232 



HORTICULTURAL LABOURS ON THE SOIL. 



Soil cannot be stirred with advantage by the fork when in a moist state, but 

 littery dung may be turned during rain. 



538. Hoeing is a mode of stirring the soil on the surface, and at the same 

 time cutting up weeds or thinning out crops ; and it is effected either by the 

 draw hoe or the thrust hoe. Soil is also drawn up to, or taken away from, 

 plants ; and drills, or narrow furrows, are drawn by the former tool, of which 

 there are several kinds, more or less adapted for these different purposes. In 

 no kind of draw hoe should the plane of the blade form a right angle with 

 the handle, as at «, in fig. 161 ; but it should alwa3^s be within a right angle, 



^ , — more or less, as at h or c. If 



" the ground be soft the angle 



' should be more acute than when 



r — 1 ~ it is hard, or when its surface is 



\ much matted with weeds. This 



variable angle should be pro- 

 vided for, partly in the forma- 

 tion of the eye or socket of the 



Fig. 161. Diagrams showing the angle which the blades of Jj^g partly by thc aPpHca- 



draw hoes ought to make with the handles, ,. '„ ^ ,i i ■• 



tion of a small wedge, the heel 

 of which should be turned up, like those used for scythe-handles, in order 

 that it may be driven out at pleasure. In short, the angle which the handle 

 forms with the blade should be such, that when the latter is inserted in the 

 soil to the required depth, the blade, in being drawn towards the operator, 

 may retain that depth with the least possible exertion to his muscles in guiding 

 it ; for whatever muscular exertion is required in this way, beyond what is 

 necessary for overcoming the resistance of the soil, is a waste of power. 

 When the blade is properly set, little more is necessary than simply 

 drawing the tool ; but if badly set, it requires pressing down, or raising up, 

 as well as drawing ; or, in order to keep the blade in a proper cutting direc- 

 tion, one of the arms of the operator must be elevated or depressed out of its 

 most effective position, which is, when the hands are never much below or 

 above the centre of his body. The handle of the draw hoe should be held in 

 such a position by the operator, as that the plane of the blade should coincide 

 with the plane with which it cuts the soil to the proper depth, and with the 

 least exertion of bodily labour ; and this plane will generally be found to be at 

 some angle between 50° and 65° with the horizon. For this reason the handle 

 of a hoe ought to be considerably shorter for a short person, or for a person 

 stooping, than for one who is taller, or works in an upright posture ; or, in 



lieu of this, the short person should hold 

 the handle nearer to the blade. For the 

 purpose of cutting weeds, or thinning out 

 crops in light sandy soil, a hoe with a broad 

 blade may be used ; and of these the best 

 that we know is the Leicestershire or shift- 

 ing-blade hoe, the blades of which are 

 pieces of the blade of an old scythe. This 

 hoe is shown in fig. 162, in which d is the 

 head, consisting of a socket for the blade, 

 Fi,^ 162. The T eicestershire or shifting, and a tubular sockct or hose for the 

 blade draw hoe, handle, without the blade ; h, one of the 



blades not inserted in the socket ; c, the socket with the kind of blade 



