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bladed and wear without either breaking or turning up at 

 their edges. There are more varieties of this little but 

 most useful implement, than farmers in general are aware 

 of. It would not be a bad idea for some of our enterpris- 

 ing manufacturers, to gather samples of all the various 

 kinds in use in our vast domain and. exhibit them at that 

 great gathering of the nations of the earth, the Great Fair. 

 I believe such an exhibit would surprise even ourselves in 

 the amount of inventive skill and superior workmanship 

 invested in this little tool. I believe that many of us are 

 apt to use our hoes too long ; they have neither gapped on 

 their cutting edges, nor turned up at theirjfcorners, and at 

 first thought the suggestion that they should be con- 

 demned, strikes us as rather wasteful ; but when the cor- 

 ners are rounded oflFit requires more effort to cut into the 

 soil, and as the blade decreases in size, less earth can be 

 moved with it. With first class hoes, at forty cents apiece 

 no active farmer can afford to use one after half the area 

 of the blade has been worn away. Among the many 

 varieties in the market there are some that for specific use, 

 are decided improvements on the standard kind. There 

 are several kinds of toothed hoes, which I find valuable 

 when it is desirable to gather at the least outlay of strength, 

 the largest quantity of earth, of which the hoeing of cabbage 

 is a good illustration. When the weeds are of any size 

 these do not work as well as the common hoe. For a gen- 

 eral purpose implement, I prefer a long, narrow thin 

 bladed hoe ; its narrowness helps it to slip in and out in 

 places where the common hoe could not be used without 

 great danger to the plants. Another advantage of the 

 narrow blades is their utility in thinning bed crops. One 

 variety of the narrow hoe found in the market is thick 

 bladed and, as might be anticipated, is made of poor steel, 

 such a kind as a poor man cannot afford to take as a gift, 

 I find occasionally workmen who prefer white wood han- 

 dles, but these are easily broken and when using them the 

 lack of weight in such handles has to be made up by extra 



