THE HANDLING OF THE LAND - Continued
"In a broadcast prayer of this public nature, absolute specifications
would not be polite. Black walnut and butternut are fragrant as well as
beautiful timber. Cherry is stiff, heavy, durable, and, like maple,
takes a slippery polish. For fine, light handles, that the palm will
stick to, butt cuts of poplar or cottonwood cannot be excelled, yet
straight-grained ash will bear more careless usage.
"The handles of Mrs. Tarryer's hoes are never perfectly straight. All
the bayonet class bend downward in use half an inch or more; all the
thrust-hoe handles bend up in a regular curve (like a fiddle-bow turned
over) two or three inches. Unless they are hung right, these hoes are
very awkward things. When perfectly fit for one, they may not fit
another; that is, a tall, keen-sighted person cannot use the hoe that is
just fit for a very short one.... Curves in the handles throw centers of
gravity where they belong. Good timber generally warps in a handle about
right, only implement makers and babes in weeding may not know when it
is made fast right side up in the hoe.
"There are plenty of thrust-hoes in market, such as they are. Some have
malleable iron sockets and bows--heavier to the buyer and cheaper to the
dealer--instead of wrought-iron and steel, such as is required for
true worth."
Scarifiers.
[Illustration: 98. A scarifier.]
[Illustration: 99. Home-made scarifier.]
[Illustration: 100. Home-made scarifier or scraper.]
[Illustration: 101. The common scarifier.]
For many purposes, tools that scrape or scarify the surface are
preferable to hoes that dig up the ground. Weeds may be kept down by
cutting them off, as in walks and often in flower-beds, rather than by
rooting them out. Figure 98 shows such a tool, and a home-made implement
answering the same purpose is illustrated in Fig. 99. This latter tool
is easily made from strong band-iron. Another type is suggested in Fig.
100, representing a slicing-hoe made by fastening a sheet of good metal
to the tines of a broken fork. The kind chiefly in the market is shown
in Fig. 101.
Hand-weeders.
[Illustration: 102. Good hand-weeders.]
[Illustration: 103. A hand-weeder.]
[Illustration: 104. A finger-weeder.]
[Illustration: 105. A small hand-weeder.]
For small beds of flowers or vegetables, hand-weeders of various
patterns are essential to easy and efficient work. One of the best
patterns, with long and short handles, is shown in Fig. 102. Another
style, that may be made at home of hoop-iron, is drawn in Fig. 103. A
finger-weeder is illustrated in Fig. 104. In Fig. 105 a common form is
shown. Many patterns of hand-weeders are in the market, and other forms
will suggest themselves to the operator.
Trowels and their kind.
Small hand-tools for digging, as trowels, dibbers, and spuds, may be had
of dealers. In buying a trowel it is economy to pay an extra price and
secure a steel blade with a strong shank that runs through the entire
length of the handle. One of these tools will last several years and
may be used in hard ground, but the cheap trowels are generally hardly
worth the buying. A solid wrought-iron trowel all in one piece is also
manufactured, and is the most durable pattern. A steel trowel may be
secured to a long handle; or the blade of a broken trowel may be
utilized in the same way (Fig. 106). A very good trowel may also be made
from a discarded blade of a mowing machine (Fig. 107), and it answers
the purpose of a hand-weeder.
[Illustration: Fig. 106. Long-handled trowel.]
[Illustration: Fig. 107. Improvised trowel.]
[Illustration: Fig. 108. Weed-spud.]
[Illustration: Fig. 109. A good weed-spud.]
[Illustration: Fig. 110. Weed-cutter.]
[Illustration: Fig. 111. A weed-spud that lifts the weed.]
Weed-spuds are shown in Figs. 108 to 111. The first is particularly
serviceable in cutting docks and other strong weeds from lawns and
pastures. It is provided with a brace to allow it to be thrust into the
ground with the foot. It is seldom necessary to dig out perennial weeds
to the tips of their deep roots, if the crown is severed a short
distance below the surface.
Rollers.
[Illustration: Fig. 112. Hand-roller.]
[Illustration: Fig. 113. Roller and marker.]
It is often essential that the land be compacted after it has been
spaded or hoed, and some kind of hand-roller is then useful. Very
efficient iron rollers are in the market, but a good one can be made
from a hard chestnut or oak log, as shown in Fig. 112. (It should be
remembered that when the surface is hard and compact, water escapes from
it rapidly, and plants may suffer for moisture on arrival of warm
weather.) The roller is useful in two ways--to compact the
under-surface, in which case the surface should be again loosened as
soon as the rolling is done; and to firm the earth about seeds (page 98)
or the roots of newly set plants.
Markers.
[Illustration: Fig. 114. Roller and marker.]
[Illustration: Fig. 115. Marking-stick.]
A marker may often be combined with the roller to good advantage, as in
Fig. 113. Ropes are secured about the cylinder at proper intervals, and
these mark the rows. Knots may be placed in the ropes to indicate the
places where plants are to be set or seeds dropped. An extension of the
same idea is seen in Fig. 114, which shows iron or wooden pegs that make
holes in which very small plants may be set. An L-shaped rod projects at
one side to mark the place of the next row.
[Illustration: Fig. 116. Tool for spacing plants.]
[Illustration: Fig. 117. Barrow rigged with a marker.]
[Illustration: Fig. 118. Hand sled-marker.]