MACHINES USED IN HORTICULTURE. 



157 



Fig. 87. Powdering'bellows. 



smoke is introduced to the house, and which is attached to a moveable lid, 

 and, c, a tube to which the bellows is applied, and which enters the pot im- 

 mediately under a perforated moveable bottom. A substitute for a pot of 

 this kind is often formed by two flower-pots, a smaller one being placed upside 

 down within a larger, and the tobacco placed in the former. In fumigating 

 plants in houses, it will be found advantageous to fill the house at the same 

 time with steam, by watering the pipes or flues, or by other means. The 

 steam condenses the oil of the smoke, and leaves it on the leaves and points 

 of the young shoots in the form of globules of oil, on the surface of the glo- 

 bules of water. A pair of common bellows may be rendered fit either for 



< J • ' ^^^^7Y77 ?f?r^^ powdering plants or fumigat- 



- - "^^^^^^ ^^^ B^^^^^^~^=^ ^ ing them, by substituting a 



^ r ^ piece of tinned iron, fig. 87, «, 



^ j \^ ® ® / resembling in shape those tin 



b scales used in the retail of 

 meal, in the flat end of which, 

 6, are two small valves 1^ of an inch in diameter, with a hole between them, 

 to which a screw- cap is fitted for introducing the dust or the tobacco to bf> 

 burnt. It is evident that the air which enters through the valves by the \xi 

 stroke of the bellows, raises the dust or smoke in the interior, which is ejecteft. 

 by the down-stroke ; and, by repetition, the whole powder introduced, or the 

 whole smoke produced by the ignition of the tobacco-leaves, will be thrown 

 out. (Gard. Mag. vol. iii. p. 30.) We consider this to be much the best 

 description of garden-bellows for dusting plants with sulphur. 



442. The mowing-machine is used for shearing lawns, where the surface 

 is smooth and even, and kept free from worm-casts and all matters that 

 would interfere with the cutting part of the machine, which is formed 

 exactly on the model of the engine for shearing the surface of woollen-cloth 

 described inVres Dictionat'y of Manufactures, p. 1324. The machine crops 

 and collects at the same time in a box the grass cut by it, and is altogether 

 very complete in its action where the lawn to be cropped is suitable ; but 

 for ordinary garden purposes most gardeners seem to prefer the short grass- 

 scythe, and leave the mowing-machine to the amateur, for whom it forms an 

 excellent exercise. 



443. Other machines. — In the Encyc. of Gard. will be found described 

 various machines for transporting large boxes or tubs containing plants, such 

 as Orange-trees ; machines for transporting and for transplanting large trees, 

 for regulating temperature, for entrapping or detecting the enemies of gar- 

 dens, and for some other purposes ; but few of these are adapted for the 

 present work. It may be stated here, that the principle on which all the 

 best machines for transporting plants in large boxes or tubs, or transplanting 

 large trees with balls to their roots, is the same : viz. two windlass axles are 

 supported on four props, which rise out of two horizontal beams, and the 

 box or tree being raised by means of the windlasses, is retained in that posi- 

 tion tUl it is conveyed to its destination, either by means of two horizontal 

 beams, by manual labour, as if they were the levers of a hand-barrow ; or 

 by placing wheels under them, in the manner of a cart or waggon. The 

 best machine of this kind for removing Orange-trees in boxes, is that used at 

 St. Margaret's, near London, and described in the Gardener''s Magazine, vol. 

 X. p. 136. From the description of this machine it is obvious that it will 

 answer either for transporting trees in boxes, or trees or shrubs with large 



M 



