174 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



and the other transverse to it. It is well 

 adapted for grubbing up trees; with the flat 

 end facing the operator, the roots may be un- 

 covered, undermined, and sometimes more con- 

 veniently cut, than with the opposite end. 

 When well made it is a most efficient tool for 

 cutting and splitting, and may be used for many 

 purposes. 



The Grubbing Mattock (fig. 176) is somewhat 

 like an ordinary mattock, but with shorter, 

 stronger blades, and can be used in getting into 

 difficult places where the ordinary mattock would 

 be too large. 



The Pickfork (fig. 177), or Canterbury hoe, is 

 useful for loosening soil. By means of the fork 

 end the surface may be broken up, and when 

 this is too hard, or Avhen clods have to be 

 broken, the mattock end may be employed; it 

 is also useful for loosening the subsoil to the 

 proper depth, where it would otherwise form 

 hard banks over which the water could not pass, 

 and would consequently lodge injuriously in 

 the softer parts. 



Excellent handles of hickory wood are now 

 sent from America for all classes of picks or 

 mattocks. They should be made to fit into the 

 eye perfectly. 



The Drag (fig. 178) is a small three-pronged 

 implement, used instead of a hoe for loosening 

 the soil among vegetable crops in the market 

 gardens near London. It should be more used 

 in private establishments, especially in kitchen- 

 gardens, and for large borders. 



Bakes. — A set of iron-headed rakes of different 

 sizes are required. The length of the head may 

 be about 16 inches for ground that is either un- 

 cropped, or occupied with plants widely apart. 

 The sizes may diminish by 2 inches in the length 

 of the heads, so that the latter may be respec- 

 tively 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4. The last will be con- 

 venient for raking between crops sown in rows, 

 and for using between plants in flower-gardens. 

 In the latter case, raking by drawing the teeth 

 along the surface between the plants is frequently 

 not so much required as a kind of chopping, so 

 that the teeth may break down the clods. It is 

 a great mistake to use a rake that merely passes 

 between the plants; for when this is the case, 

 the implement cannot be freely plied, and con- 

 sequently the work can neither be so well nor 

 so quickly performed. 



When the teeth of iron rakes are driven into 

 the head-bar through merely a square punched 

 hole, and then clenched above, they are apt to 

 break off level with the under side of the bar. 

 The best are now made with the end teeth 



formed out of the head and turned down, the 

 other teeth being riveted in and very slightly 

 curved. The socket should be long and strong 

 and three-holed. 



Rakes with cylindrical wooden heads, into 

 w T hich iron teeth are driven, are occasionally used 

 for smoothing the surface of beds for seeds, 

 and if the wood is well chosen and shaped, and 

 the teeth nicely arranged, these are the best 

 rakes for all kitchen-garden purposes — where 

 rakes are required. Wooden rakes, the same as 

 the common hay-rake, are required for raking 

 off grass and leaves. Others, of a similar des- 

 cription, but made with greater care, and with 

 teeth of tough hard wood, may be sometimes 

 employed with advantage in light soils, instead 

 of iron rakes. Being much larger but lighter 

 than the latter, they can be more easily drawn 

 over a surface of greater extent. Wooden rakes, 

 with short close teeth, may be made to take off 

 short grass from lawns so cleanly as sometimes 

 i to render sweeping unnecessary. The American 

 I rakes, being of light make and easily handled, 

 are now much in favour. 



The Daisy-rake (fig. 179) has broad teeth, sharp 

 on both edges ; it is employed for removing the 

 flowers of daisies and other plants from lawns. 



Forks are perhaps employed for more pur- 

 poses in gardens than any other tool. Parkes' 

 steel digging forks are of very superior make, 

 and were the first of the kind brought out. 

 Excellent examples are now made by many 

 other good firms. 



These forks are in many cases substituted for 

 the spade. The prongs, being made of steel, 

 are elastic, taper to a point, and are flat, oval, 

 round, square, or diamond-shaped, with three, 

 four, and five prongs. The trenching fork 

 (fig. 180) is three-pronged flat, or four-pronged 

 square, and extra strong. Fig. 181 is a useful 

 digging fork. The potato fork is four- or five- 

 pronged flat, of lighter make than the digging 

 fork. The manure fork is generally four-pronged 

 round, very light and elastic, some with either 

 a short handle similar to the digging fork or a 

 long straight handle (fig. 182), the latter being 

 very useful for long manure. The hand -fork 

 (fig. 183) is a useful tool in many ways. 



Many slight variations in shape to suit 

 various preferences are manufactured, but those 

 given are best for general purposes. 



Hoes. — Of these there is a variety of forms and 

 sizes adapted for use among plants requiring 

 to be grown at greater or less distances apart; 

 also for light and heavy soils, for drawing fur- 

 rows or drills, thinning crops, stirring the soil 



