TOOLS.

Although not positively necessary, it is of great advantage to have a

variety of tools for thoroughly working the soil and to facilitate the

labor of planting and harvesting the crops, and exterminating weeds.

If, however, the garden is as well cultivated as it should be, there

will be no chance for weeds to start, as they will all be destroyed in

their earliest stages.

While there is a general assortment of tools on every farm suitable for

use in the garden, I will give a short list of some especially adapted

for use in the kitchen garden and the modes and purposes of using them.

First is the PLOW. For the first plowing in the spring, and

for the general plowing in the fall, I use a large two-horse plow,

which takes a generous slice and will put the manure down as may be

wished and return the enriched soil to the surface in the spring, again

turning in another coat of manure, if it is to be had in sufficient

quantities to do so. So long as the fresh manure does not come in

direct contact with the young plants, I do not think it is possible to

put in too much, at least in the first three years of the garden. In my

soil, which is rather heavy, I plow six to eight inches deep; in light

soil I would plow deeper, as the roots penetrate it much more rapidly.

For working among the strawberries and permanent rows of small fruits,

I use a light one-horse plow, with a swingle tree just wide enough to

permit the horse to move freely; this plow is also used in plowing out

the potatoes and in preparing the ground for a second crop. If the

share is kept sharp, as it always should be, it will be found very

useful in the cultivation of the berries, melons, etc., as with a good

plowman it will go deep or shallow, or will slip around some point to

be missed much easier than the cultivator.

When these plows are not in use I give the mould-board and all bright

parts a coat of thick whitewash; this keeps them from rusting, so that

plowing a single round leaves them bright and shining. A coat of this

on all bright tools, spades, hoes, etc., in the fall, will keep them in

the best order through the winter, so that no time will be lost getting

them into good working condition in the spring.

A good companion to the light plow is a one-horse HARROW, of

a V shape, with long, slender teeth. It is a splendid tool for making

a good, deep bed of fine earth for seed sowing or setting out small

plants. Where more land has been plowed than is needed for immediate

planting, I run over it with this implement when working the balance

of the garden, so keeping it clear of weeds and in fine condition for

planting. It is especially convenient to have the ground in this shape

for planting cabbage, celery, tomatoes, etc., as you can take advantage

of a good shower to set them out while the ground is thoroughly wet.

My plan is to commence planting when the rain begins, the fresh plants

having the full benefit of the shower.

The ROLLER and the Harrow generally go in succession, and a light

one-horse roller will be found very convenient, but the large farm

roller will do equally good work where one is at hand and there is room

for it to be used. A small hand roller, about three feet in width,

for rolling in small drilled seeds, such as beets, onions, turnips,

etc., and by which the dirt can be settled over a row of peas or corn

when only a few rows are planted at once, will many times repay the

labor of making it. A piece of six- or eight-inch drain pipe, with the

bell knocked off, an iron bar run through the centre for an axle, and

the whole inside filled with mortar or concrete and allowed to get

perfectly hard, will make as fine a hand roller as need be, or one

can very easily be made from a smooth section of a tree trunk. This

implement would probably be much more useful than the one-horse roller.

It always pays to roll ground every time it is plowed, and too much

stress cannot be laid on the value of firmly compacting the soil around

freshly sown seed.

The CULTIVATOR is the most important and most frequently used tool

in the garden, and should be of the best make obtainable. I consider

the IRON AGE or PLANET, JR., the best, they having a light iron frame

which is very strong without being clumsy; the spreading bars close

inward, so that they do not catch or interfere with the plants in

narrow rows, and admit of working rows not more than two feet apart,

so that the ground can be cropped to its full capacity. They have a

variety of adjustable and reversible teeth, including plow, shovel and

cutting teeth, which will throw the soil to or from the row, or leave

it loose and level; in light soil this cultivator will loosen and let

in the air seven or eight inches deep. These adjustable teeth are all

sharpened at each end so that they can be turned around, so saving the

number of times that they will need grinding, as both ends can be used

and one grinding suffice where it would take two in the ordinary style

of teeth. When worn out, the whole set can be taken off and new ones

purchased at a very moderate cost. This part of the implement should be

well watched and the teeth kept in good cutting condition, as it will

not only kill the weeds a great deal more thoroughly when sharp, but

will also be much lighter of draft.

Next to the cultivator comes the WHEEL HOE or hand cultivator. By

the use of this implement, roots and small growing vegetables, such

as onions, beets, parsnips, lettuce, radishes, parsley, etc., may be

planted and thoroughly worked in rows from six to twenty-four inches

apart; thus more than doubling the amount that can be raised by horse

cultivation. A good implement will not throw dirt over the small plants

as the larger cultivator does, so that the rows can be worked closely

enough to avoid having to be gone over with the hand hoe after the

thinning out has been done. In my experience, I have found that a man

can hoe more ground and do it twice as deep and well in one hour with

one of these implements than he could do in a day with the old style

hand hoe. There are numerous styles of wheel hoes on the market, but

the only good one that I have ever seen is “Lee’s Wheel Hoe,” which

is made in Philadelphia under the patent of the inventor, who is

himself a prominent trucker. It is strong, light and well built; it has

five sharp, finger-shaped teeth back of the wheel, which loosen and

pulverize the soil, and a broad hoe blade behind, which travels beneath

the surface, turning the soil over and cutting off under ground any

weeds which may be in its track. When the soil is in good order, it

leaves it as smooth and fine as would a steel rake. To obtain the best

results with this tool or with the cultivator, you should go through

each row three or four times, so as to pulverize and work over the

soil thoroughly. The hoe blades are of different widths, for working

rows of different widths, a set of three going with each implement.

These hoes can easily be sharpened by any blacksmith. Keep them well

sharpened, and it will be surprising to note how much less muscle it

takes to push them and how much better the work is done. I have tried

several different makes, as I work an acre or more each year with one

of these hoes and a “Fire-fly” hand plow, which is run before the wheel

hoe when the ground is very hard, and Lee’s is the only one that works

satisfactorily. When the ground is in the best condition a man can hoe

the acre in a single day, so that it will readily be seen what a labor

saver it is.

The FIRE-FLY HAND PLOW just spoken of is a very convenient tool for

making drills, and will plow out a furrow from one to four inches

deep, for sowing peas, corn, beans, etc., and coming back alongside of

the open furrow will cover them nicely, not taking one-quarter of the

time necessary to make the drill with a hoe and cover with a rake, as

it is ordinarily done. It is also very handy to strike out a furrow

in this way when planting strawberries, cabbages, tomatoes, etc.,

especially where two are employed on the same work, as one can strike

out the furrows, and drop a plant where each one is to stand, while the

other, following, sets the plant with one hand and with the other pulls

in and places the loose covering dirt, and finally tramps the soil

firmly round the new-set plants with his feet. These two last-mentioned

tools are very useful in the ordinary small garden; they enable the

work to be done much more quickly and very much more thoroughly than

is often the case, the spring spading being generally the only good

stirring the soil gets in the season.

A SEED DRILL is a very handy tool, but it is quite expensive. In the

kitchen garden there is seldom more than one or two rows across the

garden to be sown with any one kind of seed, and this can be done

almost in the time it would take to adjust the drill, although the

drill works a great deal more evenly than the seed can be sown by hand.

On a farm where root crops are raised for soiling, the drill will be

a measure of economy, even for a single season, and can readily be

used in the garden. The combined implements, with plowing and hoeing

attachments, are “a delusion and a snare;” if you want a tool that will

do good work, and will not get out of order or break, do not have it

“combined” with anything else.

Of HAND-HOES, STEEL RAKES, TROWELS, SPADES, SHOVELS, ETC., there should

be enough to furnish each man employed, as it is frequently desirable

to have all hands working on the same job. Of these, the hoes, spades

and trowels should have an intimate and frequent calling acquaintance

with the grind-stone. It is much easier to work with a _sharp_ hoe or

spade, and the work is much better when done.

There should be a good stout cotton LINE, long enough to reach across

the garden, and a reel to keep it on is a great convenience, as it

takes such a short time to wind it up that there is not the same

temptation to leave it out all night. A good cotton line, carefully

housed, will last for years, and is one of the most important

requisites in the garden. Neatness is one of the essentials of good

gardening, and I have never known a gardener successful who was “hit or

miss” in laying out his rows; every plant must be squarely in the row

to admit of close working with the cultivator. If it is necessary to

keep a few inches away from the row to avoid cutting the stragglers,

either the soil is not loosened around the plant as it should be, or it

has to be gone over with the hand hoe, which consumes time in a large

garden.