42 



SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 



1. — Tools and Conveniences. 



No one can garden well, or do as much work, or per- 

 form it as easily, with a bad tool. And though the 

 proverb affirms that a bad workman is sure to find 

 fault with his tools," it is equally true that a good work- 

 man will rarely be found using an inferior implement. 

 It is most essential to comfort and progress in gardening 

 that tools should be well and neatly made, and never 

 be too large or clumsy. A handy tool, it has often been 

 said, will almost work itself. Country smiths are very 

 seldom capable of either making or mending a good 

 implement ; on which account they should be procured 

 from towns, or at least be of town manufacture. 



Attention should be paid, in choosing tools, to the 

 length and curves of the handles, and of the metal parts, 

 that they may suit the height of the workman, and 

 enable him to use them with the least possible exertion 

 and stooping. 



Forks and deep hoes, or small picks, are most im- 

 portant tools in a vegetable garden, for stirring the 

 ground among the crops. For merely cleaning the 

 ground, nothing is so good as the Dutch hoe, which , 

 skims off the weeds without much soil to them, and 

 leaves them loosely on the surface without being half- 

 buried or trodden. A draw hoe will never kill weeds 

 half as readily or as effectually as a Dutch hoe. But 

 where the ground is very strong, or the weeds have 

 acquired considerable power, (a circumstance which 

 never ought to exist,) the draw hoe will do the work 

 with greater facility. 



A proper tool-shed, where each article used in the 

 garden can have a distinct place, and be put away clean 

 and neat, is one of the greatest conveniences in a garden, 

 and can be used also for storing onions in, and carrots, 

 and even potatoes if there be room. One corner of it 

 can be devoted to a barrow, and another to a small 

 ladder. In the summer, this shed yAW be a fit place for 

 drying and cleaning seeds, while it will afford space for 

 drying a few herbs during autumn. Refuse wood, pre- 

 paring for household use, may further be brought by 



