HORTICULTURE. 



.cs 

 nf I'lanti. 



Moll*. 



Bin!s. 



wrt.'Vv (meaning chiefly // t -/: <M/<T.?rt of Montagu, 

 //. /.'o, /, ; ,/.v of Pennant) o! tin abound, especially 

 where tlie garden-walls arc old or rugged. In well 

 kept gardens they are looked for in the mornings, par- 

 ticularly after showers, when they never fail t<> ap- 

 pear, and .ire destroyed. 



ATo/es (Ttilpa Europceii) are sometimes very injurious 

 in gardens, and must be extirpated wherever they 

 appear. Traps are set for them by persons who have 

 studied their habits : and the expertness of some of 

 these in taking them is wonderful. The moles seem 

 to be social animals, keeping together in families 

 or societies. The great art in catching them de- 

 pends on ascertaining their recent and frequented gal- 

 leries or subterraneous roads, and in placing the traps 

 neatly in these. 



Mice (principally the field-mouse, Mus sylvalicus) 

 frequently devour newly sown peas and beans, if these 

 have not been duly covered with soil ; and they some- 

 times likewise attack the beds of tulips, ranunculuses, 

 and crocuses. They may soon be subdued by placing 

 a number of fovrth-Jiaure traps (as they are called, from 

 resembling in shape the Arabic 4) in the garden : this 

 kind of simple but effectual trap is figured and descri- 

 bed both in Nicol's " Calendar," and in Abercrouibit-'s 

 " Practical Gardener.'' 



Many kinds of birds may be numbered among the 

 enemies of gardens. Even the beautiful bulfiiu-h. 

 (Loxia pyrrhula) destroys many blossoms of fruit-trees, 

 scooping them clean out ; but whether the bird feeds 

 on the blossom, or only nips it off' for the sake of ca- 

 terpillars contained within it, is not known. The jay 

 (Conns glandarius), the black-bird (Turdits mentis), 

 and the mavis (T. nuisicui), make great havock among 

 the best kinds of cherries, where means are not resort- 

 ed to for saving them. Rooks (Con-its frugilegii.i) oft- 

 ( n attack pear-trees, and destroy vast quantities of the 

 fruit ; and jack-daws (C. monedula) are sometimes also 

 guilty of this sort of trefpass. The common sparrow 

 (Friiigilla domeslica), and the chaffinch (F. Calebs'), 

 likewise commit great depredatiens. For the protec- 

 tion of large standard trees, dead birds are occasionally 

 hung up, so as to wa\e with the wind ; and such scares 

 are of considerable service in deterring depredators. 

 In the case of espalier and wall-trees, nets art; generally 

 employed, being hung over them, and fixed close to 

 the ground. It may be remarked, that different spe- 

 cies of tit-mouse (Pin us ccerulciis and aler) with the 

 common creeper (Ct rthia j'amilittris), and all the Mo- 

 tacilla' or warblers, may be considered as useful in de- 

 stroying insects or their larva?, which are their princi- 

 pal food, and should therefore be winked at in gardens, 

 although they may possibly destroy a certain quantity 

 of the blossom, 



Implements nf Gardening. 



Implement* 5(Jo. The principal tools employed in horticultural 

 t buUea- O p cra tjons have already been mentioned incidentally ; 



but it may be proper in this place to enumerate them 



together. 

 Tools. The spade may be first named, as the oldest and most 



indispensable garden tool. Besides common sized 



spades for delving, small spades are required for work. 



ing in the flower-borders. The manufacture of spades 



is carried on to a great extent at Dalston near Carlisle ; 



at Gateshead, Newcastle ; Bedburn, near Durham ; 



Burton upon Trent; and Ulverstone in Lancashire; 



and of late years, some Scots forges, particularly those 



.! C.'ramon.i. near Edinburgh, and Dalnottar, near 



Glasgow, have disputed with those mentioned, the II 1 ' 1 " 

 palm" of excellence in this useful and important article 

 o/'our iron manufacture. Shovels of different sorts are ,_, "Y 

 made at the same manufactories. Forks are necessary 

 for pointing overground where it is improper to use the 

 spade: They are ofdiffere.it sizes, and some have flat 

 and others re unded tines : -asparagus-forks have been al- 

 ready mentii ned ( 3o3.) Hoes of different sizes are 

 indispensable, witn small weeding ancl thinning hoes, 

 and also the sort called the Dutch hoe. Rakes of 

 different sizes are necessary : for large ones, those in 

 which the teeth are of iron, and the head of well-sea- 

 soned ash, are best; and for small ones, those in which 

 the teeth and head are formed of one solid piece of iron, 

 are to be preferred. Shears for clipping hedges, and a 

 kind with bent handles for dressing grass verges, are 

 not to be forgotten. A fiat faced hammer, with large 

 headed nails, both of wrought iroa and of cast iron, 

 and a stock of lists or rounds are requisite for the nail- 

 ing of wall-trees : as well as a proper wall-ladder, such 

 as is described, 245. Pruning, grafting, and bud- 

 ding knives, with hand-bills, chisels, and small saws, 

 are indispensable. Some recently invented pruning 

 instruments might here be noticed. One called the 

 Averuncator has a handle from 5 to 8 feet in length ; 

 by means of a cord and pulley, a lever connected with 

 a cutting blade is acted upon; so that a person stand- 

 ing on the ground may prune the greater part of ordi- 

 nary sized trees. The Pi uning-shears are more easily 

 managed, and are found very useful on many occasions, 

 making the cuts more clean and neat than can be done 

 with any kind of knife. Both instruments take off 

 branches an inch and a half in diameter with great ease. 

 The form of the averuncator is given at Fig. 6. of Plate 

 CCCXII., and of the pruning-shears at Fig. 7- of the 

 same Plate. Trowels of different sizes and shapes, with 

 planting irons and dibbles, are all very useful implements. 

 These, with scythes and paring-irons, and similar in- 

 struments, are manufactured to a great extent at Shef- 

 field ; and from the subdivision of labour there esta- 

 blished, they are furnished at rates so cheap as can- 

 not fail in a great measure to command the market: 

 but it is not to be disputed, regarding hoea and rakes 

 in particular, that the blacktmiths of some towns not 

 distinguished as manufacturing places, such as Edin- 

 burgh, produce these instruments of better materials, 

 if not of neater workmanship. A garden reel and line is 

 constantly needed. Sieves of iron or of brass wire of dif. 

 ferent degrees of closeness, are required wherever atten- 

 tion is paid to the raising of exotic seedlings. Fumiga- 

 ting bellows are useful for green-houses, vineries and 

 melon-frames. Where forcing is practised, or where 

 a collection of stove-plants is kept, thermometers are 

 necessary : those graduated to the scale of Fahrenheit 

 are universally in use : what is called the botanical 

 thermometer differs in no respect from another, except- 

 ing that some terms, such as " Ananas," are inscribed 

 at the proper degrees on the sides of the scale. One 

 thermometer is placed in theopen air ; and in the centre 

 of each of the hot-houses there is another: by compa- 

 ring these, the propriety of increasing or diminishing 

 the fire- heat or the quantity of fuel, is regulated. Wa- 

 tering-pots are made by tinsmiths, with pipes of differ- 

 ent lengths, and with roses more or lees closely per- 

 forated : for watering delicate seedlings, pots with brass 

 nozles finely perforated are used, producing an extreme- 

 ly light or minutely divided shower. 



563. The garden engine has been repeatedly mention- Garden e 

 ed, and its use recommended, ( 9^1 205, &c.). Con. 6 me - 



