130 



TOOLS USED IN HORTICULTURE. 



Fig. 12. T7ie common lever. 



Kneed lever and crowbar. 



of iron only, and is used for the removal of stones or large roots, which rest 

 on, or are embedded in the soil. The advantage gained is as the distance 

 from the power, applied at a, to the fulcrum 

 6/ and the force of the power is greatest 

 when it is applied at right angles to the di- 

 rection of the lever. The handspoke, or 

 carrying lever, belongs to this species of tool, 

 and is simply a pole, tapering from the two extremities to the middle, by means 

 of one or two of which, tubs or boxes, or other objects, furnished with bear- 

 ing hooks, can be removed from one place to another. Two of these poles, 

 joined in the middle by cross-bars or boards, form what is called the hand- 

 barrow — a carrying implement occasionally useful in gardening. Sometimes, 

 to render a detached fulcrum unnecessary, the operating end of the lever is 



bent up, so that the elbow or angle, fig. 13, 

 c, serves as a fulcrum. When the ope- 

 rating end terminates in claws, like those 

 of a common hammer, it is termed a crow- 

 bar, c?, and is extremely useful for forcing 

 up stakes or props which have been firmly 

 fixed in the ground. Sometimes the upper extremity of the bent lever and 

 crowbar are m.ade pointed and sharp, so as to serve at the same time as per- 

 forators, as shown in both the kneed lever and crowbar. Every garden 

 ought to have one of these tools ; and perhaps the most generally useful is 

 the kneed lever, forked at the extremity, fig. 13, c. 



391. Perforators., fig. 14, are straight rods of iron, or of wood pointed with 

 iron, for making holes in the ground, in which to insert stakes for supporting 



tall or climbing herbaceous plants, standard roses, climb- 

 ing roses, or other shrubs, and young trees. The 

 pointed iron rod, with a solid ball at top, e, «, is most in 

 use for inserting pea-sticks, and the smaller props in dug 

 gardens, as well as for inserting branches in lawns to 

 shelter tender shrubs in the winter time, or 

 to prevent small plants from being trodden 

 upon. The wooden stake, pointed with 

 iron, /, is used for making holes for larger 

 posts for protecting or supporting trees in 

 parks and pleasure-grounds. It is driven 

 in with a wooden mallet, and afterwards 

 Fig. 14. Perforators, pulled out by passmg an iron bar through 

 the ring at one man taking hold of each end of the bar. The 

 other bars are inserted by alternately lifting them up and letting 

 them drop down, and they are pulled up either by hand or, in 

 the case of fig. 14, /i, by passing a stick or handle through the 

 eye at the top. The solid ball i, is for the purpose of adding 

 to the weight of the rod, and which, of course, when lifted to j-ator for 

 considerable height, adds greatly to its power in falling. The amateurs. 

 perforator, fig. 15, having a handle and a hilt for the foot, /Ic, is chiefly 

 adapted for amateurs and ladies. 



392. The dibber, fig. 16, is a perforator for inserting plants, and sometimes 

 also for depositing seeds or tubers in the soil. It is most suitable for plant- 

 ing seedlings, because these have a tap root, and few lateral fibres. Dibbers 



Fig. 15. Per/o- 



