BOOK III. 



IMPLEMENTS OF GARDENING. 



287 





1430. The wrought-iron hand-glass (Jigs. 

 191, & 192.) is composed of solid iron 

 sash-bars, and may therefore be formed 

 of any shape or height. It is particularly 

 eligible for covering tender shrubs, fixed 

 in the open air, as tree-poeony, some half- 

 hardy mimosas, &c., and even geraniums 

 and fuchsias in the south of England. 



1431. The bell-glass differs from 

 the hand-glass in being one entire 

 piece of glass and commonly bell- 

 shaped, semi-globular,or cylindrical. 



1432. The common green glass bell (fig. 

 193.) is formed of bottle glass, and is com- 

 monly used in the open garden for protect- 



192 



194 195 



196 



ing cauliflowers or other culinary plants, or for striking cuttings or retaining a moist atmosphere about 

 seeds, &c. 



1433. T/ie crystal bell or receiver, 

 (Jigs. 194, 195, & 196.) used in gar- 

 dening, is generally from three to 

 eight inches in diameter, and from 

 four inches to one foot in height ; 

 they are employed in striking tender 

 cuttings in the exotic departments, 

 especially heaths. 



1434. The essential utensils are the sieve, flower-pot, watering-pot, and hand-glass. 



SUBSECT. 4. Utensils for entrapping Vermin. 



1435. JSird, beetle, and wasj> traps constitute the only genera of this tribe of the class 

 -orth mentioning. , 197 



1436. The birdtrap-cage (Jig. 197.) is a wicker 

 utensil with a funnel, through which the bird having 

 descended in quest of the bait placed within, cannot 

 ascend. It is successfully employed to catch young 

 sparrows. 



1437. The earwig and beetle trap (Jig. 198.) is 

 often only a hollow cylinder, but from this, if not 

 taken regularly at certain seasons, the insects escape. 

 A close box, with an inverted truncated cone of 

 glass in the centre as a hopper, is better ; because 

 when earwigs, beetles, wood-lice, or such insects 

 enter, they cannot .escape, and may be drowned or 

 scalded, or suffered to die there. The common bait 

 is crumbs of bread. 



1468. The wasp and fiy trap, is merely a bottle half full of water honied at the 

 mouth to entice their entrance. Some assert that the plant hoya carnosa, whilst in 

 bloom, will attract wasps and all other insects from the fruit in the house in which it 

 grows (Maher, inHort. Trans, vol. i. 197.) ; and others that boiled carrots will have the 

 same effect. 



SECT. IV. Machines. 



1439. Machines are agents for abridging manual labor. All the operations of gar- 

 dening may be performed by the simple tools, instruments, or utensils, already mentioned ; 

 but in practice some labors would be insufferably tedious, and others inconveniently 

 cumbersome ; and in many operations, the ordinary force of man could not be conveniently 

 brought into action. Rollers, as opposed to the turf-beetle, are illustrative of the first 

 case ; the German devil, and Bramah's hydrostatic press, as opposed to a number of 

 men with ropes or levers, of the second ; and the boat-scythe, as performing the oper- 

 ations of the pincers or common scythe, of the third case. But the machines of gar- 

 dening are very few, and chiefly artificial contrivances for the defence of gardens or 

 scientific machines for measurement or designation of temperature. In contriving either 



198 



