288 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



June, 1909 



the soil, and leave the exposed roots of the 

 displaced weeds to be killed by the sun. 

 But on a lawn covered with a thick growth 

 of grass tools must be used that will take 

 out the weeds individually. These weeds 

 are generally strong growing and may have 

 long tap roots which must be cut far below 

 the surface to prevent them from sprouting 

 again. Small weeds may often be pulled 

 by hand after a soaking rain, but if this is 

 attempted with well established roots, except 

 when the soil is thoroughly saturated with 

 moisture, the weeder is apt to break them off 

 at the crown. They then sprout readily 

 and in a short time are larger than before. 



Such tools are necessarily simple in 

 construction and the styles are few. 

 There are practically but two forms of lawn 

 weeders — the straight bladed, used for 



These machine weeders lessen the labor and prevent 

 backache 



cutting off the plants so that they may be 

 either pulled by hand or forced out with the 

 weeder itself, and the forked blade that has 

 a claw shaped end to clutch the roots, the 

 handle being used as a lever to force or 

 pull them out. Both are made in a number 

 of sizes adapted to various kinds of weeds. 



WEEDERS FOR LIGHT WORK 



Cutting weeders are shown on p age 287, and 

 the first three are used for both cutting off 

 and forcing or prying out the weeds. The 

 simplest form is the small bladed weeder 

 with the V-shaped cutting end, but any stiff, 

 narrow-bladed tool, such as the narrow- 

 bladed, triangular or half-round trowels, will 

 do this work very satisfactorily. 



The asparagus knife of which there are 

 two forms will be found to be a very good 

 weeding tool. The one in the illustration 



has a straight ended cutting blade, is of 

 strong construction and is the better of the 

 two for lawn weeding, as a small amount of 

 prying can be done with it. The weeds can 

 be either cut off and pulled, or cut and then 

 forced out with the weeder. Beside it is 

 another, thin bladed and light, the V-shaped 

 end preventing the possibility of glancing 

 when cutting a thick root, but it cannot be 

 used for prying. The thin, keen-ended blade 

 enters the soil easily and the root once cut, the 

 weed in most cases is then easily pulled out. 

 This knife is the best for asparagus cutting. 



The last two weeders represent the forked 

 or claw-bladed pulling class and are not so 

 well known as those with the cutting blade. 

 Under favorable conditions this form will 

 prove a quick working tool for removing 

 dandelions from the lawn. The claw is 

 used to clutch the weed below the crown, the 

 heel or extension just back of the claw acts 

 as a fulcrum and is generally sufficiently 

 broad on the face to push back any sod or 

 soil that may be forced up when the weed is 

 pulled, the handle acting as a lever for this 

 purpose. The tool can be used only when 

 the soil is moist. Even under the most 

 favorable conditions, not all weeds will pull 

 clean, but all will be broken off low enough 

 down to prevent subsequent sprouting if 

 gripped below the crown when being pulled. 



The smaller weeder (known as a dandelion 

 puller) is a casting, but has proved strong 

 enough to pull any weed the claw will grip. 

 It is twelve inches long. The long one is 

 made of wrought steel. There are different 

 sizes of this weeder, varying slightly in con- 

 struction. One that should have admirable 

 lasting qualities is made with steel claw and 

 heel, with socket connection to a wood handle. 



The long-handled weeders, while differing 

 somewhat in construction are similar in 

 operation to the foregoing. The fittings of 

 the one shown to the left in the figure are 

 cast iron and are liable to break; the other 

 one is guaranteed cast malleable' and there- 

 fore will bend before it breaks. The sharp 

 blade is thrust into the soil a short distance 

 from the weed, at such an angle that it will be 

 cut at the proper distance below the surface. 

 The trigger or lever is then pressed and the 

 power applied is transmitted through the wire 

 connection to the curved arm at the lower end. 

 This is toothed and notched when it grips the 

 weed to prevent slipping. The weeder is 

 then lifted, drawing the weed with it. 



The third one pictured is a long-handled 

 dandelion spud, which is effectual for clip- 

 ping small weeds out of the lawn. If this 

 tool is used for large weeds they must be 

 cut too close to the surface to kill them, for 

 if they are cut deep enough to kill them and 

 then pried out, the lawn will be disfigured 

 by pieces of sod that are forced out at the 

 same time. The blade is slightly curved, 

 half round in section, double ended, and 

 bolted to a three and a half foot handle. 

 Except for small weeds the first two are the 

 better of this class. 



DOCK CUTTERS AND EXTRACTORS 



For cutting off and lifting or tearing out 

 of the soil strong-rooted weeds, one of the 



worst of which is dock, specially strong tools 

 are necessary. I have pulled roots of this 

 weed one-half inch in diameter that were 

 eighteen inches long, and have dug out roots 

 over two inches in diameter, which at the 

 depth of eighteen inches were but slightly 

 less in diameter than at the surface. The 

 average lawn is not infested with weeds 

 having such roots as this, but to the pur- 

 chaser of property that has been inhabited 

 by a careless tenant or owner, the tools 

 shown would be very useful. 



The sharp ended blade of the first tool 

 is forced into the root so as to cut it off far 

 enough below the surface to prevent sprout- 

 ing. The cross bar at the top of the blade 

 allows the foot to force it down, and the 

 handle is then used as a lever to force out 

 the portion of the root cut off. The blade 



You probably do not need such strong tools, but 

 they are really necessary on new ground 



(which is also made with an M-shaped cut- 

 ting end) is from eight to nine inches long 

 and from two to two and a half inches wide. 

 All have steel blades and while some makes 

 have a cast malleable cross bar, in others 

 the cross bar is steel welded to the blade. 

 This tool is also made with both strap and 

 plain ferrule connection to the handle. The 

 latter is a very poor method, as a tool of this 

 kind should be constructed as strong as 

 possible. 



The claw-bladed dock extractor is the 

 better of the two. The cross bar which 

 acts as a fulcrum extends four inches back 

 of the blade, the handle gives sufficient 

 leverage to pull very large roots when con- 

 ditions are favorable. This is a very 

 strong tool, being all steel with the excep- 

 tion of the cross bar and the handle, which 

 are of white ash. 



