VII 



CARE OF THE LITTLE GARDEN: TOOLS, PRUNING, 

 SPRAYING 



The daily care of a small place is one of the most engrossing, 

 most rewarding of all occupations; and it is this only when the 

 place is not too large for the personal or outside labor that is eas- 

 ily given it. There is no minor anguish to compare with that of 

 seeing one's grass, flowers, or vegetables get away from one, if 

 these things are cherished. Therefore, so far as is humanly pos- 

 sible, plans should always be made when the garden is designed, 

 for its proper upkeep. And when one considers what Mr. Brett 

 has lately designated as "improductive exercise," what a chance 

 there is in the small garden for even busy or not over-strong peo- 

 ple to renew their strength, through the light tasks that there 

 confront them, securing health and happiness at one and the 

 same time. 



The spade and the fork are the basic implements for the gar- 

 den. Nothing permanent can be done without deep digging first. 

 Then come the rake and the hoe, the latter in its different forms. 

 The half-moon hoe is excellent for certain places, the square hoe 

 for the commonest. I am much attracted by the appearance in 

 pictures in Michell's catalogue of a new hoe — the Mehler handy 

 hoe: it is a combination tool, a thing that always has a fascination 

 — three tools in one, in this case. It has a narrow and a wide side, 

 and another with rake-like teeth. A combination tool should be a 

 great saving — a saving of time, of stooping to change tools, and 

 of storage space. Where space permits, nothing is comparable to 

 the good wheel-hoe, the summit of achievement in combination 

 tools, so easy to manipulate and so thorough in its eflSciency, 



