For the last twenty years in the department of Marne they have 

 made use of a very simple and expeditious means for pruning, by 

 which a child of ten years may do without fatigue the work of an able 

 dresser. It consists of a crooked knife that does not close, and which 

 has a wooden handle about four inches long and an inch thick ; the 

 thumb of the hand that holds the knife is provided with a hard white - 

 wood thimble or thumb-case, large enough to fit well. With the left 

 hand the workman puts the twig to be cut between the edge of the 

 knife and the thumb-case, and clips it with perfect ease, without so 

 much as moving the arm or the wrist. The twig is cut three inches 

 above an eye ; and this sort of cutting is found on trial to be as useful 

 as simple. This process singularly diminishes the fatigue, and sim- 

 phfies and hastens the operation of pruning, which has often to be 

 done with promptness. The child can neither wound himself nor his 

 neighbours, and cuts the stem boldly, rapidly, and neatly. There is 

 also a newly invented pair of shears for pruning, controlled by a spring 

 with which even the most ignorant hands can do the pruning expedi- 

 tiously and regular. They are known by the name of the Vine Shears, 

 {ciseauzpour la vigne) of Edme. Regnier. 



