TOOLS AND INSTRUMENTS. 



189 



adapted for excavating, or other work where 

 planks are required. From its wide shallow 

 form, it can be more easily loaded and emptied 



Fig. 234.— Wrou 



than barrows with deeper and more upright 

 sides. The wheel is narrow, and made entirely 

 of cast-iron, so that little soil adheres to it. In 

 wet weather, and with clayey soil, wheeling on 

 planks with a broad wheel would be almost 

 impracticable. 



The coster's barrow, or a slightly modified 

 form of it, is now largely used in gardens, 

 especially in nurseries where large numbers of 

 plants have to moved quickly from place to 

 place. 



Hand-barrows. — These are easily made, the 

 simplest being a shallow tray-like box 4 feet 

 by 2 feet 3 inches, with the sides extending 



Fig. 235.— Fruit Hand-barrow. 



about a foot each way, and shaped to serve as 

 handles. By adding short legs to this, it be- 

 comes what is called a fruit hand-barrow (fig. 

 235). 



The Truck Basket (fig. 236) is the handiest 



Fig. 236.— Truck Basket. 



form of carrying conveyance for small quantities 

 of soil, &c, for which a barrow would be too 

 large. It is made of thin strips of tough wood 

 nailed on a stout frame, several sizes being sup- 

 plied. It is quite as useful an article in the 

 garden as the wheel-barrow. 



Fumigators. — These are contrivances for ap- 

 plying tobacco-smoke and other fumes for the 

 destruction of insects which infest plants The 

 principle is to apply it in such a way that 

 whilst it is strong enough and remains about 

 the plant long enough to destroy the insects. 

 it does not injure the plant. The simplest 

 method, when tobacco is to be used, is to make 

 a hole in the side of a flower-pot, or, better 

 still, an old zinc pail, near the bottom, so that 

 the nozzle of a pair of bellows can be intro- 

 duced. A little live coal is put into the bottom 

 of the pot, then the tobacco -paper, and by 

 gently blowing, slow combustion is produced. 

 __ _.,_. An iron pot with a 



C- - c gridiron bottom, and 



a handle at the side 

 like a sauce-pan, is a 

 convenient utensil for 

 this work. For very 

 large houses, such as 

 the Palm -house at 

 Kew, a small portable 

 forge, such as smiths 

 use, is an excellent 

 fumigator, as it can 

 be made to pour out 

 great volumes of 

 smoke with great ra- 

 pidity. 



One of the most efficacious of all fumigators 

 for small houses is Richards' XL-All Vaporizing 

 Fumigator (fig. 237). It is a short cylinder, 

 with a shallow saucer on top containing a small 

 quantity of a liquid compound simply evapo- 

 rated by the agency of a spirit-lamp. It is 

 extremely easy of application, certain in its 

 effects upon insects, and quite harmless (with 

 few exceptions) to the most tender foliage. 



Sulphur utor. — Since the attacks of mildew on 

 the vine and other plants have become so pre- 

 valent, and as flowers of sulphur is the best- 

 known remedy, sulphurators have become very 

 necessary. Accordingly, various kinds have 

 been invented, some working with a wheel, on 

 the principle of a fan, others like the bellows. 

 Fig. 238 represents one which answers exceed- 



Fig. 237.— Richards' XL-All 

 Vaporizing Fumigator. 



Fig. 238.— Sulphurator. 



ingly well. The boards forming the sides of 

 the bellows are 7 inches in diameter, forming 

 two-thirds of a circle round the flap opening, 



