General Notices. 



589 



convenient length ; or han- 

 dles of different lengths 

 may be prepared, and the 

 instrument inserted in the 

 end of any of the handles 

 at pleasure, and made fast 

 there by a screw pin. The 

 most complete arrange- 

 ment would be to have it 

 fixed on at the end of a 

 telescope handle, as light 

 as a fishing-rod,- and this 

 we have had done by 

 Messrs. Weir of Oxford 

 Street, who have promised 

 to prepare some of them 

 for sale. Messrs. Steers 

 and Wilkinson have also 

 sent us another beautiful 

 lady's instrument, a hand 

 flower-gatherer or berry- 

 gatherer {fig. 115.), which 

 is particularly useful for 

 gathering roses and pruning 

 off decayed flower-buds 

 without pricking the fingers 

 or soiling the gloves. It is 

 on the same principle as 

 the other, cutting and hold- 

 ing at the same time. As 

 both these instruments pro- 

 duce crushing cuts, they 

 ought not to be used for 

 the same purposes as the 

 sliding shears, or for cutting 

 off any thing thicker than 

 an eighth of an inch, or at 

 the utmost a fourth of an inch. With the hand flower-gatherer, and a small 

 basket or pouch tied before her, a lady might with one hand hold her parasol, 

 and with the other cut off and drop into the basket or pouch whatever decayed 

 flowers or withered leaves came in her way. In this manner, also, she might 

 select from the gooseberry bushes and strawberry beds her own dessert. With 

 the handles a little longer, and jointed on the principle of the laz-tommy 

 shears, she might pull up weeds or suckers without stooping : but to do 

 this well would require a little alteration in the cutting part (see Encyc. of 

 Agr.,fig. 254.), and we should be glad if Messrs. Wilkinson and Steers 

 would bestow their attention on inventing something of this kind. At the 

 same time, we should not recommend the exclusive use of such an instru- 

 ment, as stooping must be regarded as an exercise. This hand instrument 

 {fig. 115.) and the iron part of the flower-gatherer (fig. 114.) are made of 

 various lengths, from 4^ to 8 in., and sold by retail at from 3*. to 85. The 

 expense of the handle to the flower-gatherer (fig. 113.) depends on its 

 length and on its construction, and may range from 5s. to 21. — Cond. 



Customs in hiring, and Method of paying, Farm Servants in Northumber- 

 land. — Single servants, both men and women, are hired by the year and 

 half-year, and are boarded in the farm-house, but the men sleep in an out- 



