GARDEN TOOLS
Are so important in the proper care of the garden and for the ease
with which it may be worked that only the best should be considered;
the best, however, need not be the most expensive, but they should be
the best adapted to the work to be attempted. It is not necessary that
their number be large, indeed, the number of tools really indispensable
is relatively small, but definite. A good steel garden rake will be one
of the first tools required and this should be of the steel variety,
neither too light nor too heavy. Get a good spade with a "D" handle
that fits the hand and foot. A wheelbarrow of the wooden sideboard
construction will also be required; to these will be added a garden
line and a hand cultivator and as this is the most expensive and
important tool its selection is of much moment. There are three forms
of wheel hoes on the market: the high single wheel, the medium wheel
and the low double wheel made to straddle the rows. The double wheeled
machines have the advantage of working each side of the row, close to
the plants as well as between the rows and if the hoes or cultivator
teeth are properly adjusted will do twice the work of a single wheel.
Some of the double wheeled cultivators are readily changed into single
wheels by removing one wheel. Too high a wheel is not desirable, and as
the wheel is the part of the cultivator that bears most of the strain
it should be of substantial construction. Most of the machines on the
market have as attachments a set of plough blades, four harrow teeth
and hoe. My own—a Planet Junior, two-wheel cultivator has also an
attachment for creating a dust-mulch, similar to a scuffle-hoe, but
this was made especially for the machine by a local blacksmith and is a
very useful addition to the outfit.
If one does not object to the extra expense a seeding attachment
can be added that will minimize the work of planting the garden. A
good machine with seeder that will plant in rows and with all the
attachments can be purchased for $16.00 or the same machine which will
sow in rows and also in hills 4, 6, 8, 12, or 24 inches apart can be
purchased for $19.00 and is a good buy, for a good machine of this
kind, if properly cared for, kept under shelter when not in use, oiled
occasionally, the attachments kept sharpened and given an occasional
coat of paint as required is good for twenty years at least. There are
still cheaper machines on the market, single wheel implements with
the usual attachments, that will do good work, for as little as $5.25
and $7.50, and two wheelers at $10.00 and one single wheel that is
especially designed for wear, with an iron instead of wire wheel, built
for service at $7.00.
To this assortment of tools should be added a straight edged garden
hoe, or any preferred shaped edge, and a scuffle-hoe. This last is
obtainable in 6, 8, 9, and 10 inch blade and costs ninety cents for
the 6 inch and $1.00 for the 9 inch size; the ten inch does more rapid
work and can be run between rows planted twelve to fifteen inches
wide, clearing the entire space between in one operation so that one
goes over the ground very rapidly. Useful in any one's hands it is
preëminently a woman's tool, no lame and aching back accompanies its
use as one does not lean over in hoeing as with the common garden
hoe. If I could have but one tool to garden with I think it would be
a scuffle-hoe, for no other tool will keep the garden so free from
weeds. With the common garden hoe my paths through the garden are
usually marked by the wreckage of plants, for use as much care as I can
sooner or later I get to hoeing too vigorously and off goes a cabbage,
tomato or onion. The scuffle-hoe does not seem to arouse an excess of
energy; one goes along smoothly and serenely, leaving clean tilth and
undepleted rows of vegetables in one's wake and looking back at the end
of each row sees that it is good.
A trowel—or a number of them is better—is a very necessary implement
and because one is prone to mislay trowels, or leave one at the hotbed
when going for plants it is well to have one for each place and either
to attach it to a string to one's belt—if only one is possessed, or
to attach a bright red cloth to the handle that it may be identified
if dropped among weeds, loose earth or grass for the trowel seems to
have a chameleon like nature and takes on the color of its surroundings
and becomes invisible to the eye once it has left one's hand. The
bright color will save many moments wasted time in looking for it and
has proved its worth on more than one occasion. In purchasing a trowel
selection should be made of the sort that has the blade and handle in
one; this construction, if of steel, will insure a tool that will last
until worn out by use, the trowel with a wooden handle has usually a
flimsy blade and a handle that is not dependable.
A garden line and reel that may be purchased for $1.75 is a convenient
thing to have when laying out lines for planting, but a very good
substitute can be produced from an old broom handle and a ball of
butcher's twine by sawing the handle into two eighteen inch lengths,
boring a hole in one end of each piece and sharpening the other end,
passing the ends of the cord through the hole and making a knot too
large to slip through the hole, makes the line more convenient to
handle than if tied around the stick, as it cannot slip in winding,
or any ingenious boy with simple tools can copy the regular reel in
a short time. A very simple, home made tool for marking rows equal
distances apart consists of a straight pole of wood with a cross piece
at one end, fifteen, eighteen or twenty-four inches on each end from
the center pole and provided with triangular pieces at the ends and
in the center for markers, or wooden rake teeth may be set in holes
provided for them. This is drawn along the ground and makes one, two
or three rows at one operation. The construction of two or three of
these markers is a short job and they save a considerable amount of
time in laying out the garden. The twenty-four inch marker can also be
used for marking the twelve inch rows by adjusting the pegs. The hand
cultivators with seeding attachments have also a marker which while
seeding one row marks out the following one.
A watering pot and some kind of spraying apparatus for the use of
insecticides will also be needed. A rubber bulb with perforated metal
top and bent neck, such as is used for spraying house plants is an
excellent thing to use where the use of wood alcohol is indicated.
Paris green may be applied from a fine-nosed watering pot if liquid
form is used or if a dry application is preferred a common mason quart
can with the porcelain lining of the top removed and the latter punched
full of holes makes an effective distributor when filled with dry
lime or flour and Paris green or hellebore. I have never seen a hand
atomizer or spray pump or powder blow gun that was a particle of use;
the tyrian sprinklers, however, are practical and useful for spraying
in a small way for aphis, red spider and for squash bugs. A knapsack or
auto-sprayer with galvanized iron reservoir can be purchased for $6.25,
with brass reservoir for $9.50 and is a good investment where there
are small fruits—currants, gooseberries, and small trees—and is
profitable for a neighborhood garden investment if one does not wish to
go to the entire expense for a small garden. Something of the kind is
indispensable where potatoes are grown, though for a small patch hand
picking of bugs is preferable. A garden fork will be needed in the fall
when the potatoes, carrots, parsnips and other root vegetables are to
be dug and as wide a one as available should be purchased as the more
roots one can lift at a time the more quickly the work will progress.
A spading fork is very useful in the garden in loosening the earth
about plants, planted a considerable distance apart, when heavy rain
has beaten the earth down hard and is especially useful for cultivating
about berry plants, young fruit trees and grape vines, where the use of
a spade would injure the roots of the plant.
A manure barrel, while not a tool, is a valuable accessory of the
garden and its use will notably increase the yield of certain
vegetables. A large lard barrel is a good sort to use and it must be
prepared by burning out the lard which will likely adhere to it,
or it may be washed out with strong soapsuds or lye—a more tedious
process. A hole large enough to receive a wooden spigot should be bored
a couple of inches above the bottom of the barrel. The barrel should
be placed on a firm support—a heavy wooden box answering the purpose,
high enough to allow a watering pot to stand beneath the spigot; three
or four inches of straw are then placed in the bottom of the barrel
for drainage and should come well above the spigot hole; the barrel is
then filled full of manure and water turned in until brimming full; a
close cover to exclude flies completes the preparation. When the manure
liquid is required it is only necessary to place the watering can in
position, open the spigot and allow the liquid to run until the can is
full. After drawing off a supply of liquid an equal amount of water
should be returned to the barrel to keep it always full and ready for
use. When first established the liquid will be very strong and it will
be best to dilute it, using half water and half liquid, and liquid
manure should never be used when the ground is dry, but always after a
rain or artificial watering.
A barrel once filled can be used over and over again until the liquid
begins to appear pale in color, when the manure should be removed from
the barrel and fresh supplied. If there is only a limited demand for
this fertilizer, one filling will last out the summer, but where there
are a number of uses for it it will need one or more renewals. Any kind
of animal manure may be used—that from the horse stable being usually
the most available but use may be made of the manure from the cow
stable, the sheep pen or the rabbit hutches, but not from the poultry
houses as this form is too strong to be used in liquid form, though its
use in dry form is excellent for many vegetables.
Tomato supports are among the useful adjuncts of the garden and very
good home made ones can be provided by utilizing the wire hoops that
come around barrels, stapling them to four stout stakes; by their use a
considerably larger number of plants can be grown in a given area and
the care and gathering of the fruit will be far pleasanter than where
the vines are allowed to lie on the ground.