The Home Garden 



something heavy enough to break clods apart 

 when applied with force. 



Every gardener should be the owner of a 

 weeding-hook. There are several styles on the 

 market, many of them being so much alike in 

 shape and method of operation that they are 

 practically the same thing, though given dif- 

 ferent names. Nearly all are provided with 

 metal fingers which penetrate the earth and 

 uproot weeds very rapidly, with very little 

 exertion on the part of the operator. With a 

 little practice this can be done without disturb- 

 ing the plants one is weeding among. The 

 teeth or fingers of these weeders do double 

 duty, as, in addition to pulling up the weeds, 

 they stir the soil to the depth of an inch or 

 two, thus helping to make it light and porous 

 and making the use of the hoe unnecessary for 

 this purpose. These hooks do away almost 

 entirely with the unpleasant work of pulling 

 weeds by hand, and enable one to do more in 

 ten minutes than could be done in an hour 

 with the fingers. Hand-weeding is slow, dis- 

 agreeable work, and has done more to make 

 gardening unpopular than all else combined. 

 Another style of weeder has a curving blade 



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