 

 selves, the garden, more interesting. 



THE COMBINATION SEED DRILL 



It is almost useless to go into the de- 

 tail and description of all the tools that 

 I have listed and from which I will re- 

 frain, but amongst the list, I would like 

 to draw more attention to the combina- 

 tion seed drill, which has the garden 

 plow, wheel hoe and seed drill combined. 



264 



Now, to those who have a more preten- 

 tious vegetable garden, this more mod- 

 ern implement, is apt to encourage the 

 amateur to extend his work. 



I have seen many a fine garden in the 

 smaller towns, which does credit to the 

 man who attends to it and should be a 

 credit to the town, if the towns would so 

 take note of them. To these gentlemen, 

 I strongly urge their using one of these 

 implements. They were originally gotten 

 up by some Yankee not overly fond of 

 work, but let it be said to the credit of 

 his genius, that he has bestowed on us an 

 implement that will save the labor of an 

 amateur gardener. 



TAKE CAKE OF TOOLS 



I would also suggest that all the tools 

 possessed by the amateur be properly 

 hung up, neatly and systematically, and 

 that they should not be thrown in a cor- 

 ner, in a careless manner. You might 

 as well expect a woman working in her 

 kitchen to throw her pots and pans in a 

 heap in the corner 

 and expect her to 

 be able to find 

 what she requires, 

 quickly. I see na 

 reason why man's 

 labor-saving tools 

 for garden work 

 should not be kept 

 in the same precise 

 manner that a woman keeps her house- 

 hold utensils. The garden tools should 

 also be kept clean and ready for use. 



Flowers in the Yukon 



The illustration of pansies that ap- 

 pears on this page shows one of the hor- 

 ticultural possibilities of the Yukon. 

 These pansies were grown in Dawson 

 City by Mrs. George Black from Giant 

 Pansy seed, furnished by J. A. Sim- 

 mers, Toronto. In a letter to J. A. Sim- 

 mers, Mrs. Black said : 



"I am sending the pansies to show 

 how successfully we grow flowers from 

 your seed. Many of the gardens here in 

 summer are very beautiful. In a space 

 only twenty-five by fifteen feet, that we 

 devoted to flowers last season, we grew 

 twenty-eight kinds, including pansies, 

 English and shasta daisies, nasturtiums, 

 musk plants, nicotiana, ice plants, pop- 

 pies (Iceland, California and Shirley) 

 sweet peas, canary vine, wild cucumber, 

 stocks, asters, everlastings, gypsophila, 

 mignonette, forget-me-not, lobelias, wild 

 orchids and ferns." 



Be sure and take some photographs of 

 your potted bulbs in bloom and send 

 them for publication. 



