270 



SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 



Past II. 



of tough root-cut ash timber, rather longer than tlie handle of the pick, but generally about 

 two feet nine inches. Spades are manufactured of different sizes, and generally with a 

 flat blade ; but perforated blades {Jig, 82.) are sometimes pnzed, as cleaning or freeing 

 themselves better from earth in adhesive soils ; and semi-cylindrical blades {Jig. 83. ), or 

 what canal-diggers call grafting-tools, are preferred for the same reason, and also as enter- 

 ing the soil easier, because gradually, and in effect as if a flat spade with a pointed or 

 shield-like curved edge were used. Spades with curved edges or pointed blades are easiest 

 to thrust into the earth in hard or stiff soils, and clean themselves better, but they are 

 more apt to leave untouched parts (baulks) in the bottom of the trench than the common 

 square-mouthed spade. They are the best species for new ground work, but not well 

 adapted for culture. 



1301. The shovel (Jig. 84.) consists of two parts, the handle and the blade ; the latter of 

 plate-iron, and the former of ash timber. There are several species. Such as are turned 

 up on the edges, and are used for shovelling mud, or, when formed of wood (generally of 

 beech), for turning grain, seeds, or potatoes ; square -mouthed shovels, for gathering 

 up dung in stables, and used by the gardener in the melon-ground ; heart-shaped or 

 pointed-mouthed shovels, used for lifting earth out of trenches in ditch-making, trenching, 

 or in other excavations ; and long narrow-mouthed shovels, for cleaning out drains, &c. 



1302. The fork. (Jigs. 85, 86, and 87.) Of this tool there are three principal 

 species: — The first (Jig. 85.), for working with litter, haulm, or stable-dung: the 

 second (Jig. 86.), for stirring the earth among numerous roots, as in fruit-trees and 

 flower-borders, or for taking up roots ; and the tliird (Jig- 87.), for plunging pots in 

 bark-pits, or for taking up asparagus or other roots. The prongs of the last are small, 

 round, and should be kept clear .or polished by use, or by friction with sand. In adhe- 

 sive soils, a strong two-pronged fork (Jig. 86.) is one of the most useful of garden-tools, 

 and is advantageously used on most occasions where the spade or even the hoe would be 

 resorted to in free soils, but especially in stirring between crops. 



1303. The tiirf-spade (Jig. 104.) consists of a cordate or scutiform blade, joined to a 

 handle by a kneed or bent iron shank. It is used for cutting turf from old sheep- 

 pastures, with a view to its being employed either for turfing garden-grounds, or being 

 thrown together in heaps to rot into mould. It is also used in removing ant-hills and 

 other inequalities in sheep-pastures, in parks, or rough lawns. A thin section is first 

 removed, then the protuberance of earth is taken out and the section replaced, which, cut 

 thin, and especially on the edges, readily refits ; and the operation is finishe^^with gentle 

 pressure by tlie foot, back of the spade, beetle, or roller. ' 



"1304. The dihber (Jigs. 88, and 89.) is a short piece of cylindrical wood, obtusely 

 pointed, and sometimes shod with iron on the one end, and formed into a convenient 

 spade-like handle in the other. Tliere are three species. The common garden-dibber 

 (Jig. 88.), the potatoe-dibber (Jig. 89.), and the forester's or planter's dibber. The 

 forester's dibber has a wedge-shaped blade, forked at the extremity, for the pui-pose of 

 carrying down with it the tap-root of seedling trees ; it has been much used in planting 

 extensive tracts, but may be considered as a barbarous mode of treating plants, and 

 deserving reprobation. There are also dibbers that make two holes at once, sometimes 

 used in planting leeks or other articles that are placed within a few inches of each other ; 

 dibbers which make several holes for planting beans and other seeds ; and wedge-shaped 

 dibbers which in soft sandy soils are easily worked^ and admit of spreading the roots 

 better than the round kind. These wedge-shaped tools also admit of putting two plants 

 in a hole, one at each extremity. 



1305. The planter s hack, or double mattock (Jig. 90.), is used for the same purpose 

 as the forester's dibber, and is much to be preferred. ( See Pontey''s Profitable Planter. ) 



1306. The planters troivel is a triangular blade of iron joined to a short handle, 

 used for planting young trees in free but unprepared soils, as heaths, moors, &c. (Sang's 

 Planters* Kdlendar.) 



1307. The jjlanter's pick-axe is the tool of that name (Jig. 78.) in miniature ; or some- 

 times merely a small mattock (j^^. 79.) used for planting in stony uncultivated soils. 



1308. The garden-trowel is a tongue- shaped piece of iron, with a handle attached ; the 

 blade or tongue either flat (Jig. 91.), or semi-cylindrical (Jig. 92.), or merely turned up 

 on the sides. It is used to plant, or take up for transplanting, herbaceous plants and 

 small trees. Trowels are also used for loosening the roots of weeds, and are then called 

 weeding-irons. Sometimes they are used for stirring the soil among tender plants in 

 confined situations. Wooden trowels or spatulas are sometimes used in potting plants to 

 fill in the earth ; but the garden-trowel with the edges turned up is the best for this and 

 most other purposes. 



1309. The transplanter (Jig. 93.) consists of two semi-cylindrical pieces of iron with 

 handles, and which are so inserted in the ground as to enclose a plant with a ball of eartli 

 between them. In this state they are attached to each other by two iron pins; and, being 

 pulled up, bring with them the plant to be removed, surrounded mth a ball of earth. 



