Book IV. OF THE OPERATIONS OF GARDENING. 



363 



for himself, and form his own plans ; and^a spirited amateur will be the first to adopt 

 new improvements ; but the policy of a well regulated man, who has no pretensions to 

 particular skill himself, will certainly lead him to adopt one of the two first modes. 



BOOK IV. 



OF THE OPERATIONS OF GAJIDENING. 



1853. All tlie operations of gardening are mechanical in the first instance, though the 

 principal mtention of many of them is to effect chemical changes, and of others, changes 

 on tlie vital principle. They are also all manual, or effected by man, who, though 

 possessing little power over nattire in his naked, unarmed state, yet taking in his hands 

 some one of the implements or machines described, becomes thereby armed with a new 

 power, and operates on the soil, or on the vegetable itself, by effecting changes in 

 his own centre of gravity, and by muscular movements of his legs and arms, calculated 

 by pushing, drawing, or lifting, to bring tlie implement into the action proper for per- 

 forming the operation in view. All these movements are governed by the laws of me- 

 chanics, and the operations performed, are all referable to one or more of the mechanical 

 powers, and chiefly, as we have before observed, to the lever and the wedge. 



1854. The operations of gar/lening present astonishing proof s of tlie advanced state of the 

 art. In the infancy of gardening, as the implements were few, so would be also the 

 operations of culture. The ground would be loosened on the surface with a hooked 

 stick [fg. 2. ), or scratched with a bone, or a horn in the spring season ; the plants or seeds 

 rudely inserted, and the produce in autumn broken over or pulled up, as wanted by the 

 family or band to whom they belonged. But in the present state of human improve- 

 ment, the operations of gardening have branched out into a number and variety which 

 at first sight appear astonishing. Tlie operations of pulverisation and sowing, for ex- 

 ample, are not confined to spring ; but are practised in eveiy month of the year. The 

 season of reaping or gathering crops is equally extended ; and for such productions as 

 cannot be produced or preserved in the open air, recourse is had to hot-houses, and fruit 

 and root store-rooms. Vegetation is accelerated, retarded, and modified, almost at the 

 will of the operator; and by processes which suppose a considerable degree of physiolo- 

 gical and chemical science, as w^ell as practical skill, mechanical dexterity, and personal 

 attention. Thus, shading, airing, and watering, though operations exceeded by none in ' 

 manual simplicity, cannot be performed without continual reference to the state of the 

 plant, of the soil, and of the climate or weather. Hence it is, that an operative gardener 

 who really knows his profession, requires to be not only a habile workman, but a thinking 

 and reasoning being, and a steady man. We shall consider the operations of gardening, 

 1. As consisting of operations or labors in which strength is chiefly required ; 2. As 

 operations where skill is more required than strength ; and, 3. As operations or pro- 

 cesses where strength, skill, and science, are combined. 



Chap. I. 



Operations of Gardening, in which Strength is chiefly required in the Operator. 



1855. To acquire the piractice of gardening-operations, a few hours' labor with the im- 

 plements or machines will be of more use than a volume of words ; all that we shall 

 submit, therefore, will be some observations relatively to the mechanical action of the 

 implement and operator, the object of the operation, and the best season of performing 

 it. They may be arranged as, 1. Mechanical operations common to all arts of manual 

 labor ; 2. Garden-labors on the soil ; and, 3. Gaiden-labors on plants. 



Sect. I. Mechanical Operations common to all Arts of Manual Labor, 



1856. All the operations which man jierforms with imjylements or machines are, as far 

 as his own person is concerned, reducible to lifting, carrying, drawing, and thrusting. 

 Man himself, considered as an engine, derives his power from alterations in the posi- 

 tion of his centre of gravity, and he applies it chiefly by his hands, arms, and legs acting 

 as levers of the third kind. 



1857. Lifting is performed by first stooping or lowering the centre of gravity, and at 

 the same time throwing it to one side Tlie object being then laid hold of by the hands, 

 the body is raised, and the centre of gravity, in being restored to its true position, 

 acts as a counterbalancing weight to the weight to be raised. The weight retained by 



