272 



SCIENCE OF GARDENING 



Part II. 



kidney-shaped blade fixed to a straight handle, and is used for paring the edges of 

 verges 'or borders of turf ; and for cutting the outlines of turves to be raised with the 

 turf-spade. 



1318. The turf-beetle {Jig. 102.) is a cylindrical or conical piece of wood, of one hun- 

 dred or two hundred pounds' weight, with an upright handle and two cross-handlets 

 attached ; it is used chiefly for pressing down and levelling new-laid turf. There is a 

 variety, consisting of a rectangular block with a handle placed obliquely {Jig' 103.), which 

 is used when a leap powerful pressure is desirable. 



1319. The turf-scraper is a head or plate of wood {fig. 10.5.) or ii'on {fig. 106.), fixed at 

 right angles across the end of a long handle, and is used chiefly to scrape off earth, or the 

 exuvias of worms, snails, &c. from lawns, grass verges, or walks, early in spring. In some 

 cases, teeth, like those of a saw, are formed in the edge of the blade of such scrapers, in 

 order to tear out the moss from lawns ; in many situations, however, a mossy lawn is 

 much to be preferred to grass, as softer, and requiring less frequent mowing. Wire 

 besoms are used with good effect for this purpose, as well as for removing moss from 

 walls or trunks of large trees. 



1 320. The dock-weedei- {fig. 107. ) is composed of a narrow iron blade attached to a spade- 

 like handle, with a protruding iron stay joined to the lower end of the handle, or to the 

 iron shank of the blade, to act as a fulcrum. It is used for digging up long conical 

 roots of weeds in pastures or close crops, where the spade or two-pronged fork cannot be 

 introduced ; or for taking up crops of fusiform roots, as the parsnep, scorzonera, &c. 



1321. The besom u?,edi in gardening is of tlu-ee species. The spray broom, consisting of 

 a small faggot of spray, generally that of tiie birch, or of spartium, with a handle inserted ; 

 or a brush of bristles with a similar handle : the former sort are used for the open air, tlie 

 latter in hot-houses, seed-rooms, &c. The wire besom consists of a bundle of iron or 

 copper wires, of one twentieth of an inch in diameter, fixed to a long handle. ' It is 

 used for sweeping gravelled paths which have become mossy, mossy walls, mossy trunks 

 of trees, &c. Such besoms require to be dipt in oil occasionally, to retard the progress 

 of oxidation. 



1 322j Implement-cleaners, are small spatulae formed of wood, generally by the operator 

 himself. A small brush of wire like a painter's large brush is useful for cleaning pots, 

 and some have a particular description of knife for that purpose, and for spades, hoes, &c. 



1323. Of these tools the esseyitial kinds are the spade, the dung fork, and the rake ; for 

 with these, all the operations for which the others are employed may be performed, though 

 with much less facility, expedition, and perfection. There are diminutive sizes of most 

 of them to be had in the shops for infant gardeners j and portable and convertible sets for 

 ladies and amateur practitioners. 



Sect. II. Instruments. 



1324. The common character of cutting-implements is, that they require in their use more 

 skill than physical force : they may be divided into instruments for operations, as the knife, 

 saw, &c. ; instruments of direction, as the measuring-rod, level, &c. ; and instruments of 

 designation, as numbering-talhes, name-pieces, &c. 



SuBSECT. 1. Instruments of Operation. 



1325. Operative instruments are used in labors of a comparatively light kind. They may 

 be used in general with one hand, and commonly bring into action but a part of the mus- 

 cular system ; the scythe however is an exception. They are similarly constructed to tools, 

 and act on the same principles, differing from tliose only in being generally reducible to 

 levers of the third kind, or those in which the power or hand is between the weight or 

 matter to be cut or separated, and the fulcrum or arm, as in cutting oflf a shoot with a 

 knife. But in clipping, the fulcrum is between the hand and the weight or object to be 

 clipt off, and therefore shears act as wedges moved by levers of the second kind. The ma- 

 terials of instruments are in general the same as tools, but the handles of knives are of 

 horn, bone, ivory, or ramose fucus, and the greatest attention is requisite as to the iron and 

 steel of the blades. 



1326. The garden-knfe is of several species and varieties. 



The common garden-knife consists of \ blade of prepared steel, fixed without a joint in a handle of bone 

 or horn, and kept in a sheath of leather or pasteboard. It varies in shape and size, and in the quality 

 of the blade ; the best in England are generally made in London, but the great mass disposed of in com- 

 merce are manufactured at Sheffield. Ever^' working-gardener ought to carry one of these knives in a 

 side-pocket on his thigh, that he maybe ever ready to cut off pieces cfdead, decayed, or injured plants, or 

 gather crops, independently of otiier operations. 



The common pruning-knife is similar to the former, but less hooked at the point ; for though the hook 

 be useful in gathering some crops, and in cutting over or pruning herbaceous vegetables, j'et as all knives 

 cut on the same principle as the saw, it is injurious when the knife is used to cut woody shoots : therefore, 

 wherever a clean section is of importance, the pruning-knife, with a straight-edged blade, and not the 

 common garden-knife, with a hooked blade, ought to be employed. 



The folding pruning-knife differs from the other, in having the blade jointed in the handle, for the pur- 

 pose of rendering it portable with greater ease and in any description of pockets ; such knives are more 



