Chap. XXV.] IMPLEMENTS USED IN FRENCH GARDENS. 445 



several frames for this purpose, and also a machine for making 

 the mats so indispensable in the French garden; but the 

 one just described is the simplest for private use. Most innova- 

 tions of this sort are adopted slowly ; but that people would 

 immediately use this, if they had an opportunity of seeing it 

 in working order, there can be little doubt. In France they are 

 found so useful that they are employed for many purposes besides 

 that of covering frames, and they form an efficient temporary 

 coping for walls in some cases. In all gardens where men are 

 regularly employed they may be made during bad weather in 

 winter ; and as there is often difficulty in procuring enough useful 

 indoor work for men at such times, the making of the mats will 

 be a gain from that point of view alone. In country-places, where 

 straw is abundant, their cost would be trifling. 



S^CATEUE. — This is an instrument that all who prune should 

 possess. It is seen in the hands of every French fruit-grower, 

 and by its means he cuts as clean as with the best knife and much 

 quicker. Men cut stakes with them almost as fast as one could 

 count them ; they have recently made some large ones for cutting 

 stronger plants — such as the strong awkward roots of the Briars 

 collected by the Eose-growers. Of these secateurs there are 

 many forms. First we have the Secateur Vauthier, a strong and 

 handy instrument. Its sloping semi-cylindrical handles have 

 their outer side rough, which gives a firm hold ; the springs, 

 though strong, resist the action of the hand gently ; the curvature 

 of the blade and the adjustment are perfect; and lastly, the 

 principal thing, the action is so easy as never to hurt the hand. 

 " During the many years of my experience," observes M. Lachaume, 

 a fruit-grower who describes this implement in the ' Eevue Horti- 

 cole,' " I have used tools of all kinds, and the tools have also used 

 me a little ; but I have never met with anything which gave me 

 so much satisfaction as the Secateur Vauthier. Every desirable 

 quality is combined in it, and I recommend it with perfect confi- 

 dence. The strongest branch will not resist its cutting, nor a 

 single branch, however hard to get at, be inaccessible to it. 

 Another great advantage this secateur possesses is a double notch 

 on the back of the blade and hook, which enables the operator, 

 when employed at his trellises, to cut every wire without using 

 the pincers." The Secateur Lecointe is another variety much 



